[Fascinate General] nitsuj17:
im sure this will be a long ramble, so bare with me

first and foremost there several issues here:

1. the reaction/action of end users in forum threads and posts

2. the perceived "dev-snob"

3. lack of welcoming of a new "dev" by existing ones (really 2 and 3 can go together)

4. what makes someone a "developer" and the downward spiral in skill level of those who "develop"

(notice i put develop and developer in quotes a lot)

for starters there are often times here on xda (and other places) where there is blatant trolling and arguing in threads. In some cases its actually pretty funny, with light hearted jabs at one another, other times its pointless and wrong. ive been in my share of arguments and flame wars with people posting ridiculous stuff in my threads before (many of those said folks are now perma banned from here) and admittedly ive poked my nose in where it probably didnt belong in others' threads.

all in all i think the mods do an ok job of walking the line of enforcement. we've done ok with those who have moderated the fascinate forums...some of the other phones have mods who...well i wont say something ill regret :rolleyes:

as to the "dev-snob" statement...yeah sure, there does tend to be a period of adjustment or questioning or confusion by existing rom/kernel/mod "devs" when someone pops out of nowhere and starts releasing stuff...the majority of the time, once a person proves their abilities, skills, or are generally a nice person who wants to learn or work with you that period of questioning dies down and all is well...more often than not though, people don't pop out of nowhere...they are forum or irc regulars who have expressed interest in working on stuff or theyre more well known on another device, and we are just getting acquainted with them

but there is the rare occasion (which seems to be the case the last month or two here) where an individual started their entrance into the community with a plethora of hype threads, posts, and otherwise where they claimed their "long awaited rom" would soon becoming. this is annoying enough, but when the long awaited works put out are nothing to really shake a stick at, ie just differently themed existing roms with placebo mods or completely inexplicable things done (market apps in /system/ on an aosp rom) it further irritates others.

imo thats getting off on the wrong foot

furthermore its gotten worse...insane claims that border on delusional have become the norm, ie: hybrid ios/webos roms for the fascinate! 245/23rds of the community use my roms! i dont remember making this thread! the rom will be out tomorrow...i mean the day after...i mean 2013!

or just examples of n00bness that would otherwise be fine (decompiling a jar anyone?) if not for the surrounding hype associated to one's abilities

in the past fascinate devs havent always gotten along...i think anyone around in the spring knows that tsm and friends didnt particularly get along with nitro for many reasons that i wont get into atm...but on the whole collaboration is frequent, legitimate friendships or at least good relationships amongst others are common as well.

now what makes a developer? i put that term in quotes so often because what who we classify as a developer is quite misleading really. I know at times ive considered myself as one or stated it as such (usually when irritated about something), but honestly by any real characterization as such im not..nor is scores of others who are considered in a similar way.

at best, most of us are modders/kangers who are good with comparing code created by smarter individuals than ourselves and then applying the differences to create newer/better/different roms etc. this is especially true to those of who work specifically on skin roms (touchwiz, sense, etc) because..the rom already exists, we just package a bunch of these mods in, clean it up and throw it out.

now that is an over simplification, and its actually a harder process than i make it sound, but its true.

now for folks who build aosp and kernels, id be more inclined to consider them a developer...linux adept individuals who build os/roms from scratch or at least with heavy contributions by themselves...again thats not the case for everyone, as just building a kernel from someone's source with some undervolt or overclock tweaks isnt much different than hacking a stock rom.

the same can be said for someone who compiles aosp from again, someone else source and makes minimal changes to it (theme, shoving some apps in, changing launchers)

no less than adrynalyne, doesnt even really consider himself a developer and is constantly brushing aside that tag :o

in the earlier stages of android (g1 through say the early og inc/evo4g days) the individuals who worked on roms and kernels were generally people who were either self taught with linux, went to school for something in the computer field, or worked in it.

since then (myself included) individuals who gradually got into rooting, and running custom roms and themes etc have come on the scene. i personally have no computer background and hadnt heard of linux until i got an android phone...eventually wanting to put different themes on my phone got me into understanding the structure of a rom (like many others have started out) and from there I got more involved.

the problem with this is, there is generally a mindset or chip on the shoulder that a lot of newer folks carry, and imagine themselves more important or greater than they really are...some of these individuals (and even those from the beginnings, cant execuse all of them) are great at self promoting and gathering supporters...just look at a certain other samsung phone on verizon, where an individual has become incredibly popular for releasing *throms* with little mods..but i digress

to me, a great majority of said folks can be snakes, begging for donations or notoriety or their own little version of fame

anyway, ive gotten off the beaten path and covered stuff that wasnt asked by the op...hope ive made *some* sense in some parts anyway :confused:

theres something to be commended for wanting to help out and get involved...but the term chopper coined says it well: "lurk, learn, and stfu"

hang around, gradually learn stuff, and keep quiet while doing so