[T-Mobile, Samsung Galaxy SIII] k00zk0:
At least one developer I started arguing with, about what he is doing with his ROM, let me know that the ROM is just for him and nobody else. He told me to GTFO his thread and started deleting my posts that summarized a hundred pages of user comments/requests/complains. Apparently this community is not always about devs releasing great free software for the users. What is it for? This developer took the torch.apk out of his ROM and has has it missing for months. Everyone complains on his thread. The best part is that there is actually a quick toggle button as well as a homescreen widget for the torch. But, nothing happens when you press it. The user has to actually manually take an old apk and put it in, and most don't know how to do this. They'll flash the ROM, see it's broken, and move on elsewhere.

The dev says "hurr you can download a torch app from the play store" What? Well then why are there nonfunctional buttons? Using an app for torch is like having to open the glovebox of your car to reach the switch for your headlights. What is he thinking?

XDA is a project manager's nightmare. It's everyones nightmare actually. It is mostly INCREDIBLE work that a huge company like Samsung couldn't put together themselves. But, some threads/roms and their development path are so ridiculously ridiculous, I can't think of another word. Stupid, maybe.

Some ROMS add so much productivity and functionality to the device that I'd pay (and I'm sure others would too) $20 to have a license to use it. Sort of like buying your OS for your pc such as windows 7. But, people would actually pay since the dev is running on caffeine fumes and free time. The entire potential to market and turn a great ROM into something actually commonly used is sometimes destroyed by such stupid decisions, like leaving torch out. Or making horrible boot screens. Or giving up on versions that are 99.5% complete and debugged just because the next Android 4.4 just came out.

Cyanogenmod has it right. They market correctly, the ROM's are complete and they appeal, and there are no deal-breakers. They include old, stable versions for download which are what users actually want.

It's as if the ROMS, install instructions, discussion threads, etc. are made for the purpose so that computer/cell phone techs can market and charge people for these services. The end users don't know they exist and if they find it, how to install them. There are at least 5 people in my city that advertise on classifieds ad websites, their service of making certain models like some of the Galaxy Notes work on the less expensive AWS carriers. All they do is flash a ROM/baseband that unlocks the AWS capabilities of the chips. They charge 30 bucks.

I encourage everyone to get personal with your ROM's dev and ask who or what they develop for. Tell them what you want and what it's worth. Is it worth $2 to you for them to brush up a few details? Release each build odexed? Don't forget they've put hundreds or thousands of hours of work into it already. Perhaps we can expand this market to appeal to more users. Literally none of my friends, even the techies, run a custom ROM on their phone. They all complain of this or that being wrong as well (all correctable with a custom ROM). None know of the productivity boost that DPI-switching or tablet-mode affords. I'm sure they'd pay for it if they knew the benefits.

I actually used to read the features list of ROMS and see "fully deodexed!" and think, "Great!, some factor that will increase performance!". Why is this version being offered to end-users? Am I supposed to mod it further with my own branding, and odex it and start selling my own proprietary phones with it? Host the odexed version front and center, and place the deodexed one in the back for the few that want to edit something.