[AT&T Samsung Galaxy Note I717] Jamesyboy:
If you didn't make or modify what's being installed....it's not original. The only thing you've done, is to do a-- hypothetically speaking-- translation. If you wrote the book, it's original.

There are two ways to look at this: For instance, if Paranoid Android's makes a ROM, and does something unique, it goes in Original. No matter which device it's for, if Paranoid Android did it, it's original, since he made it. This is the "Original Development" aspect of it. The "Galaxy Note Original Development" aspect of it translate to-- if Bumpaloo Makerfists made a ROM (called Bungalow Mowtower) for the Galaxy Note, it'd belong in Original...but if he then brought it to another device, it wouldn't be original? Because it was original to the Galaxy Note.

The second makes absolutely no sense at all...i can't even fathom that this would be a reality. The first makes sense. You wrote the book? Original.

If you took the "book", and then brought it to a country where it's never been before, it doesn't make you the author. Therefore it's not an Original. It's more like a cliff-notes--where the notes are by so-and-so, and the author of the book is Bumpaloo Makerfists. (But we have a credit system, which is why this is absolutely. unnecessary.

This provides zero additional value, at a painful cost-- extra work for the users....all users; developers and consumers alike. Which is proven by the fact that anyone at all has taken the time to comment in this thread, and that anyone has read this. If it wasn't obvious to everyone where the particular piece of work belongs, others will have no idea where to look for it. You guys have failed. This is ultimately bad for developers, bad for users, and bad for XDA...while you might get more page views because of people clicking around, aimlessly looking for something, or trying to monitor something, the fluff slaughters the perceived value of the site.

I absolutely hate the change. I see that XDA is trying to give people who go above and above and beyond and beyond their own space, and maybe even a few extra brownie points, but this is a joke. The whole concept.

XDA is the first site i've seen to dedicate entire sections to certain devices, and navigation has been key to it's success. What i don't see, is how this is good for the users at all.

Just like Dag and Others, some have taken work from multiple people, doing far more work than the sum of it's parts, and sometimes more than the other developers, creating something with more value than the sum of its parts. The "original" distinction bears no added value, especially if nobody actually knows what original is...(something the community gets to decide. I think, in fact, it does the opposite. It denegrates the work of others, discounting the effort-- for if it's easy to do, most developers will do it. Sometimes it takes a guy who absolutely needs CM on his device, now, to get something great going. For instance, with our device, as soon as someone took the time to get things moving a bit, there were 3-4 ROMs up based on CM9 within 2 weeks.

Enough from me.

Peace.

---------- Post added at 11:03 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:55 PM ----------

I thought i might add....this isn't your software XDA!!! You don't comply with the GPL! WE DO. You can force us to take things down, but you can't give credit for someone...have your moderators flame away, and flame people in public...but don't claim our work--for that's far worse than the actual flaming.

And i think the way this is worded is funny, I guess XDA is no longer a collection of techies and developers. I guess it's an entity that owns our work!

I don't intend for this to be confrontational...just a wake up call. Seriously, please consider this. I harbor no hate here--just a ton of love. And sadness at the direction it's heading.