Quote:
Originally Posted by ShellShock
Faterson, have you noticed that Kris hardly ever replies to your posts [...]?
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Nope, because I believe that is merely a (false) impression of yours.
I'm fine with Kris not replying to each of my posts – I'm not that vain to expect a reaction to every burp I make online. I also know that Kris doesn't reply to many of my posts because they are not new to
him – many of the complaints about Marvin I have were first voiced
years ago. The reason I keep reiterating those concerns (but never wantonly – always in reaction to other posters' contributions, or after a new discovery/insight of my own, pertinent to the issue at hand) is logical: the concerns are still unresolved after all these years. The only way to find out if there are other Marvin users with similar concerns, is to voice those concerns, right? Then other Marvin users might chime in, saying "yes, that's a good feature request" – which might eventually sway Kris so as to oblige the request. So, if you wish to put it that way, I'm lobbying on behalf of my feature requests – and nothing could be more legitimate, in my opinion. If you examine the current thread, for example, you'll see I'm simply reacting to other posters' contributions – I'm not talking to myself here; no posting for posting's sake.
If this thread/concern indeed is a "dead horse" as some claim (though I'm certain it's
not – far from it; the Hyphen developer correctly remarked that page-count issues are among the most complex in developing e-book software; those issues won't go away if you simply dismiss them by calling them a "dead horse") – well, but if it
were a dead horse, then all that needs to be done is for other posters to stop contributing to this thread, and the thread would likely die away of its own. (Without the issue being resolved, though, so that the issue would likely resurface again in future in some other place.)
Quote:
Originally Posted by ShellShock
Rather than blaming others
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I'm not "blaming" anyone, but I do believe that MobileRead forums are
not a suitable venue for
seriously discussing the development of e-reader software, for responding to bug reports and feature requests. For those
serious things, there is GitHub, with its strict organization of
"1 thread per reported issue". That organization is
absolutely crucial. Over in
Marvin's GitHub (currently defunct, unfortunately), you can see quite clearly who is contributing there with the sincere desire to improve this e-reader software. It's not surprising (in fact, it's very amusing) that some of the worst, notorious MobileRead trolls are strong opponents of using GitHub. Why, you might ask? Because their mode of personally attacking fellow contributors, instead of discussing the matter at hand (the Marvin software), would be plain for everyone to see, over at GitHub, a
professional environment with the strict "1 thread per issue" organization.
But over here, in the chaotic whirlwind of MobileRead forums? Oh, it's so easy to attack fellow contributors here – you can just follow the posters you dislike from one thread to another, bashing them over the head over and over and over again. No one will object to such behavior here (in fact, you will find lots of fans cheering you on, to continue bashing fellow posters that your fans dislike, too). The distinction between contributing to the development of the software at hand, and attacking fellow users of that software, is conveniently blurred here in MobileRead forums.
For all these reasons, I do hope Kris will soon "reopen GitHub for business", so to say. I'm not saying MobileRead forums are totally useless – they're very nice to have as a place to chat with people of similar "(e-)bookish" interests, and some posts (such as that of the esteemed Tex) can be incredibly helpful. Overall, though, MobileRead is
not a serious working tool for a software developer. It's a very nice
complementary tool to have at one's disposal
in addition to a professional tool like GitHub (a similar, professional and efficient tool is the
getsatisfaction.com site), but MobileRead is
no replacement for such a professional tool.