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Messages - Arantor
6946
Other software / Re: "Paid for" shit.
« on July 21st, 2011, 11:04 AM »
No, he has always played by that rule: nothing he offers is covered by the charter scheme, and aside from the fact that I still think he has shirked his duty to the team, there's nothing wrong - superficially - with what he offers. I never had a problem with him offering things for sale, except that he tended not to actually contribute anything else!
The rule's retraction affected certain other people instead, however.
The rule's retraction affected certain other people instead, however.
6947
Other software / Re: Wedge and SMF directions
« on July 21st, 2011, 10:59 AM »
So you'd record the different ways people find a given thread? Could be fun, could be a royal PITA as the log inevitably grows.
Being visible to author+moderators solves the problem of it being generally visible and problematic, doesn't quite so much solve the issue of it being generated in the first place.
Being visible to author+moderators solves the problem of it being generally visible and problematic, doesn't quite so much solve the issue of it being generated in the first place.
6948
Other software / Re: "Paid for" shit.
« on July 21st, 2011, 10:41 AM »
A couple of years back, there were rules on team members providing paid services; the team could offer nothing that wasn't covered by the charter scheme, but anything else was considered fair game. Now it seems that rule is gone.
6949
Other software / Re: Wedge and SMF directions
« on July 21st, 2011, 10:32 AM »
To answer that...
1/ You misunderstand my contention regarding search friendly URLs. It is my contention that they do not help search engines, but the converse is also true: *not* having them doesn't help search engines either. The absence or presence of said feature, then, is virtually pure aesthetics. I'm not against pretty URLs provided that there is an awareness that they are purely aesthetic - to claim they have any kind of SEO benefit is BS.
2/ I didn't say that it was WP's code that was the issue, because it isn't. There is an established protocol for trackbacks where you have inter-site communications, which must be implemented for it to work. A trackback facility that only one system uses isn't much help unless that one system is by definition, everywhere.
Gri's discussions aren't about trackbacks, they're about having the same discussion physically *duplicated* in two separate places so that there is no ability of one party to edit them.
The trackback protocol, as designed, is endemically flawed: it has no mechanism for authentication, consequently any site can generate a trackback, which means any site can *spam* you with trackbacks. Imagine a system able to post that doesn't require registration, doesn't require to enter a name but only has to posts a small snippet of text and a link back to their site. I have deleted many many spam trackbacks from InI but have yet to see one that wasn't actually spam.
3/ The concept of a trackback is cute, but as explained, the moment you start applying real life to it, it starts to fall apart. If you then proceed to implement a new trackback scheme, it's only valid as far as Wedge installs go: until Wedge is ubiquitous, implementing it in a new form is basically useless.
Trackbacks do NOT make discussions portable if you listen to what the specification actually provides for: all it does is provide for a method for one discussion to reference another. Essentially it's the equivalent of an unregistered user saying "My post referenced yours, come read mine at <link>"
1/ You misunderstand my contention regarding search friendly URLs. It is my contention that they do not help search engines, but the converse is also true: *not* having them doesn't help search engines either. The absence or presence of said feature, then, is virtually pure aesthetics. I'm not against pretty URLs provided that there is an awareness that they are purely aesthetic - to claim they have any kind of SEO benefit is BS.
2/ I didn't say that it was WP's code that was the issue, because it isn't. There is an established protocol for trackbacks where you have inter-site communications, which must be implemented for it to work. A trackback facility that only one system uses isn't much help unless that one system is by definition, everywhere.
Gri's discussions aren't about trackbacks, they're about having the same discussion physically *duplicated* in two separate places so that there is no ability of one party to edit them.
The trackback protocol, as designed, is endemically flawed: it has no mechanism for authentication, consequently any site can generate a trackback, which means any site can *spam* you with trackbacks. Imagine a system able to post that doesn't require registration, doesn't require to enter a name but only has to posts a small snippet of text and a link back to their site. I have deleted many many spam trackbacks from InI but have yet to see one that wasn't actually spam.
