Gentle reminder about manners in a forum

[DDogg]

I was reading through some of the posts here and was really struck by the aggressiveness and "I deserve something" attitude by some of the posters (certainly not all). Remember this is not paid tech support and nobody owes you anything...zilch, nada, nothing. In fact, anybody that even gets an answer, especially from the coder, should consider themselves very lucky indeed.

I hope some of you might read this thread linked below. Although it is in another forum, I think it might be helpful here also.

The Pie Thread. (http://forum.doom9.org/showthread.php?s=&threadid=7770)
(edit, wef: this is the thread you should read.)

Remember, GKnot started out as a simple calculator. It has grown to what it is because of the dogged "staying power" of TWef. The guy is definately one of my heroes and has earned the respect of all (and the right to be treated with respect from all).

Hope none of you mind the sermon :)

Best, DD

[diji1]

Thankyou for posting that thread - i couldn't agree more with the sentiments even though i have not been in the "game" very long.

[metrum_eng]

Originally posted by DDogg
I was reading through some of the posts here and was really struck by the aggressiveness and "I deserve something" attitude by some of the posters (certainly not all). Remember this is not paid tech support and nobody owes you anything...zilch, nada, nothing. In fact, anybody that even gets an answer, especially from the coder, should consider themselves very lucky indeed.


I can understand your logical concept concerning your statements and I’ll quote “nobody owes you anything”. I personally incorporate that metaphysics into my life on a daily basis. Although, I have to question your approach concerning your statement and I’ll quote again:
“In fact, anybody that even gets an answer, especially from the coder, should consider themselves very lucky indeed.”
My question to that is why even invite and allow people to join this forum if we should be made to feel lucky to get answer’s to whatever questions we ask? Surely the “coder” is busy and shouldn’t be put into a position to feel compelled to answer questions from everyone. But from what I understand by your sentiments you’re saying, we should feel lucky to be answered at all. That just doesn’t sit well with me if we are invited to join a forum, any forum for that matter.

As a newbie to this site I’ve researched all forums before joining and have read the specific topics that I feel lead up to this particular message, and I did not see anyone having a “I deserve something" attitude. I saw someone trying to make a point about being brushed off, then ganged up upon.


_

“Never underestimate your enemies in battle. The moment you begin to believe your enemies can’t touch you is the moment your enemies will plant the victory flag in your courtyard.”

[TheWEF]

My question to that is why even invite and allow people to join this forum if we should be made to feel lucky to get answer’s to whatever questions we ask? (.....) But from what I understand by your sentiments you’re saying, we should feel lucky to be answered at all. That just doesn’t sit well with me if we are invited to join a forum, any forum for that matter.

i don't know why you are here but i'm here for fun and because i'm interested in video-encoding. everybody who shares the same interest is invited to participate and join the forum. we wanna bring the best tools together (or code our own), learn about them, try to encode better, faster,...
but this is not a support-forum for certain products. it's a community. to be a respected member of this community you have to take and give.
IMHO the fist thing you post in a forum like this should be an answer and not a question, but i guess i'm asking too much.
you can imagine that it's not very funny to see people asking questions in their first post that is answered in the third line of the readme that comes with the program. you will not gain much respect with something like that.
on the other hand, if you have done so much for us all like ddogg the regular rules do not apply to you any more, you make 'em and you break 'em (sometimes!).
you are invited to join, but there is no garantie that we will like each other ;) .

btw: did you read the pie-thread?

wef.

[metrum_eng]

sounds fair enough.

I don't recall a pie-thread in the numerous threads I have read so far.

regards

[diji1]

...you can imagine that it's not very funny to see people asking questions in their first post that is answered in the third line of the readme that comes with the program...

...or the help docs, eh WEF ? :) ... oh yeah, oops, that was me!! :(

I don't recall a pie-thread in the numerous threads I have read so far

...its the thread at the top!

[DDogg]

"A community forum is just like a neighborhood. Neighbors help each other, support each other, but never DEMAND from each other. To do so is to make assured that one does not have any neighbors that can be counted on in the future."

[MaTTeR]

hmmm...does that mean I should remove my sig? haha:D

[powderkegz]

I know it can get stressful, coding and taking public comment on your work. I just want to tell you that GKnot is my absolute favorite encoding program ever - top quality while combining incredible control with easy-enough use. Don't let the pie-eating whores get you too down - for every pie-eating whore, there are at least 30 people that use your program and love it, but don't tell you. Thanks from all of us slient appreciators.

Later,
powderkegz

[diji1]

hmmm...does that mean I should remove my sig? haha

... change an "s" to an "f" somewhere in there maybe ??

[ReTroAcTive]

i started encoding vcds 3 or 4 years ago and it wasnt easy. now with the new Divx and gknot im just a few clicks away from a HQ rip. i am still amazed sometimes, with the quality of the backups i can now make. for this i have TheWEF to thank.
Thank you TheWEF for all the time you spent writing so i can do next to nothing and let my computer do all the work. your work is very helpful to me, again Thank you.

