[About XDA developers] Russ741:
analogies and other drivel...

First off please excuse me a moment while I say; "Hi" to my two old mates, Fallen Spartan and EGZThunder1, haven't spoken to you guys in a while. Hope you are all well over in the Mod Threads. And thanks for banning that guy; if I still had my hammer I would have been a bit quicker on the drop.

Okay to business;

1. Just what is this word: 'Kang'? As I recall XDA users are to post in ENGLISH and not in some made up language. Shall we translate Kang to...Stole? as in stolen?

2. I have known and worked with Sergio for several years, in fact I was there when HE asked the mods to assist him when someone blatantly used all his hand drawn icons in a custom ROM without permission or credit. All Sergio asked for was credit and that anyone who wanted to use his work to ask first. I will stand up an vouch for the honor and integrity of Sergio. And as an aside, Mod Committee; you guys all know that Sergio and I are friends. Would it have been a really bad idea to PM me for a character reference?

3. I like to put things in to really simple terms and use a lot of analogies when I speak, so if you would indulge me;

I see this issue (the bigger issue not the Sergio one) like this.

A. My neighbor has a very nice table saw. I need to build a tree house for my kids. I approach John and ask him if I may borrow his table saw. "Sure." John says. I take the saw home and commence building a tree house. I realize I need a different blade so off to the shoppes I go and get a nice DADO blade. I return to working on my project and my other neighbor Rich stops by and says; "Wow, Russ that is a really nice table saw!". I reply, "Yes it is, I borrowed it from John and put this really cool DADO blade on it". When I am finished with the tree house I return the saw to John and tell him I added the DADO blade which he is free to use. When Rich stops by to see the tree house I tell him; "I couldn't have built it without John's fancy table saw".

B. My neighbor has a very nice table saw. I need to build a tree house for my kids. My neighbor goes to the bar (pub) and leaves his garage door open. I run in and take the saw. Then I go to the shoppes and get a fancy DADO blade and commence to build my tree house. John comes home and realizes the saw is missing but hears a saw next door. He comes over and accuses me of stealing his. "No John this is not your saw, see it has this DADO blade that your's doesn't have therefore it can't possibly be yours". John calls the police, who ask John to prove it is his. John points out the scratches on the legs from all the years of use, and the broken wheel on the leg where he dropped it last year. I point out that I have had this saw in the basement for many years and just now got it out to build this tree house. I also dropped mine and broke the wheel but I did that today. The police decide that John is telling the truth so they give the saw to him and give me a court date for stealing.

C. My neighbor has a very nice table saw. I need to build a tree house for my kids. I go down to the shoppes and buy the same saw my neighbor has and a DADO blade. I commence to build my tree house, later John storms into my yard accusing me of stealing his table saw because he just came home from the bar (pub) and heard/saw a saw like his in my yard. He is adamant that this is his saw, I point out that this saw is brand new, has a DADO blade, has no scratches marks or broken wheels and the box is right over there in the rubbish bin. John calls the police who arrive and say that perhaps John should look in his garage before accusing his neighbors. John looks in his garage and finds his own saw right where he left it.

Moral:

A. This is the XDA definition of Sharing. Ask, give credit and if you change it let the originator use it.

B. This is theft (Kang?) no one was asked and the thief tried to cover up the event.

C. This is an embarrassment. Just because mine is just like yours does not mean I stole it from you. Or put another way 1+1=2 if there is only one way to solve a problem everyone will arrive at the same conclusion in the same way.

Summary:

Do I support the 'everything is free, take what you want' model? No of course not, that's not sharing that's theft. I support RESPECT, camaraderie and sharing. I also have a really soft spot for common sense and logic. If I spell the same words the same way you do does that mean I Kanged them from you?

You CANNOT own a MOD! You CAN own original art work, themes, etc. But if you are simply changing a setting in a config file or a some other setting (I am not a Dev can you tell?) that is no different than letting my 7y/o loose on one of my Visio files. The Devs muck about and find different settings, adjustments etc that may or may not be 'better', keeping in mind that better is a RELATIVE term. Better for you may not be better for me. If I let Charlie (the 7y/o) loose with one of my 200 hour Visio drawings, he would muck about and turn a data center drawing into Lightening McQueen. He would then say; "look Pop I made it better". I would scramble for a back up copy.

Ok, I have ranted more tonight than I have in a year or more, the final point is pretty simple.

Sharing and Stealing are very different beasts. Common sense should be rule 1 in moderating. Before passing judgement on someone, look at the whole picture, how long as this person been here, what has he/she contributed? Is this the first time someone has reported a post?

I truly miss the old XDA, when you could ask a question and not get 30 people telling you to F*** off and "you're a n00b". My first ROM came from Faria on my Wizard while on a business trip. I loved my new Windows 5.0 phone but it was slow and I knew somewhere someone had found a way to make it better. I posted endlessly it seemed asking, learning, helping. I had a run in with the mod squad a few years later, so I decided that the best way to fix what I saw as a problem was to become a moderator and I did. I was asked to write the rules of XDA, the marketplace and finally the Ethos. I loved what I was doing, I felt like every hour I spent here was helping someone to make their device better, like Faria did for me all those years ago. Unfortunately, my 'real life' got in the way and I had to retire my Modship. Now, I seldom post, I still flash a ROM now and then or beta test some code. But mostly I watch my beloved XDA degrade into a sewer pit of verbal abuse, children with no home training, and entitled teens who think they OWN everything they see. (remember the guy that got banned on this thread?)

That's my bit, thanks for reading.

Russ