The Community - Time To Step Up To The Plate

[GhostShip]

Folks you all know I often mention in discussions on the forum here that WinMX folks have a close and stable community of users, of late I'm not seeing that same cosiness and  friendship that I know exists out in many of the the chat rooms still, this might be because folks feel the site here is a bit slow atm and that theres little new to spy over and perhaps they might be right in that but looking at it the other way around we rely here on folks taking part and helping organise site activities and making topics of interest to themselves and others and of late that's not been in evidence at all, I often come here myself to see how the community is faring and try my best to keep some wheels turning here along with a few of the remaining staff but we cant do everything alone and feedback on what you all want to see going on on the site is important as without such feedback we cant be sure we are heading in the direction you the community want us to head.

Most of you know I am on our key client project still and will continue to be so until I have something that is worthy of your time, this seems to have had the effect of us all sitting and patiently waiting for the end result and while I applaud you all for your patience I am growing increasingly anxious about the lack of activity here, I have posted my concerns regarding this before so its nothing new I'm asking of you but I am asking, I would like some of you who read the site here to try to either start some topics or reply to some of those that are started, we are all in this as a community and we have to put something back in the community pot from all the times we have been given help, assistance and just had someone to act as a  welcome ear for our troubles, the lack of user interaction is distracting me from the task I have set out to achieve and I want you all to help me ensure the whole of the community stays vocal and working together in the creation and implementation of  plans for the future.

Now's a good time to fire up those resting fingers folks 

[White Stripes]

without any newcomers (which is understandable) and a slow 'leak' of users off the network i think this site is... kinda end-of-life .... it'll spring back when beta 2 is released tho... ...i think we might need a beta 1.5 tho...

[Trestor]

For my part this forum is on my daily visit list so I'm still active in that way. I don't know much of anything so haven't anything interesting to post. I hope there is a pick up in activity that will benefit everyone.

[GhostShip]

beta 1.5 eh Stripes 

It is a bit annoying from my side of the fence to know that a lot of the bugs are crossed off the list but some are not and I dont want folks disappointed, we are going to try for another release on the usual date but its been slow and hard this year because we have less coders than last year and this is impacting the project in a big way, a "crash" effort is being undertaken to tidy up the beast for its next release and I hope that will resolve some of the annoyances, I too find it hard to decide if I should post some news or spend that time on the client and thats sort of why I posted above, I dont want the site to die while we are working on a cure for the networks malady, and thats why we need help to stimulate folks neurons into some light but crucial activity.

Thank you both for replying btw It might seem nothing to either of  you but I needed to hear what others have to say about the road ahead and its always helpful to hear from you both 

[NISSE]

Ghostship are you serious saying folks should come here
and post crap like you about torrents and people moving jails.

No, folks come here for winmx news the clue is in the title of the forum.

When was the last time an update on the new client was posted?
I bet it wont be done this year and you will still expect folks to hang around.

You have abused folks patience and you say you cant make up your mind
whether to post your usual crap or work on the new client - staggering.

Well its a no brainer just have a poll and see for yourself.
I suspect I will be banned for disagreeing as thats the way here isnt it.

[GhostShip]

I have never banned you regardless of the fact this is the third name you are using to post with "Joanne", lets make that clear from the onset.

I agree folks might well come here for WinMX news and events but my point in posting is that its all of our job to deliver that content I'm not here to entertain you even if that's what you might feel about my role here.

I think the last time I posted any news about the client was some months ago when the april beta release date was missed due to something key being broken still, I really cant see where your coming from with your claims of abusing folks patience, as I have asked you on at least two occasions what have you done for this community and look at the delay when I had to take time out from the client building to work on opennap documentation, something you said you would help me with in a PM when I last said theres work to be done, are you really saying you couldn't copy and paste stuff into a notepad to save me doing all of the work myself ?

That took 6 weeks of my time to create but now its there for anyone to read over thus saving the next poor guy a lot of time, the same as the WPN protocol work I have done is there for the folks that are capable of making usage of it , what you should be asking your self is why are you not taking part and assisting the effort or is the whole of the effort down to a handful while those who "can help but cant be bothered to" types are over content to sit about idly and complain about those actually doing something.

