[General Topics] quicksite:
QUESTION: How to cover the holes? How to get site Vets to participate here and help?

Livven, thank you. I was going back through my PMs to find him, because we had corresponded. Yes, that's him.

Let me ask you a set general questions, since you are participating in this thread. You joined XDA in AUg 2009, about 6 months ago, so I think you could verify this:

I've been at XDA for 3+ years... while a number of people have been at XDA for 5, 6, or more years. As with everything in life, the universe of data, threads, information grows more huge with each year. For me, I came to XDA to get my phones to work way better. But that process took well over a year... it took 3. It took many many months, for me, just to orient myself to the site, its vastness, where certain discussions take place, where's the right place to post for XXXXXXXXX or YYYYYYYY, and hardest of all, what is Hard SPL, how do you do it, and then learning to understand conventions that were solidly in use but which just baffled me.

Case in point: It took me a long time to understand "what is TouchFlo?" --

Now I use this case study to get at this point: The site veterans of course know all this stuff, and they've long ago mastered the art of modding their phones, and by 2007 they've modding MANY phones, not just one, and they've created many ROMS, and they've also created apps and utilities. So a pretty large population number of this site know WHAT is WHAT. what is new, what's been around for 5 year or longer... And they continue on at XDA for multiple reasons: (A) they love it, (B), they are still developing and tweaking their own phones, (C) they like helping newbies discover the joys of the kingdom.

So: having said all of this, I knew of this mountain-top view looking down on the vast island of XDA... And thus I knew how much I still did not know, and almost COULDN'T POSSIBLY know, because every day time rolls on and new roms are release in various phone threads, and new apps created by people in those phone-specific threads -- eventually bubbling up into more general awareness at OTHER phone device sets of forums.

And for anyone who's been, like me, immersed in the "just getting my phones to work in a way I'd like them to", I almost NEVER EVER come to these GENERAL forums because why would I? I have limited time and 90% of that time on XDA is driven by EMAIL NOTIFICATIONS that there's a new reply in one of 50 threads I may be subscribed to. So I never had the luxury of time to come browse the whole hierarchy of forums and just go looking around for "what else is here?".

And that is the problem I face right now in trying to ask the site members to fill in the still many holes in these categories.

It's a conundrum/enigma that has no ready-made solution... And yes of course I understand that some of the people naysaying this project are looking on the sidelines going

I'm a pretty smart guy and yes I knew out the gate I would get a good amount of this. And it would all be passive. They wouldn't be actively saying these things directlky within the thread. They'd be saying it indirectly by not participating, and either ignoring it all-together, or enjoying watching the struggle of trying to properly collect the names of all of the major contributors to making our lives just a little bit better by making these amazing phones a lot better.

So, here is why I am presenting this to you specifically: Because I am aware of each and every person who voted in that 5-day poll in December, expressing their view if this project. I was not then and am not now bothered by any perspective offered... Just the opposite. I wanted to know how people felt, so that I could get feedback to try to address any and all problems that came up, and just try to push through it all, knowing that to jumpstart and rapidly ramp up a project like this has untold number of problems just waiting to be discovered.

Yet YOU are an example of someone who changed his mind, and switched into "participant and help" mode, vs "it won't work" mode. I know without even clicking the links on the poll that you were either in the "there's not enough time" category, or "you haven't layed out a well thought out process". And so I just want to add my thanks to you for jumping in; you've been very helpful. And thanks also for "stealing this banner" to help spread the request for more posts for nominations. For your 6 months here, you've got a good handle on parts of the vast landscape here.

Finally: I would still like and passionately request that site veterans, especially moderators, and even moreso especially people who have already been identified and listed in these emerging Nomination Lists, please come post here and help fill in the blanks. Every day I remember or come across names that are like "Ach! How could I have forgotten THIS person? This person does comprehensive reviews of all browsers, and of various other software comparisons, and tests them all thorouighly, and writes the details and posts them here for us to all benefit from. He's a Mod here. He also develops utilities and great functions like "cut & paste" on all java browsers... using an innovative pass-through to his own website. Most would know his name just from this description.

And I should add I am also well aware of what another retort might be from some XDA members:

And my answer to that would be: So please add those names! I have been very intentional in my descriptions of these "awards" as being not about competition of one dev against another -- which is NOT the spirit of XDA... but rather about recognition... And a driving sense that the INDUSTRY focuses on for-pay, nice, shiny, packaged apps who often advertise on the online magazine sites and appear completely clueless about where such a large percentage of innovation and functional solutions come from. Which is why I set out to establish a peer-to-peer recognition system... one that I believe will ultimately, in years to come, have way more value and respect than a Smartphone badge saying "top ten of 2009 business productivity apps".

So, any ideas on how to get this much needed input of other names that clearly belong here?

(thanks to anyone who put up with this long editorial request)...

quicksite, in San Francisco, CA