TheWEF
"IMHO the fist thing you post in a forum like this should be an answer and not a question, but i guess i'm asking too much."

i joined this forum to talk to others that enjoy encoding as much as i do and i figured i might be able to help a few people out. with my 9 posts i have yet to ask a question, i think. i dont believe your asking too much.

[crusty]

diji1:
Thank you for posting that thread - i couldn't agree more with the sentiments even though i have not been in the "game" very long.

I agree totally.

metrum_eng:
My question to that is why even invite and allow people to join this forum if we should be made to feel lucky to get answer’s to whatever questions we ask? Surely the “coder” is busy and shouldn’t be put into a position to feel compelled to answer questions from everyone. But from what I understand by your sentiments you’re saying, we should feel lucky to be answered at all. That just doesn’t sit well with me if we are invited to join a forum, any forum for that matter

It is precisely the direct and open communication between users and coders/developers/programmers that makes this forum so succesful. And I can understand that some people might feel irritated by either being asked stupid questions or not getting any answers. But everybody here has to face the fact that after all we are all just people, and we're not always in the best of moods and can be just as grumpy as people in real life. Both coders and users should be aware of that a bit more. Please don't start a flame if you're upset or having a bad day. It's simply not worth the effort, both for you or the people reading it.
Every user in this forum is a real life person. They may not have the time to answer your question or they may have just overlooked the answer you gave in another reply. I know I have on several occassions....nobody is infallable.

TheWEF:
but this is not a support-forum for certain products. it's a community. to be a respected member of this community you have to take and give.

I have to disagree with you on the first part, TheWEF. If you take for instance avisynth and xvid you will find that most sites related to these two 'products' are stating this forum as prime source of support and information. It is even stated so in the respective forums. Stating to the contrary is just overlooking the facts.
I agree with you that not everybody (including the coders) have to see it that way.
And I also agree with you that this is also a community, and giving is also very rewarding, especially if someone is really helped by it.
Respect!

DDogg:
A community forum is just like a neighborhood. Neighbors help each other, support each other, but never DEMAND from each other. To do so is to make assured that one does not have any neighbors that can be counted on in the future

So true.

powderkegz:
I know it can get stressful, coding and taking public comment on your work.

Offcourse, but getting comment from users is also the best way to kill bugs and improve on your work. User feedback is essential in producing good code. Any software company can tell you that. User feedback just has both it's cons and pros.

ReTroAcTive:
i started encoding vcds 3 or 4 years ago and it wasnt easy. now with the new Divx and gknot im just a few clicks away from a HQ rip. i am still amazed sometimes, with the quality of the backups i can now make. for this i have TheWEF to thank.

The same goes for me...I've been ripping DVD's on and of for several years, starting back in the days of Flaskmpeg and K6-2's that took 20 hours in single-pass divx3....
Encoding has made great progress in the last years, and we have mainly volunteer-coders to thank for it. Many thanks, to TheWEF, Tom Barry, Nic, Koepi, Donald Graft and all the others that have made this possible.
I know of no other forum that has such direct contact between the end users and the main coders for an entire field of work (i.e. mpeg-4 encoding). You have people on this forum who are lead programmers or are working on divx, xvid, gknot, dvd2avi, rv9, ogg, ogm, matroska, virtualdub, aac, ac3....you name it, there's bound to be someone around that is working on it.

And if anyone of you ever comes to Leiden, let me know and I'll buy you a beer.:D

[BryanG]

I am new here. So I want to say first that I think every aspect of this forum is great and I can't thank all the programmers and creators enough. I understand this is not tech support ... but you also have to take into account that you have to ask questions and learn before you can answer questions and help. So bear with us who have a lot to learn. Not all of us have the time to read through every post and single thing when someone could give a link to what we are looking for in 2 seconds.

With that said I have to say everything is pretty organized and easy to find around here. As stated before ... it's all about GIVING as well as taking.

BryanG ... enjoying all the material I can take in

[ukb007]

Hi

I believe what I've written in the post subject above. We are the mortals who use their labors of love for free and quibble, criticise, whine, put-up wish-lists (like we order stuff in a restaurant). It does, however, feel nice to be polite and say thanks once in a while.

GK is one of the most fantastic programs I've ever come across (one of the others is Windows). There is no question ever of its being the top-of-the line software for what it does. It will definitely get replaced by something or the other eventually (won't we all ?), but I don't see that happening for a l-o-n-g time.

And this place called Doo9's Forum. Aah, it is the place to be in. So much to learn, so much to fight for...

My regards to all the programmers out there, and to Doom9...

[guada]

Hello everyone, :)


DDogg, your reasoning is irrevocably ;)

Don't forget:
the precept is a lamp
The teaching a light
the exhortations of the discipline are the paths of life

To soon

[Freakazoidalmaniac]

I agree wholeheartedly and also add that if you think you're being funny or smart when replying, you're not. If you are not helping then just refrain from posting at all. You're not funny, you're not smart! Remember that.