Developer Project Forum: Purpose and Rules
Welcome to the Developer Project Forum!
What IS the Developer Project Forum?
Good question. This forum addition has been discussed for some time, involving several members of Staff, the community, and developers of both hardware and software projects. As AW has grown larger over time, numerous threads have repeated themselves time and again, and while containing very useful or helpful information, it's not always easy for either the users or a project participant to find, so information is often repeated, or never seen by those who need it.
This new forum is meant to be an 'official' forum for AmigaOS and related projects- BOTH hardware and software, to allow them to make official announcements on their projects, as well as field questions from users, in a single easy to find location.
This is of advantage to both the community AND the developers/project members. We see this as a place for users to interact with the developers and companies involved in bringing their project to us, and for the companies to solicit feedback if desired, or to more easily communicate with the userbase without repeating themselves time and again, in dozens of different threads. Since it seems often that people manage to confuse the facts about different projects, this is essentially an information repository for both the users and project members to take advantage of, and allowing people to more easily find facts about projects, rather than speculation and/or misleading information.
There are some different rules regarding this forum, to keep information easily available, and to the point of this forum. Only project developers or spokespersons may start threads in this forum. All other threads will be moved immediately. One or two people per project are considered to be the 'spokesperson(s)' for a project, and simply act as the 'liaisons' to the public/AW users for the project. Exceptions can be made to this limit on a project by project basis.
Participation from developers is entirely voluntary, but is limited to one thread per project in this forum. They can update as often or as infrequently as they wish, and users can ask questions about each project in it's respective thread, but only a project developer can start a thread for his or her/their project. Existing threads on projects in AmigaOS Software or Hardware sections will remain as they are; it is only for a project member to decide if they want to start and 'official' project thread or not.
For all intents and purposes, this is a projects 'home' of sorts, and people will need to respect that boundary. This is NOT free for all, but a chance for project teams to more easily interact with users, and vice versa. Project questions by users are welcome, but ALL off-topic posts, flames, or new posts in this forum not by a project member will be deleted, and may be dealt with harshly.
What is a Suitable Project?
Nearly anything, that is under development now, or already available, as a hardware or software project. It is at the Staffs discretion if a project is basically suitable or not, but this is mainly meant to keep the forum contents to a reasonable number of project threads, which are expected to be completed at some point, or is of particular interest to the community. We welcome the members of the SAM Team, Troika, ACK, or yes, Genesi, to feel free to post their project thread in here, as well as any software projects, to better consolidate facts about their projects in a single place. This is NOT meant for them to stop participation elsewhere, but instead, to provide a single location for factual statements and information about their projects.
If for some reason, a new project thread is found unsuitable by Staff, it will not be deleted, but instead moved to a more appropriate forum.
So, How Does It Work?
Let's say a project?s members have been participating on AW for some time,; whenever they notice a new thread where a user has an issue, have a minor announcement to make, or a need for beta-testers. They decide they?d like to create a project thread in the Developer Project Forum, so they can give a full description of their project in a single location, and answer user questions, without having to search through a mass of threads.
The project member would create a new thread in the forum, in any format they choose, as long as the following are covered:
Topic: Project Name
Contents:
- Short or detailed description of the project.
- What platforms the project is meant for if applicable?
- Project home page if any
- Project contact information (email, or if preferred, this forum thread).
- Primary reason for creating project thread- for announcements, to solicit user feedback, to ask for beta-testers, whatever. (optional, and can certainly change over time.)
- Link to make donations, if accepted.
- Please try to limit speculation and non-factual content as possible. This is the place to really give information, specs, etc on your project, so is more an information repository than a means of advertising means or blog. Feel free to ask any questions of users, but bear in mind, it may be in your best interest to consolidate your actual project info into the topmost project post for the sake of clarity, from time to time.
We ask both the community of AW users, as well as participants from different AmigaOS (or potential) projects, to give it a try. We hope to eliminate much of the speculation and mis-information about different projects, to ease developers frustration with either not seeing a thread concerning their project and/or having to repeat themselves, but in the end, it's up to you, if this becomes a worthwhile addition to AW or not.
We ask that you limit any questions about the forum purpose and specifics to this thread, and welcome any project members to start their project threads at their convenience.
Questions and Answers
If I/we start a Project Thread, should we still submit News Submissions for releases or special events within our project?
Certainly. This forum is not meant to change news submissions, or change how a developer may interact in normal AW forums and threads, but instead is a single spot that you can give special updates, ask users for feedback, post your project information, home page, donation links, etc, and a chance to interact with users as pertains to your specific project(s) in a single thread (per project). This should make it easier for users to both find out about your project(s), as well as make it easier for you to find out when people may be having problems with your software.
Go ahead and continue normal news submissions. If you'd like, you can certainly write a reasonable length News release for releases, and for example, update the download link, and/or give a more detailed ChangeLog in your project thread.
Our project needs testers/translators/coders/graphics/help. Should we post here?
Generally, yes. We'd ask that you keep to the suggested format, in that your topic is the project name, and you give some project background and info, but other than that, this is your forum/thread, to ask of users or other developers whatever you'd like. We do ask that software projects creating project threads have exsiting code, or a high chance of seeing completion, versus 'well, we might do this.' In the latter case, feel free to post to AmigaOS4 Software or where most appropriate, and create a project thread once you are further along. Exceptions may certainly be made to this guideline. If in doubt, PM a Staff member.
I'm a user and have a problem with < some project > and need help, but I see no project thread for this project! Should I post here?
No. There are thousands of software packages out there for classic AOS and OS4, and the point is to allow developers to 'open an official channel of communication to users,' but only if they choose to do so! That means only they can start the official thread; all others will be moved. In this case, feel free to post to AmigaOS4 Software or other appropriate forum, and our users and Staff will do their best to help you out. If a developer sees your thread, feel free to ask him/her/them to start a Project Thread, however!
[b]I'm a user and have a problem with < some project > and need help, and I see an existing project thread for this project in this forum! Should I post here?
Generally/nearly always, yes. The only exception generally is if the project summary post (first post) asks specifically otherwise, such as bug reports be submitted via email, or if for some reason they are not currently wanting bug reports, such as in preparation for a new release.
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Are we not done with the same silly arguments and flames yet??! |
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wegster 
)..we'll have to play that one by ear for now.
A great idea!
µA1-C 750GX@800 using OS4.1 
