[General Questions and Answers] bobsbbq:
Well there is a lot going on that people don't know about. And for those of you who are only end users to you it may sound like just a squabble because at the end of the day you are just a user getting stuff here basically for free. But users are not the only people here and things get a little more complicated for some of the other people here on xda.

Now that we have a thread open to discuss this we can stay out of the other threads meant for our work.

I hate to say it but I seen this coming a long time ago. When moderators from this site go to open up their own site to basically offer the same thing this spells trouble. As a matter of fact itje was temporarily banned from xda just after moving to htcpedia due to some comments made on here, but was worked out and let back in. There are as I said many aspects of this situation. I think it was a mistake to let moderators who cook ROM's on xda post them on another forum and advertise them here but have to join another forum to download them. This only builds membership for the other forum and is a direct conflict in my opinion.

The issue which has troubled some of us as chefs is that if you have a new source or build it is obviously your right if you want to share it or not. Some leaks are not allowed to be release to the public at all, and most of those we never see or it maybe after a later date. However we don't see chefs releasing these ROM's publicly either. One of the troubling things that has been happening with regards to HtcPedia is this special sharing to a certain group of cooks (I call them the elite group). These cooks in the elite group get any new sources before others. Now when I say others I mean not even the Htcpedia members get them, they have to wait until the elite group publish their roms first then they share it to all the members. Now you will here some yell about they can't share blah blah blah it is leaked builds etc. Well let me tell you I know for a fact that many of the sources they have held exclusively for the elite group could be shared. One good example was the 1.66 Leo ship ROM that was found on the internet. It was a ship ROM but they only let the elite group have it first. Again and again this has happened and if it is ok for 5 people to publish the ROM then it is ok to share it period.

Now you may ask why do we care about what htcpedia does? It is their business and they can do what they want right? You are right, but the problem comes in where they obtain sources for new ROM's and if they only post them on their site no problem. But to publish a new ROM with new sources that are not shared and made available to those chefs on xda is wrong. Then users to have the latest in ROM upgrades have to go to HtcPedia to get the ROM's. Those same people who only share to their elite group also spend much of there time here as this is were all the information is. I hope you are starting to see the bigger picture here.

Now I have a PM from TOM at htcpedia himself stating that his site cost a lot of money to run, and he has the right to give the new sources to his people first. Yes he sure does, but he only shares them with a few people lucky enough to be in the elite group first. All the regular members are slapped in the face watching as the few elite members release roms while they have to wait for the bone to be thrown to them. One thing is for sure members don't like to be treated like this, and made to feel belittled or sub standard member.

Now there are other things going on with regards to phones being given to these people and other things which I will not comment on as I don't know them for fact. If the others that have told me about these things want to share them then that is up to them.

Now the sad part, all of this is a shame because many of these cooks are very brilliant and talented people and it is a shame for this to happen. But as the old saying goes you can cut the head off the dragon and two will grow back in it's place. There will always be more and more cooks coming and going in this community. But it is the core XDA community of sharing that will keep it strong forever.