3/ The concept of a trackback is cute, but as explained, the moment you start applying real life to it, it starts to fall apart. If you then proceed to implement a new trackback scheme, it's only valid as far as Wedge installs go: until Wedge is ubiquitous, implementing it in a new form is basically useless.
Trackbacks do NOT make discussions portable if you listen to what the specification actually provides for: all it does is provide for a method for one discussion to reference another. Essentially it's the equivalent of an unregistered user saying "My post referenced yours, come read mine at <link>"
6950
Other software / Re: What happend to Sinan?
« on July 21st, 2011, 01:09 AM »
Even big sites use bbPress and call it a forum...
6951
Other software / Re: Wedge and SMF directions
« on July 21st, 2011, 01:08 AM »
Because what sounds like a really neat idea really isn't so neat? It's not like it's forgeable or anything *yawn*
6952
Other software / Re: "Paid for" shit.
« on July 21st, 2011, 12:19 AM »
Don't go there, really. I would rather go to SMF For Free, knowing who owns it, than that.
The idea is that it is a hosted forum, and you don't have to deal with the usual crap. Except not full admin control and you have to pay to get your data out to move elsewhere, which as you grow, becomes necessary.
The idea is that it is a hosted forum, and you don't have to deal with the usual crap. Except not full admin control and you have to pay to get your data out to move elsewhere, which as you grow, becomes necessary.
6953
Other software / Re: What happend to Sinan?
« on July 21st, 2011, 12:16 AM »
*psst* bbPress? *psst*
6954
Other software / Re: Wedge and SMF directions
« on July 21st, 2011, 12:14 AM »
The Friends board being referred to wasn't SMF Friends, but the board reserved for team members and ex team members, notionally for the benefit of the project but it ended up mostly as an echo chamber for those who for whatever reason didn't carry a team badge. (The one Nao was barred from, that is, after last autumn's events)
If you mean trackbacks in the context I think you mean, there is only one way to actually do it since it's an established standard used by WordPress. The fact that WP basically created it and it causes more spam than you would begin to imagine (of the spam on InI, I get 10-12 trackback spam per spam post)
If you mean trackbacks in the context I think you mean, there is only one way to actually do it since it's an established standard used by WordPress. The fact that WP basically created it and it causes more spam than you would begin to imagine (of the spam on InI, I get 10-12 trackback spam per spam post)
6955
Other software / Re: "Paid for" shit.
« on July 20th, 2011, 08:29 PM »
Yeah, that sort of thing does stink, badly. I did, occasionally, do paid support for very specific cases that required more time and skill than the normal sort of thing, but it was very infrequent and very often it wasn't needed anyway as most support[1] could be dealt with very normally.
If that sort of thing is going on, it's flat out abuse of privilege. I'd mention the core values, that people have apparently signed, if it would make any difference.
If that sort of thing is going on, it's flat out abuse of privilege. I'd mention the core values, that people have apparently signed, if it would make any difference.
| 1. | i.e. people needing help and not 'how to customise my shit' |
6956
Other software / Re: "Paid for" shit.
« on July 20th, 2011, 08:07 PM »
I'm not averse to team members producing premium products. If Bikken, for example, were made an SMF team member, it wouldn't bother me, with one proviso: that the team member who is hawking paid products doesn't put it above their commitment to the team.
I never had a problem with the people mentioned selling products, even if they were piles of crap in the end. I did, however, have a problem with them not contributing a decent amount of time to the responsibility they had accepted (and this is something I'm very firm on)
If you agree to be a team member, you're agreeing to take on a responsibility and complete tasks befitting that responsibility. If you do not do that, you have no right being on the team - and if you're going to sell paid products on the side, that should not be at the expense of the responsibility you have taken.
