[General Topics] Mazda:
- Should developers be able to moderate their own threads?

Yes. All developers should be allowed to moderate their own threads until they prove that they can't be trusted to do so. Trust is important if there's any truth to trying to make XDA a better place for developers. A place where developers not only feel comfortable but they know that the rules apply to everyone not just to those that the moderators have a hard on for.

- How should moderators deal with "annoying" users? What should they do when individual developers don't think we're doing enough to control a problem?

For one I think moderators should show developers that they have our backs and not rush to judgement and label us the bad guys.

By this I mean not just say 'we support developers' and then come down hard on us for petty things. A lot of times users pick our buttons and say dumb things and really get us to blow up because they know that once a moderator shows up, they're not going to look at all the little things the user said or did. They're not going to look at the user's attitude BUT they're going to look at the end result. They're going to look at when the developer said enough is enough and told that user where they can go. Users know that as long as they're not using profanity, they can annoy the living hell out of developers. They know they can rate our threads 1 star and we're just suppose to stay there and take it. Moderators need show to these types of users that when it comes down to it, they have our back. This is a developer site, no? Let's start showing that is a developer site and not a glorified tech support website for users.

If moderators show developers and truly show it not just say it or put it as part of your signature on here, you won't have a problem with developers thinking that you're not doing enough. Also, NOT being so secretive about everything will go a long way. Telling the developer that you've done this and done that to try to fix the problem will show that you the moderator actually gives a rat's ass about them and not putting things in auto pilot.

- Should we allow donation requests? In what form?

This is horrible to even consider. Being on the site for a while, I remember when developers were doing things just to do it. Go look at some of the window mobile threads. They were putting things out and working with each other and not once did you see someone post up a paypal link in their changelog or in their signature. It was done because they loved doing things. They loved working with other developers to make their devices that much better.

Today you have developers fighting with each other and competing with one another to see how can get more donations. The one that adds more features into their ROM gets more donations. Developers not wanting to work with each other because if they do, they have to split the donations and is just less for them. You guys agree to let developers whore out even more on the donations and get ready for even more fights. Get ready for even more fragmentation. Get ready for even more repo sync warriors disrespecting developers by putting out repo sync builds with paypal links in the changelog and in their signature because you know, 'help development' and whatever bs excuse they use to whore out on donations.

- Should we require a developer to get permission before using another developer's work? What happens when one developer is unhappy about the use of his work by another developer?

I think most developers could care less if their work is used in a ROM or different project. The problem is when a repo sync warrior syncs up your work, compiles it and then rushes to XDA to post it. They post it sometimes before you could even have a go at it or they do it with the intention of pulling donations EVEN tho you may not ask for donations. They rush to XDA to post builds of officially supported devices and in turn adds to the problem. Now you have users on some bs thread annoying you via email, G+, pm, twitter, email, etc about some thing that you may still be working on but because of this guy who rushed to XDA to post your work, now you have to address bugs on unfinished work.

This is what gets most developers mad about this certain thing. We see this and we report it and are sometimes told that there's nothing that can be done. We get told that is open sourced and that we just need to suck it up. This happens because most moderators are not developers. They haven't invested any time in actually developing something themselves so they don't know how annoying it is to have your work posted before you even get a change to announce it. They don't truly value it. So to answer your question, yes I think getting permission would cut down on repo sync warriors.

If a developer is unhappy aboput the use of his work, he or she probably has a legit reason and it should be heard the developer committee not be a final decision by a forum moderator that may or may not even be a developer themselves. YES, being a developer and actually ruling down on developer issues is very important. Is like making decisions for someone or something you don't truly understand. I'm not saying that every situation is going to go our way but at the very least it shows the developer that their situation was handled correctly and not put on auto pilot by a moderator that just doesn't care. Remember, trust and showing developers that you truly have their back goes a long way here if you guys are actually serious about fixing your mistakes.

That last one is the toughest, and it has historically caused all sort of arguments, anger, and even rage-quitting by devs-- who think we don't respect their work-- and even mods who feel like they are trying their best but are never appreciated.

