Hire People

[The Neon Peon]

Concise description:

• Hire people, make them code some of the suggestions.

Specifics:

• Well, if you look in the *to do* list, you will find a list of things which will be added to the site. If you look closely, you will notice that many of them are from the year 2006, some from 2007, and the only thread from this year that remains to be done is from the start of the year.
• So, we have suggestions from 2 years ago which have not been done, and we have a forum designed to add more suggestions to the list. Okay, so once those 2 year old suggestions are started, we can start on the 1 year old suggestions, then we can start on the ones from this year. I think it is rather a long wait considering how many 2 year old suggestions there are.
• So, how about we hire some more members (or volunteers) and have them help write the code.

This will improve the following aspects of the site:

• Suggestions that are on the *to do* list will get done in the visible future.
• This forum will have meaning, since currently, any new suggestion that is added will add to the list, meaning it will never get done. (by never, I mean "not in a long time")

[Inhuman14]

I was totally thinking the same thing. Now Lack needs to decide... New yacht? Or happier gamers.... New yacht.

[The Neon Peon]

I was totally thinking the same thing. Now Lack needs to decide... New yacht? Or happier gamers.... New yacht.

Happier games + a few more years = several new yachts

[InkL0sed]

I think he could even find volunteers to do some of those things.

On the other hand, maybe not. It can be hard to read someone else's code.

[blakebowling]

I think he could even find volunteers to do some of those things.

On the other hand, maybe not. It can be hard to read someone else's code.

I volunteered to help with the coding of the new Tournament system. (Actually I wanted a year or so of free premium) But I was told that lack would be coding everything...

[knubbel]

great idea! let's put it on the "to do" list!

[MeDeFe]

great idea! let's put it on the "to do" list!

So in 4 years then when lack has that yacht?

[cspare]

I like the idea, hope we can convince lack. I'm pretty sure there will be some volounteers. That would include me:)
It would also be nice to update the officiel todo-list post so we can see what suggestions do have a chance. The post hasn't been touched in 3 months now.

[saraith]

In order for something like that to happen, lack would have to publish the source code somewhere, and figure out who he trusts with it. I would suspect that since he hasn't done so already, he's probably a bit paraniod about that kind of thing. (No offence, lack, but I worked in web hosting support for a long time, and I know that coders can be a rather paranoid lot when it comes to their creations)

Of course if it's not really a big deal, it'd be a relatively simple thing to make it a project at SourceForge, or some other development community. I'd suspect that there would be more volunteers that you could beat off with a stick, and would have the added bonus of having the site in a constant state of update.

[BeakerWMA]

Concise description:

• Hire people, make them code some of the suggestions.

Specifics:

• Well, if you look in the *to do* list, you will find a list of things which will be added to the site. If you look closely, you will notice that many of them are from the year 2006, some from 2007, and the only thread from this year that remains to be done is from the start of the year.
• So, we have suggestions from 2 years ago which have not been done, and we have a forum designed to add more suggestions to the list. Okay, so once those 2 year old suggestions are started, we can start on the 1 year old suggestions, then we can start on the ones from this year. I think it is rather a long wait considering how many 2 year old suggestions there are.
• So, how about we hire some more members (or volunteers) and have them help write the code.

This will improve the following aspects of the site:

• Suggestions that are on the *to do* list will get done in the visible future.
• This forum will have meaning, since currently, any new suggestion that is added will add to the list, meaning it will never get done. (by never, I mean "not in a long time")

Best. idea. ever.

[Optimus Prime]

While the idea makes complete sense as I know there are plenty of people that are skilled enough to do certain upgrades to the site as perhaps project-based employees, I highly doubt it will ever happen. I for one am probably skilled enough in CSS to make a valiant attempt at a reworking of the site layout and design, including color scheme, but I don't think Lack would pay me to do it under any circumstances.

[Kotaro]

Use volunteers then.

[Optimus Prime]

Use volunteers then.

My point remains. I don't think Lack will want to use a large group of people to do things. I think he likes to do it himself.

[The Neon Peon]

Use volunteers then.

