This is petty but I'm frustrated, having just been part of an argument about the SMF credits.
They're already messed up and in 2.1 they're actually likely to get worse. Right now, for example, the plan is to have the current team up first, followed by everyone else as 'Friends', followed by Github contributors and stuff like that.
Now, I think it's nice they're actually getting Github contributors. I also understand there are a number of people who don't want even the Github contributors credited. There's nothing better than that for 'we'll take your commits but fuck you for wanting some credit to them'.
But the bit that's getting me frustrated is the absolute inability of some people to understand why lumping all the Friends together is actually fucked up.
Let me put this straight, and I'll try to use small words so everyone understands me.
1. SMF is a software project. Without the developers developing it, there would be no SMF.
2. If there is no SMF, there is no need for support, customizers, translators etc.
3. The only conclusion I can then draw from this is that developers are actually necessary to the project in a way that other roles aren't.
4. Support, Customizers, Translators are all important. But they, by necessity, must come second to developers because without developers, there's nothing to support, nothing to customize, nothing to translate.
Assuming we agree on the above:
a) Developers' contributions do not stop being important just because they left the team. There are still bits of the original SMF 1.0 (and, while we're at it, elements from YaBB) still in 2.0 and even in 2.1.
b) The current developers, as fine a people as they are, did not write 95% of SMF's code, because of the above.
c) Why, then, are the current developers considered as rock stars compared to the 'Friends' who are no more important than anyone else despite the fact that some of the Friends actually wrote the damn software?
It seems very simple to me: anyone who actually contributed code to SMF, i.e. those who MADE SMF need a higher billing than the people who support it etc.
In case anyone thinks this is about my getting my name higher up... no. I never made the dev team for various reasons. My code contributions are small enough that I don't personally consider them important enough to be considered a developer. I have no qualms with, then, remaining in the Friends list, provided that the people who actually made SMF get a slightly higher billing - after all, they're the ones who made it, and if SMF hadn't been made, I wouldn't have had anything to contribute.
And yet this mindset is still rife in SMF, that developers are not any more important than anyone else. Yes, that's right... in a project based around a piece of software, the people who make the software are not particularly important.
Imagine if that applied to other industries. Imagine if we told book authors, that suddenly they have to credit the publisher as being as important in the book's making as themselves. Now, books have the author in big letters on the front, and the publisher's logo on there too but when was the last time you saw the publisher receiving equal prominence to the author? What about the typesetters? The proof readers? The author's best friend who proof-read an early script? The author's partner who gave them moral support? By SMF's definition, we should be giving all these people equal credit to the author, regardless of anything else.
Apparently I appear to be in the minority of people who understand this. It's sad really, especially in light of other recent events where for one brief shining moment I was considering helping with SMF core development.
They're already messed up and in 2.1 they're actually likely to get worse. Right now, for example, the plan is to have the current team up first, followed by everyone else as 'Friends', followed by Github contributors and stuff like that.
Now, I think it's nice they're actually getting Github contributors. I also understand there are a number of people who don't want even the Github contributors credited. There's nothing better than that for 'we'll take your commits but fuck you for wanting some credit to them'.
But the bit that's getting me frustrated is the absolute inability of some people to understand why lumping all the Friends together is actually fucked up.
Let me put this straight, and I'll try to use small words so everyone understands me.
1. SMF is a software project. Without the developers developing it, there would be no SMF.
2. If there is no SMF, there is no need for support, customizers, translators etc.
3. The only conclusion I can then draw from this is that developers are actually necessary to the project in a way that other roles aren't.
4. Support, Customizers, Translators are all important. But they, by necessity, must come second to developers because without developers, there's nothing to support, nothing to customize, nothing to translate.
Assuming we agree on the above:
a) Developers' contributions do not stop being important just because they left the team. There are still bits of the original SMF 1.0 (and, while we're at it, elements from YaBB) still in 2.0 and even in 2.1.
b) The current developers, as fine a people as they are, did not write 95% of SMF's code, because of the above.
c) Why, then, are the current developers considered as rock stars compared to the 'Friends' who are no more important than anyone else despite the fact that some of the Friends actually wrote the damn software?
It seems very simple to me: anyone who actually contributed code to SMF, i.e. those who MADE SMF need a higher billing than the people who support it etc.
In case anyone thinks this is about my getting my name higher up... no. I never made the dev team for various reasons. My code contributions are small enough that I don't personally consider them important enough to be considered a developer. I have no qualms with, then, remaining in the Friends list, provided that the people who actually made SMF get a slightly higher billing - after all, they're the ones who made it, and if SMF hadn't been made, I wouldn't have had anything to contribute.
And yet this mindset is still rife in SMF, that developers are not any more important than anyone else. Yes, that's right... in a project based around a piece of software, the people who make the software are not particularly important.
Imagine if that applied to other industries. Imagine if we told book authors, that suddenly they have to credit the publisher as being as important in the book's making as themselves. Now, books have the author in big letters on the front, and the publisher's logo on there too but when was the last time you saw the publisher receiving equal prominence to the author? What about the typesetters? The proof readers? The author's best friend who proof-read an early script? The author's partner who gave them moral support? By SMF's definition, we should be giving all these people equal credit to the author, regardless of anything else.
Apparently I appear to be in the minority of people who understand this. It's sad really, especially in light of other recent events where for one brief shining moment I was considering helping with SMF core development.