What we want to do is publicly reset the discussion. For now, let's ignore the current rules of XDA (including the oft-argued-about rule 12) and try to discuss what our rules *should* be. Hopefully everyone will see that there are two very legitimate sides of this argument where reasonable people can disagree. What's worse-- each and every situation-- each accusation of kanging or code stealing or donation stealing-- is unique. Do we have the ability to investigate and police each one?

Putting moderators in place that actually know what they're talking about and not just yelling 'GPL' and 'Open source' for every issue will be a start. The problem here is that they're too many non-developer types in moderator roles. If the moderator is a developer then he or she doesn't have to run to that senior moderator or wait for a moderator that's a developer to review cases. He or she can easily go in and see if the code is kanged or not. They can grep things and get to the core of the problem and make a ruling on the issue.

So maybe stop promoting people because they're this 'good guy' and have a 'good heart' and actually start looking at their technical background more. Yes, being a good guy and stuff like that matters BUT when you promote a guy that doesn't have a clue what the GPL is, that's a problem. I've come across a few moderators and even some senior moderators that I had to sit there and explain to them that the GPL doesn't apply to every piece of software out there. YES, this may be silly but is happened before. You guys are promoting a bunch of saints to the mod ranks but these saints don't know their head from their back end.

- What if Dev 2 made some small tweaks to the code?

Making string changes shouldn't allow the repo sync warrior to post 'their' work. This is like if I take SuperSU, decompile it with apktool and change it to SuperSuperSU and then try to post it on here. Being that Chainfire is loved by the community and a senior mod on here, I would probably get my ass ripped apart. So if I can't take Super SU and change the app name string then how come a repo sync warrior can do the same with my work?

- What if Dev 2 made some big tweaks?

If they've made huge changes then more power to them! Let them have at it! That's what open source is TRULY about! I have no issues there.

- What if Dev 2 acted as if the code was his and aggressively solicited donations?

Then XDA would probably give them a RD title. This happens every day on here! There's too many donation whores on here. They take CM, change some strings, add in that viper4android crap and call it 'Whatever OS'. We've all seen their threads. There's donations everywhere. A huge paypal button the button and even a link in the changelog. The change starts with you guys. If moderators are looking the other way on this then is always going to be a problem.

This kind of problem has been reported a number of times but nothing ever changes.

- What if dev2 gave proper credit, but still solicited donations?

In my opinion if the original developer is not asking for donations then the repo sync warrior shouldn't ask for donations. Unless HUGE changes are made to the code then is not your code and you shouldn't be allowed to whore out for donations.

- What if Dev 2 posted buggy, in-process code that Dev 1 wasn't ready to release?

I spoke about this already but posting WIP work is the #1 thing that pisses off developers on here. If something is being worked on and you want to try it out then compile it for yourself. Contribute to the project but don't go all glory hound on the developer and post it on XDA because you want to boost up your thanks meter or whore out for donations. YES, technically the moderators are not going to say **** to you but is still shady af.

Let developers post their work first. They've earned that right!

- What if Dev 2 changed the name of the ROM?

As said earlier, source code can be looked upon and further actions can be taken after checking.

If is just string changes then it should not be allowed. Technically the license allows for this but is petty and discourages a lot of developers from posting their work. It devalues the time spend on the work. You see it alot on here. Kangers getting praised for **** while real developers get told they're this and that.

I've seen my work get compared to kangs a number of times and users say that the kang was better than mines even tho it was just a few string changes and them adding kernel auditor or some bs app.

- What if Dev 1 has previously given verbal permission but now wants to revoke that permission?

If Dev1 wants to revoke permission, this must be stated in words and should be visible to everyone. Verbal permissions are always hit and miss.

People change their minds all the time. I think if a developer is going to revoke permissions then he or she would have a valid reason and the moderators should honor it if the reason is valid.

All that said, I don't expect anything to really change. This is the same dance we've gone to before. XDA acts like they give a damn, some senior moderator or maybe if we're lucky a admin says 'we'll consider everything blah blah blah thanks' and we never heard from any of this.