My point remains. I don't think Lack will want to use a large group of people to do things. I think he likes to do it himself.

Do things?

Lets see... a whole lot of new maps... wait, the foundry people did that... the new ratings system... ah, yes, not exactly a success, is it... medals... okay, 1 thing done.

Can anyone think of anything else?

[blakebowling]

Use volunteers then.

My point remains. I don't think Lack will want to use a large group of people to do things. I think he likes to do it himself.

Do things?

Lets see... a whole lot of new maps... wait, the foundry people did that... the new ratings system... ah, yes, not exactly a success, is it... medals... okay, 1 thing done.

Can anyone think of anything else?

Lack didn't do the medals, The system is a MOD (offered on phpBB.com link), and WidowMakers made the images. Lack just edited files with the code changes.

[AndyDufresne]

Lack has been working a lot behind the scenes on upgrades and stream lining, and I know more of that is coming over the next month. But I do think some more traditional updates will be coming...

As for hiring people, lets watch these next couple of months.


--Andy

[n00blet]

Use volunteers then.

My point remains. I don't think Lack will want to use a large group of people to do things. I think he likes to do it himself.

Do things?

Lets see... a whole lot of new maps... wait, the foundry people did that... the new ratings system... ah, yes, not exactly a success, is it... medals... okay, 1 thing done.

Can anyone think of anything else?

How about making the whole damn site?

It amazes me how fast people want to just jump on the let's-hate-lack bandwagon. If you don't like it, make your own site.

On the subject of the suggestion though, it would probably be a nightmare organizing everything, but as is currently happening with Metroid Prime 2D, perhaps some sort of public contest would work, with one update chosen each month to be coded + installed if it is of high enough caliber.

[blakebowling]

It amazes me how fast people want to just jump on the let's-hate-lack bandwagon. If you don't like it, make your own site.

On the subject of the suggestion though, it would probably be a nightmare organizing everything, but as is currently happening with Metroid Prime 2D, perhaps some sort of public contest would work, with one update chosen each month to be coded + installed if it is of high enough caliber.

I'm not on the hate lack bandwagon (and I'm hoping this post wasn't directed at me). I was just posting the facts, not trying to discredit lack either, he is a good coder, but one good coder can't do it all.

[n00blet]

It amazes me how fast people want to just jump on the let's-hate-lack bandwagon. If you don't like it, make your own site.

On the subject of the suggestion though, it would probably be a nightmare organizing everything, but as is currently happening with Metroid Prime 2D, perhaps some sort of public contest would work, with one update chosen each month to be coded + installed if it is of high enough caliber.

I'm not on the hate lack bandwagon (and I'm hoping this post wasn't directed at me). I was just posting the facts, not trying to discredit lack either, he is a good coder, but one good coder can't do it all.

It wasn't

[cspare]

Use volunteers then.

My point remains. I don't think Lack will want to use a large group of people to do things. I think he likes to do it himself.

I don't think we can think for Lack, we can only argue why he should or should not assign some extra people.

I agree with you that this should not be done by a large group. It would be better to start with just one extra person, that'd almost double the productivity already.
I could imagine it would be difficult for lack to trust someone with all code, but I'm convinced alot of things can be implemented without having access to all of the code. In fact, alot of things could be implemented with only mininum amount of knowledge of the code.

Saying Lack likes to do things for himself isn't really true. E.g. the forum moderation is almost completely out of his hands and he has appointed several people for that task. I don't think appointing people to code some parts would be that different.

[lancehoch]

The site was just upgraded to phpBB 3.0.0. I do not know the specifics, but I am sure that some of the previous workarounds needed to be recoded for the new settings. This was a front-end change that is seen by all the users who visit the forums, so yes, lack has been working on changes.

[spiesr]

You mean phpBB 3.0.3.

[lancehoch]

Right...what he said.

[The Neon Peon]

I am not saying that lack has not been working.

But it appears that the to do list has only been growing, and the things that have been done to the site were not on it. (like the phpBB 3.0.3)

[AndyDufresne]

Topic split for clarity.


--Andy