May 13th, 2005 
Serverside Code Review & Analysis Policy
Uh Oh... Locke Is Here...
Well, I've been monitoring the 'development' forums for quite awhile, after several complaints and so forth have come under my view, and I've seen personally by browsing through here.
There seems to be a kind of 'my way is better than your way, because I have a milky way'.. it's just really killing the community atmosphere. So allow me to make this post a little different than the one I made in the Clientside forum, since it is even more severe here.
Communities are built, maintained, and expanded through members. Most of you wish for this community to get bigger, or be 'more active', yet to continue to 'scare off' anyone who comes in to ask even a SIMPLE question, even if it's been asked before.
As members, you are bound to our TOS/AUP, and it strictly states, if you have nothing constructive to post, go sit in a corner. This place is about being a community, and helping each other with problems, it is 'NOT' about egos, it is not about who is better than someone else, it is simply about bettering ourselves to overall reach an outcome that works.
"This has been asked before"
Great, since you have a first hand experience with the question being asked before, you should be able to answer their question easily, or atleast point them TO the thread where the same problem was, and go from there.
Believe it or not, people don't always think 'You know.. maybe someone has had this problem before'. A lot of people think their problem is unique, and you know what, we have the bandwidth, the space, and the power.. if they want to make their own thread asking for help, you know what, they have every right to, just as you do. You can then point them to past threads, and if they're still having trouble, GUESS WHAT! They still have their thread to continue asking questions.. it's a process ladies.. it's a process.
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I've been doing said language for said years, I know what I'm doing
Great, just answer the question without the ego, and your true knowledge will shine! People feel threatened when you insult, or basically degrade their code. Allow me to demonstrate the proper means of communicating an idea, or an alternative method to someone's code:
Them: I really need to know how to do this
You: You know, you can solve that easily by doing this... .... ... Also, just as an FYI, there are a few alternative ways you can do this, that would in the long run, make it easier for you to perform these, and even make the load/processing time much faster and efficient. If you'd like to know, I have some here at my site.. -->
OR, if you don't have a site
Just let me know if you'd like to know, we can continue in this thread and discuss it, or do it in private.. here are my contact details.. blah
Them: Thanks a lot! I really appreciate the help! I may just take you up on that offer.
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Psychology 101 people, people who are helped with their problem, the stress levels are relieved, they have something that works, and since you were nice enough to help them solve that, if they do want to know your alternative methods, GUESS WHAT, they're going to ask, and probably even learn how to use them.
Being nice and helping people go hand in hand, you cannot be a community just thinking you're experts, you have to think, and be on your toes. People are asking for help, and you can help them, and show how you do things, by simply just putting it nicely and in a manner that doesn't seem threatening.
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Requires too much effort
Possibly, but the extra effort prevents people from getting mad, and leaving. You cannot build a community, and hope for it's activity levels to increase if you constantly try to make everyone feel like they're not worthy of being here, which is ridiculous, as EVERYONE is welcome here.
If it requires too much effort for you to abide by our rules, and to respect the other members, then really, it requires too much effort for me to read e-mails about your disrespectful behavior.
We are here to help people if they ask for it, no one forces you to post, no one pays you to post. All of you help voluntarily, and a select few of you get out of hand, or just make posts in a sort of 'demeaning' manner. That is not how we operate.. it is not the Neverside way, and therefore, you will adapt to the Neverside way, or you can simply leave.
I will be briefing the staff over the next few days on enforcing these new policies I've laid down in a few forums, and we will be addressing how we can improve the experience for the upcoming release of CodeBase.
This thread will be left open for commenting if you wish.. we apologize for not getting one out sooner, but I am a busy guy.
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Last edited by Locke, May 13th, 2005 11:34 PM (Edited 1 times)
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