[General Topics] rainabba:
Are you off your soapbox yet?

This post really irritates me. I'm not exactly new to XDA-Developers and until this thread came along, I had NO reason to believe the site was HTC only. Given, aside from my MotoQ (which did receive some attention here), all my handsets were HTC so there wasn't much reason for that fact to become evident, it remains that the site isn't called htc-developers.com and I never owned an XDA, but even if I had, as I understand it, that was ONE handset and doesn't imply the site is locked to one manufacturer. So your assumption that all us Droid owners knew is quite wrong and as a result, you set a tone in that response that makes me want to disregard the rest before I even evaluate it.

Why you mention the fact that HTC builds lots of Android phones is beyond me. I'm sure most every frequent user here will admit to chasing the "best" handsets as they come out. I'm so bad about it that I've switched carriers twice now so I really don't care who the manufacturer is. That's one of the reasons I personally don't see why adding a Droid section is such a big deal. If the community is buying the phone, developers are working with it, and people need a place to collaborate, why should it matter if it's HTC or Motorola? Should we setup seperate drinking fountains and classrooms for people based on the manufacturers of their handsets too?

You said yourself, this site was built by "A group of people who wanted to make their phones better", not their "HTC phones" though that may be the case, it's not clear to many people obviously, and even if that was the intent, that isn't a reason to maintain that position. Of course the site owner maintains the right to make such decisions, the fact is that this site is key to the mobile community so she also has some responsibility to make decisions that are good for the community. If she neglects to do that, eventually someone else (AllDroid.org) will pick up the slack, the community will adjust, and if anyone suffers in the long run, it will be her, her wallet, and/or her reputation in the community.

I don't doubt that some people have gone too far, but I'm really not sure where people have "treated the site owner as their bi***". I HAVE seen many people, make valid points about why a Droid thread makes sense. Some have been a bit more emotional about it than was necissary, but then again, people have invested a lot of time into this site and now feel like they're being displaced. That's going to create some strong responses.

Your point about expenses is valid in general, but not a point of argument in this case unless I've missed something. If cost was a motivator here, she could very easily ask for donations to offset the expense. I know for fact that close to $1000.00 USD have been donated already toward Droid efforts and given my professional position, I know VERY well what the added expenses would be like for the additional load on the site. Even a small donation fund would more than cover that. Despite that fact, and since you clearly haven't noticed, this site is funded at least in large, by advertising so it's a mute point.

I agree people need to be respectful when voicing their opinions and requests, but that goes for you as well and I think your post was quite rude and disrepectful for "all us Droid owners".