[wp-hackers] For those who don't subscribe to the wp docs mailing list:

[Craig Hartel]

What follows is a message from Podz. Podz is, in my opinion, one of the greatest 
contributors in the WordPress community. He tirelessly answers questions on the 
support forums, and he helps a lot of people directly through IM, email, and the 
resources that he has built and hosts on his personal site. That he has reached 
this level of frustration speaks volumes of what needs improving if WordPress is 
to become the best toolbox for building quality web sites.
==========================================================

 From the docs mailing list:
docs at wordpress.org
http://wordpress.org/mailman/listinfo/docs_wordpress.org

Is it considered either 'uncool' or beneath some people to try and help out in 
the forums ?

If I log into irc, there are dozens of people there, Dozens. Yet how many 
frequent the forums ? Hardly any.

I've read on several blogs recently that people just "don't want to help those 
that can't search", or "are fed up of answering the same crap" or other similar 
stuff.

Are you aware just how many people are having problems logging in ?
How many people are having trouble with php files ?
How many people who appear to have unique problems, not of their own making, but 
no answers ?

The simple fact is, all the plugins and functions are of no use whatsoever to 
someone who has either been locked out of their blog, or cannot get the thing to 
work in the first place.

Hell, I know how to search, I know where to look, and I'm not even bothered 
about breaking my blog, yet when I have come into irc, I get roundly ignored for 
the most part. People shouldn't have to join and repeat their questions ad 
nauseum - they should be answered. And if you are afk, then FFS indicate it. I 
went there this morning, indicated a post that needed help, and left. Has anyone 
helped ? No. Were there people there who could have helped ? Yes.

Why not have #wordpress-hackers and #wordpress-help ? Why ? Because those 
currently in channel would not join the second one there.

So I've answered the most questions on the forums, and for the most part they 
aren't repeats, they are getting more and more specific, and increasingly taking 
myself and other regular answerers out of our depth. I'm sure I'd get leapt on 
from all over if I directed someone to do something that deleted their blog, but 
until then, it seems that those that code, those that know PHP try to make some 
sort of name for themselves, or flesh out their cv, without any real regard for 
those thousands of people who just want to blog and hit problems.

The simple fact is that too many people seem to want to leap aboard, be 
associated, get the 'kudos' yet aren't prepared to go out of their way hardly at 
all to answer questions from others.

I've been told that the 'hackers' list gets a ton of mail, yet this list is 
dead. And despite this, it's some of those very hackers who will lament the poor 
state of the docs ! If only you tried half as hard to help in that direction we 
would have great docs by now !

I thought the situation on the forums was bad a while ago given the volume of 
posts, but it's worse. And when 1.3 gets released ? And things break all over 
the place ? Well I guess a lot of smugness will exude from the irc channel.

And yes, given my contribution to WordPress, I am entitled to have an equal 
voice. Me not being able to write PHP actually puts me closer to the average 
blogger - and there is a lot of them that need help, like it or not.

P.


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