Being a team member does introduce a conflict of interests of sorts, however that can be remedied if you approach it ethically; there is no shame in offering good quality additional goods for sale provided they do not compromise the integrity of the rest of your work; unfortunately that is not a goal upheld by certain parties.
I am half expecting to make some packages for Wedge that are only available at a price. Not because of profiteering out of the platform but that they are niche products that require more time and energy to support than general mods. (Think of addons like a store front, for example. And, honestly, sad as it sounds, I may make the Wedge port of SD a paid product simply because of the support requirements, but I'll redesign parts of the UI anyway)
I may resurrect the community rule from ArantorMods, that things will be free but no support except for paid clients (if I do something it benefits everyone but if people want 1:1 work, they can pay for it) but in reality that didn't work out that well with people wanting support and getting fed up that they couldn't get it because they didn't read what was put in front of them.
I never had a problem with the people mentioned selling products, even if they were piles of crap in the end. I did, however, have a problem with them not contributing a decent amount of time to the responsibility they had accepted (and this is something I'm very firm on)
If you agree to be a team member, you're agreeing to take on a responsibility and complete tasks befitting that responsibility. If you do not do that, you have no right being on the team - and if you're going to sell paid products on the side, that should not be at the expense of the responsibility you have taken.
Being a team member does introduce a conflict of interests of sorts, however that can be remedied if you approach it ethically; there is no shame in offering good quality additional goods for sale provided they do not compromise the integrity of the rest of your work; unfortunately that is not a goal upheld by certain parties.
I am half expecting to make some packages for Wedge that are only available at a price. Not because of profiteering out of the platform but that they are niche products that require more time and energy to support than general mods. (Think of addons like a store front, for example. And, honestly, sad as it sounds, I may make the Wedge port of SD a paid product simply because of the support requirements, but I'll redesign parts of the UI anyway)
I may resurrect the community rule from ArantorMods, that things will be free but no support except for paid clients (if I do something it benefits everyone but if people want 1:1 work, they can pay for it) but in reality that didn't work out that well with people wanting support and getting fed up that they couldn't get it because they didn't read what was put in front of them.
6957
Features / Re: replace jwplayer with videojs for local videos
« on July 20th, 2011, 11:43 AM »
Um, you do realise that when there is "HTML5" playback, the player has absolutely nothing to do with it, right? That the exact same code could be wrapped around JWPlayer for HTML5 devices?
Out of interest what format do you use? Different browsers support different formats meaning that for plenty of users, Flash is the only option.
Out of interest what format do you use? Different browsers support different formats meaning that for plenty of users, Flash is the only option.
6958
Features: Forward thinking / Re: UTF8 only!
« on July 19th, 2011, 12:57 PM »
Here's where it gets complicated. Hosts that use cPanel etc, already have a backup facility, that isn't tied to PHP memory limits or Apache timeouts etc. meanwhile folks on unmanaged setups (typically VPS or meatier) will be running their own backup scripts anyway (or *should* be)
It's only then for the hosts that are that bad who don't provide backups AND don't provide access to anything else, in which case you're still screwed anyway since the majority of those hosts don't allow access to SMF's backup service either.
It's only then for the hosts that are that bad who don't provide backups AND don't provide access to anything else, in which case you're still screwed anyway since the majority of those hosts don't allow access to SMF's backup service either.
6959
Features: Forward thinking / Re: UTF8 only!
« on July 19th, 2011, 11:09 AM »
There is a part of me that just wants to ditch it because it's not suited to large dumps and has all kinds of odd failure conditions, and part of me wants to find a better way.
6960
Development blog / Re: Now with 97% more visuals!
« on July 18th, 2011, 01:41 PM »
That's what the blog view will be primarily for, like in this thread.
That said, I'm more inclined to remove from the admin panel rather than add, but I'm sure we can do something with it.
That said, I'm more inclined to remove from the admin panel rather than add, but I'm sure we can do something with it.