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#97 2015-07-15 10:09:47

Destry
Member
From: Haut-Rhin
Registered: 2004-08-04
Posts: 4,912
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

gaekwad wrote “#293154”:./viewtopic.php?pid=293154#p293154:

Docs, support triage, translations, marketing, evangelism, QA, code that Makes Things Better, pick an issue and solve it.

One thing I’ve learned from the last 6 months is that no permission is needed to work on this stuff.

That’s not entirely true and deserves a response so everybody in this community is on the right page.

Helping people in the forum, contributing to code (if a competent enough dev), and starting your own Txp-related pet project elsewhere for “evangelical” purposes is something you can do without waking Robert up, yes.

But if you’re focused on helping with anything that concerns “family” real estate (.com, .net, .org, txpmag), or communicating anything via those properties that leadership must be responsible for if shit hits the fan, you definitely do need approval.

  • Magazine? That would not have happened without Txp acquiring the domain, Stef’s backing of the effort, my invite from devs to be editor, and Robert’s approval of my publishing plan (there’s even a Gdoc with his signature of approval on it). I can only imagine any future changes must get similar approval, especially as even the blog article I recently wrote at .com had to await approval before the idea of a international magazine could be shared. Why? Because it concerns them in terms of tech, ownership, and reputation. (For the record, I’m all for David being new mag editor if he’s up for that challenge, but getting content from the community, not editing it, is the problem, which I know zero can attest to with his efforts on TXPQ. But we know at this point David has sensibly chosen a better path for getting involved.)
  • Docs? .net (the server) has been closed to all but Robert and Phil’s access (as I understand it) for a while now, and the new docs on Github are still too barricaded for it to be worth anyone’s time contributing there. Maybe when the Jekyll site is launched it will be worthwhile to give attention to documentation again (I would like to), assuming the contributions process is relaxed a bit.
  • .org? I can only imagine.
  • .com? An “open blog” plan is in the works, thank goodness. Apparently it still needs some thinking about execution, however.

And now a newsletter can be folded into that marketing/evangelizing process, as soon as it’s clear when and how (technologically speaking).

None of this is to say it’s impossible to help on project real estate; it is possible, if the plan is sound and you get a thumb up on it. Robert is a reasonable guy. I’m simply responding to your statement, Pete, that anyone can just jump in at any time on any ol’ thing. That’s not true. There are bottlenecks aplenty. Systems security and quality control of content are good things. This long thread is largely the result of some people being concerned about the latter.

Hard as it may be to see or accept, there are some efforts that do need attention, input, and backing from project leaders if there’s going to be any help with such things at all. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. I’m sure a project leader/owner/dev will correct me if I’m wrong. And it’s clear from what Bloke has shared that there is indeed various levels of access to these things, even among devs.

As a final thought, which is not in response to you, Pete, but from something brought up earlier in this thread: Communication by committee is never a good idea. The last time the .com website was redesigned is testament to that fact, and notably with respect to content (because the design part was sensibly closed). Some things should not be left to the whims of a hundred opinionated people (one or two with experience in the matter is enough). Content is one of them. A shortage of contributions does not justify a mob approach to message. The wiki is a perfect example, or docs would still be open to the mob. A horse by committee approach to content goes nowhere fast and ends with sub-par results. Likewise, someone has to be in place to edit/maintain that content over time (e.g., at .com). These role questions need to be answered to if all this forward momentum is to be worthwhile over the longer run.

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#98 2015-07-15 10:31:29

hcgtv
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From: Key Largo, Florida
Registered: 2005-11-29
Posts: 2,722
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

Destry wrote #293229:

These role questions need to be answered to if all this forward momentum is to be worthwhile over the longer run.

Crickets …

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#99 2015-07-15 11:20:07

wet
Developer Emeritus
From: Schoerfling, Austria
Registered: 2005-06-06
Posts: 3,330
Website Mastodon

Re: Magazine to newsletter

Assuming that I somehow “lead” this project or my sign off is required for anything anybody wanted to do to regarding Textpattern is no more than a misconception. I am simply the guy who has managed to stick around while the other veterans left for greener pastures, or burned out, or made a career in financial IT ;)

So, y’all: If you are waiting for my stance just do as you please. Scratch your own itches, like I scratch mine.

If this involves a need to mangle around with this server for which Joyent has me as a contact point: Holler, and we will see what we can do. That’s how Destry and txpmag got bonded.

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#100 2015-07-15 11:27:31

gaekwad
Server grease monkey
From: People's Republic of Cornwall
Registered: 2005-11-19
Posts: 4,276
GitHub

Re: Magazine to newsletter

wet wrote #293233:

Assuming that I somehow “lead” this project or my sign off is required for anything anybody wanted to do to regarding Textpattern is no more than a misconception.

