17 replies to this topic

[mattlgroff]

We have a new rank we are introducing to our family: Developer Relations. This rank is for certain developers we are entrusting with maintaining a sense of community and friendliness among development. We've had some rough patches this past weekend in the development community and I wanted to make this extremely clear. Developers are our life-line. Without developers we have no root, custom roms, custom recoveries, themes, apps, mods, ect, and all the other cool things we like to do with our devices. Its why you come on this site, for getting the latest and greatest development. Be you a RAZR, Bionic, RAZR i, Galaxy S 3, you name it, you all come here for development. I want to be very clear that our site wants to look out for the interests of our developers, and that's where this idea comes from.

The guidelines are not yet absolute and are open to change, but here are the proposed ideas brought to from Developers, for Developers. These were not created by non-Devs for Devs I am keeping the names anonymous.

• Dev: have devs specify what they want in the OP
• Dev: but have the universal rule be credit is enough
• Dev: if the dev specifies other wise in their OP that other devs need permission
  then let them have that
• Dev: i put some thought towards it since it happened. i feel like that would be the best way to keep te site out of it. And let the devs decide on their own

• Dev: i think a rule should be "give credit where needed" that would be my input

• Dev: idk, i'm pretty open to it and would be fine, but i would be kinda annoyed if someone just kinda took my work and put it in theres. I spent multiple hours resizing the ____ launcher for the optimal size and dimensions etc
• Me: Right, which is why you can specify in your OP how much or how little of your work is "free use" for base for example. I wouldn't expect anyone forced to allow all their work to be free-use
• Dev: Yeah that seems reasonable, id be totally fine for someone to use my base and then just pm me or leave a note asking to use my launcher and widgets etc. Thats cool with me. Haha sharing is caring
• Me: Another idea we had was to have a specified developer for each device section known as "Developer Relations". They would be the ones to handle accusations of "kanging" without credit for example.
• Dev: Yeah that works, haha idk to me its just a thing i do for fun and its not the end of the world if someone takes something i made. Maybe i'm just more layed back but like stuff doesnt get under my skin big, idk

• Dev: I agree with some it, and i disagree with some of it
• Dev: I don't know if it's just because i'm an oldschool dev or what but here's how I look at it. If it's in someone elses ROM, you get permission from them to use it. If you don't get permission, you don't use it. Plain and simple.
• Me: So for your releases for example, you would put in the OP that statement of getting permission before you use your rom as a base
• Dev: Exactly, how you get permission doesn't matter. PM, Twitter, Text Message, doesn't matter. My bringing up in the Android world was that you had to ask. If you couldn't get permission, you learn how to do it yourself or you just don't include the feature in your ROM.
• Dev: Yeah i know exactly, i mean you know what you put into it at the end of the day so whatever makes you feel good is fine with me. Its just like people who steal things from poor people or stuff like that lolz. hahah getting philosophical here

This leads me to bring up 2 major guidelines for suggestions.

• Universal development guideline: Always give credit, as much as you can for your releases. If you borrow something from someone, say it in the OP.
• Up to each developer: You can choose to say in your OP of Rom/Base/Mod/Theme/utility/whatever releases, that you can your work is protected from borrowing without explicit permissions from yourself.

To help make sure everything is smooth, a Developer from each device section (who is not currently a staff member), will be appointed as the section's Developer Relations person. If a problem arises from someone not listening to the 2 major guidelines, this is the person responsible for privately sorting out the matter between the developers. We can all be civil here, and these people will be friends of the community and helpful to developers I hope. If there becomes an issue they will lock threads in questions and contact each party privately about the matter and use their development expertise to see if the claims were legitimate. I thank everyone for their patience these last few days and hope these regulations will help improve the development situation. Happy hacking!

[BleedsOandB]

I like that we're trying to make sure that our devs feel at home and appreciated here, but I don't really care for appointing a dev to be charged with "policing" these guidelines. It seems counter intuitive to have something else eat away at the dev's time in an effort to promote development.

Just thinking out loud...

[techno-update]

Putting more rules on developers is never good, however if this policy, is a group of developers that get together, it's better them making the rules than someone else that doesn't know a thing about the work they may be creating for someone.

[trikotret]

I think it's a good idea of laying down the rules. This way it'll avoid finger pointing and more drama. I really hate getting the ROMs from multiple sites. I like to stick with one site

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Tapatalk 2

[mattlgroff]

Putting more rules on developers is never good, however if this policy, is a group of developers that get together, it's better them making the rules than someone else that doesn't know a thing about the work they may be creating for someone.

The idea is that the universal rule was kind of always accepted. Give credit where its due. If you want to not be used further than that then say so. This is not a "credit police" to rule over the developers, its a problem solver if one comes up.

I like that we're trying to make sure that our devs feel at home and appreciated here, but I don't really care for appointing a dev to be charged with "policing" these guidelines. It seems counter intuitive to have something else eat away at the dev's time in an effort to promote development.