Please note folks that some of you have assisted the effort and helped where possible but those few good folks are in the minority, I am fully aware that we are fighting a losing battle at this rate of progress but that's never been an excuse to give in and throw in the towel to scummy attackers, "Joanne" might do that but i wont but I also know that some of you want to know how you can help make the best usage of the resources we have and this topic is for you folks, I need folks to post news suggest things they want to see and discuss how to improve the site , basically to look after this place while the staff are busy, if you can do that we gain more time to work on the client and trust me we need every minute, I thank those of you who have helped and look forward to thanking more of you in the future,  we can work our way out of the current mess but only as a community and together 

[NISSE]

I did indeed offer my services and the last PM was from myself
asking for further instructions as I didnt understand the task.


Also why is logging on here made so difficult?

[silicon_toad2000]

what's difficult about logging on?

[GhostShip]

Surely you understand from my posts that I am rather in need of assistance and not for my own sake ?

I think you looked at the task and felt overwhelmed tbh I sometimes feel the same but I did ask and I did end up doing the work myself , I haven't slacked off and I am still doing work even though its been a damn long time since we got the project started, that alone should tell you to fire your cannons at others and not myself, I don't enjoy being a pain to anyone but I also wont sit still and let folks try to throw rocks at me while i'm working for us all.

You did at least make the offer and that's something good, I might well have been at fault for assuming you would just be able to jump in on the openap materials but with time so short I saw the fastest way ahead was to just bite the bullet and get on with it, all I'm basically saying is theres little point in taking pot shots at me as that's a negative activity, we can reach the end of the road and more hands will make the work faster.

[NISSE]

I agree ghost and my offer of help still stands but I feel I lack the required skills.

Toad the login procedure here is a pain as expressed by others here.

[silicon_toad2000]

What's hard about putting in your username and password? Most browsers will even remember them for you?

[NISSE]

Not just that toad but at least 3 questions plus the type what you see thing 

[GhostShip]

Sounds like I'm lucky to be on the staff here   

[silicon_toad2000]

you mean the registration? most people only have to register once.
it's no more difficult than a lot of sites, simple bot challenges.

[GhostShip]

*BUMP*

Come on folks lets see some activity, its a serious distraction for me to see the site sitting idle when I know theres folks who have the ability to bring something to the table or help the community, its not just the next guys job its yours (yes you reading this).

If you want direct guidance first of all we need to get some news posting going on as we need folks to get used to visiting the site so when we are ready to work as a commuynity en masse we have the userbase to undertake such activity, atm we are allowing many to fall by the way-side instead of exploring ways to hold our community together, ask yourselves do we want to watch from the sidelines when all this will mean is that we too will join the exodus simply because apathy took over and we all decided it was someone elses problem, its not, its your problem and mine and any one else using winmx, lets work as a team/group/collective, theres only a few of us here whom are covering a lot of area, once again I ask you all to do your bit and look to what you can do and how that can inspire others to do like-wise, special days, competitions and other community events dont just make themselves happen, they are pre planned, will anyone go the neccessary next mile to help save our dwindling community ?

What about it folks ?

[wonderer]

IMHO you should take a peek at forum hits and only then start to worry when the hit numbers start falling.
The user base is far stronger than you might think and extends far beyond the regular forum visitors.
This is not to suggest there should be no activity at all, but most of us will jump into activity when the new child is born.
don't worry, we are still here and waiting to get the train rolling as we did when winmx servers closed in 2004 

[GhostShip]

I am concerned we wont have the infrastructure in place when we need it Wonderer, I do keep and eye on both the forum and the network itself and its always been my contention that a healthy forum reflects a healthy network, atm i am seeing damage occuring in both spheres and thus I am sounding a warning we all need to spend a small portion of our collective time thinking ahead and planning, I dont have the time to lead from the front and havent had for some time now, Silicon has taken on most of the roles I used to cover here thankfully but we need the community to become further involved prior rather than after we get OurMX finished and doing its bit for us all.

[wonderer]

Though I see what you mean, it will almost be the same big surprise when the new client is released as it has been a big surprise when Frontcode announced to close the servers. Still there were many users active when it was needed. Don't you think it will be different this time?
All I could think of now is if we need people to localize manuals or application, it might be time to start to collect these people and provide them with things to translate.
May be the forum needs one or more moderator extra, but those will soon be found.

[GhostShip]

I hope so Wonderer, confidence is not high at this time that we have the will power within the community to bring us back from the brink of terminal apathy I feel is approaching us. We have some time ahead but I urge folks to organise themselves and I shall go back to my part of the work in the hope that when we are ready we have the folks in place to take advantage of  it.