[…]

So, y’all: If you are waiting for my stance just do as you please. Scratch your own itches, like I scratch mine.

You put it far more eloquently than I did here in act 1, scene 4:

[…] I’ve learned from the last 6 months […] that no permission is needed to work on this stuff. Just grab it by the proverbials and make it better.

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#101 2015-07-15 11:36:23

Destry
Member
From: Haut-Rhin
Registered: 2004-08-04
Posts: 4,912
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

wet wrote #293233:

Assuming that I somehow “lead” this project or my sign off is required for anything anybody wanted to do to regarding Textpattern is no more than a misconception.

Call it “steward” if you like, but you are the “lead” “caretaker” of the project by fact of your “seniority”. Dodging the limelight doesn’t change anything.

That said, it’s nice to hear we don’t need your approval, only your cooperation. ;)

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#102 2015-07-15 12:28:19

hcgtv
Plugin Author
From: Key Largo, Florida
Registered: 2005-11-29
Posts: 2,722
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

ruud wrote #293232:

Did you really expect a response from the devs within 20 minutes?

The question Destry asked, was asked a number of times in this thread, and has popped up in other threads also, oh lookee Robert responds.

wet wrote #293233:

So, y’all: If you are waiting for my stance just do as you please. Scratch your own itches, like I scratch mine.

Ok, you know what’s been itching at me, the ownership of the Textpattern domains. Time and effort spent creating external sites, hanging out at these forums, telling the world of the wonder that is Textpattern, could all go poof in an instant (Where’s TextDrive?).

Ten years Robert, you joined this forum on 2005-06-06, and I joined it on 2005-11-29. I’ve had 4 long years to think about it, and I decided that I’m not going to throw away my time invested in this project, I’m not going to walk away and start using WordPress or Drupal or any other fill-in-the-blank CMS.

I was having a conversation with my wife about Textpattern yesterday, filling her in on the goings on. Dean wanting to go off-grid and grow vegetables, the so-called past leader of this project who quelled any uprisings, kept the status quo, and then vacated the premises for Automattic. Yes, we had uprisings in the past, Sencer, Alex, and others were none too happy, there’s a thread somewhere, buried in the archives.

You know what my wife started doing after we had the conversation, she began researching domain names, even she sees the writing on the wall.

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#103 2015-07-15 12:29:54

wet
Developer Emeritus
From: Schoerfling, Austria
Registered: 2005-06-06
Posts: 3,330
Website Mastodon

Re: Magazine to newsletter

A good wife indeed.

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#104 2015-07-15 12:37:30

hcgtv
Plugin Author
From: Key Largo, Florida
Registered: 2005-11-29
Posts: 2,722
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

wet wrote #293242:

A good wife indeed.

The best, we just celebrated 40 years together.

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#105 2015-07-15 13:04:45

jstubbs
Member
From: Hong Kong
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 2,395
Website

Re: Magazine to newsletter

Having domain names under the control of Dean/Jason et al is not very sensible, is it.

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#106 2015-07-15 13:10:38

wet
Developer Emeritus
From: Schoerfling, Austria
Registered: 2005-06-06
Posts: 3,330
Website Mastodon

Re: Magazine to newsletter

This we take for granted. Alas, Dean apparently likes his domains.

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#107 2015-07-15 13:13:28

gaekwad
Server grease monkey
From: People's Republic of Cornwall
Registered: 2005-11-19
Posts: 4,276
GitHub

Re: Magazine to newsletter

jstubbs wrote #293244:

Having domain names under the control of Dean/Jason et al is not very sensible, is it.

Nope. Especially since Jason left Joyent and now works at Ericsson. Unless I’m missing something, the connection between Joyent and Textpattern is very much a historical one, and there’s no-one that I know of from the Textpattern camp inside Joyent. Heck, I can’t even see if Joyent still offer standard web hosting any longer – they’re seemingly all about Node these days. There have been discussions about other domains elsewhere and I suspect that will be where it’s left until another (more important) domain drops off.

It still boils down to the fact that repeated attempts have been made to contact Dean and transfer the domains over, but that doesn’t appear to have worked yet. The core code exists outside of textpattern.com, I presume (perhaps wrongly) that there are backups of sites, this forum, and other such things and that they’re relatively up-to-date. If a domain drops, it drops. We take what we have and make the changes to start it all up again. Right? It’s a handful of domains. It’s not the end of the world.

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#108 2015-07-15 13:15:49

gaekwad
Server grease monkey
From: People's Republic of Cornwall
Registered: 2005-11-19
Posts: 4,276
GitHub

Re: Magazine to newsletter

PS: I’ve got some pitchforks if anyone wants them. Here’s a free one attached to a rifle to start you off:

▄︻̿┻̿═━一E

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