Just thinking out loud...

Developers are the once who chose their own guidelines... I've been interviewing as many as I possibly can. As a developer myself I agree with the 2 regulations suggested from the other developers. The whole idea is to make it friendlier to devs, if that is not the case we will change it since the idea is to...make is friendlier

[ZKK007]

I think this is a great idea. It would be great for beginners, like myself, to know the "unspoken" rules regarding credit, etc. Having the Dev state their own "crediting/using rules" in their OP means that there will be no guess work relating to using and crediting someones work. It will also reinforce forum rules and guidelines since a lot of people just blast through these, including me... oops

[techno-update]

The idea is that the universal rule was kind of always accepted. Give credit where its due. If you want to not be used further than that then say so. This is not a "credit police" to rule over the developers, its a problem solver if one comes up.

Ya I know where you are coming from on the taking others work and I agree with it. I was just saying in general adding new rules.

Sent from my XT862 using Tapatalk 2

[vtwinbmx]

The first rule has been in place for as long as android has been around, it is being spelled out now for the up and coming developers can see it. It will make it a better community in the long run.

[Dr0idDR]

I think this is a great step. Sad to say that many devs put many many days into putting these great roms together. Having that taken with no permission for some would be no big deal, others would be very offensive. If we have some rules and regulations that everyone follows, it will help our community work as a team. I've always enjoyed this community and I support anything that makes us better. United we stand, divided we fall. Old statement, but so true.

[BleedsOandB]

Developers are the once who chose their own guidelines... I've been interviewing as many as I possibly can. As a developer myself I agree with the 2 regulations suggested from the other developers. The whole idea is to make it friendlier to devs, if that is not the case we will change it since the idea is to...make is friendlier

I apologize if I sounded like I disagreed with the premise of the guidelines. I think they're great. My worry was more with how theyre being enforced, though in retrospect, those worries are likely unfounded. i hope we all end up prospering in the long run.

[johnthehillbilly]

.... common courtesy says to check with someone prior to using their work anyway.......

[tucstwo]

I apologize if I sounded like I disagreed with the premise of the guidelines. I think they're great. My worry was more with how theyre being enforced, though in retrospect, those worries are likely unfounded. i hope we all end up prospering in the long run.

Fwiw, the idea of having a dev as a "relations moderator" puts the policing in the hands of the developers rather than in the hands of someone who has no clue what it takes to make a rom/theme/mod/etc. it puts everyone on a level playing field. As a dev, if I had an issue I would rather arbitrate that issue with another dev rather than with a stuffy admin/smod (all due respect) who may not have an inkling into just what it takes to make this stuff reality. I think that was the motivation behind putting a dev on as the arbitrator.


Sent from my peanut butter and jelly sandwich

[stealthmouse]

I think this is a great idea. Of course it's always common courtesy, even when someone has the implicit go-ahead to use something, to give a heads-up to the other person. This may seem to go against the spirit of android in some ways, but it really doesn't. It's just codifying what is common courtesy. I've seen so many blowups not just here, but at every major site, based on a single word in a post that was misinterpreted, taken as a slight, and usually when the offended person is at the end of their rope and otherwise would think nothing of it. I mean, really, most developers working on android on a site like ours are givers to the community, and in the long run that's the kind of people they are. They're also humans who put a lot of sweat and blood into their art. I like this idea because it has the potential to create a safety valve when things get heated up. It's usually not the first misunderstanding, it's always when it's in public, others jump on and it suddenly becomes free-for-all. Then you add past history in and what could have been a little spat becomes a war.

Funny thing, just a shining example. As I'm typing, I look above me and there's Tucstwo's signature telling you to contact him on GTalk for immediate help, as if there's all this free time in the schedule. And helps with other issues as well, just because that's the spirit of android. And to steal from that post (implicit permission/literary license!!!), having devs create and control the boundaries for the devs is a big safety valve all its own.

Cheers.

[VantenKiest]

dev relations is to be used as a gateway to explain to the moderator dealing with issues that arise how what and why there is an issue.. thus allowing us mods and admins to better assess the situation and take proper non insane actions against the violating dev or party.. while i am a fan of insanity some forms of it are just unwelcome.. and that is why i beat tucstwo with a side of beef this afternoon.

[VantenKiest]

Sorry but this has always been my policy, and quite frankly it's been the policy of developers everywhere since the beginning.

"Ask for permission. If you get denied permission, either figure out how to do the feature yourself or it doesn't get added to your project."

Don't know if that's just because I'm old school or what, just wanted to add my 2 cents.

this is not acceptable you are old shush

[DarkOverDroid]

this is not acceptable you are old shush

lmao

[HouseMD]

mods moding mods that mod users. Seems legit. I don't really think we need a dedicated Dev Relations person(s). Just my .02.