Forum Suggestion: Current plugins in development thread

[Simon Brown]

Let us imagine a scenario: Plugin Author A has started developing a plugin (in secret, as usual) and a while later Plugin Author B unwittingly has the same idea and starts working on the same plugin. Plugin Author A releases their plugin and Plugin Author B comes to the realisation of the time and effort he has wasted.

I suggest a thread wheere plugin authors can post current projects and their status to prevent this from happening in future.

[Ash]

This is not a bad idea.

[Leif]

I am not a plugin developer; but i am (surprise, surprise) a contributor to some sites. The owner of two of those sites and forum, has made a special section of the forum, where site developments can bee disused, and material can be contributed. That section is off limits to everybody else, but people who are regular helping out with the site in one way, or the other.

This works quite well.

[Simon Brown]

~Leif: What point are you trying to make?

[Leif]

Just telling about my experience with ONE solution to this problem.

[Simon Brown]

Just telling about my experience with ONE solution to this problem.

Are you suggesting a seperate section hidden to everyone except plugin developers?

[Mike Ryan]

Because if so, it already exists. Sabrown, if you really want Rick's opinion about this hit the link in my signature. Until then, we can always add it into PdNW

[Simon Brown]

I disagreed with what you were talking about as it seemed to be based on an illusion that changing a few forum names will help smaller developers. IMO what i'm suggesting is entirely different.

[Curtis]

This is a good idea, maybe we could also use it as a plugin suggestion thread as well, better communication between developers and users with ideas can only be a good thing.

[Simon Brown]

I disagree with the idea of merging the two - IMHO plugin suggestions need discussion and thus their own thread - this would simply be an optimistic concurrency system for plugin development.

[Curtis]

So its only gonna be for posting what your currently working on. That would work in theory, but I know that I don't like posting what I'm working on until I get to the stage where I know for sure I am going to release it. Theres no use saying I'm going to make plugin X, stopping everyone else do it, then end up not finishing it. Not to mention people getting their hopes up for a new plugin they want and then being let down.

[MadJik]

@sabrown100: I better like the idea of Leaf, as your suggestion sounds like if a plugin maker creates a topic about a new idea, he should be the one to release a plugin like that...

It's too "dangerous" for several reasons:

1. The author starts, but never goes on and the idea is frozen due to this author.

2. The idea isn't well explained and confusion runs around it (remember the discusion about your custom frame plugin)

3. New plugins authors aren't known yet and so don't have access to the plugins "secret" sub forum. Should they take the "risk" to create alternate version?

4. If you say you are working on this or that, don't you think no one will try to create his own version (as the picts contests)...

But now it could be a rule decided and applied here on this forum (or anywhere else), but I belive it will be too strict, and hard to handle...

And in the end the plugins couldn't really be exactly the same, and so the users will have the choice!