[wp-forums] Jan Dembowski

[mrmist]

My take on this -
It wasn't at all obvious that your post about the upgrade removing your
changes was supposed to be "fun" rather than a support request.
Jan responded in much the same way anyone else would have to the initial
comments that you'd modified core.
The response was perhaps a little on the abrupt side, but I suspect you can
contextualise that by considering that we get a lot of posts asking for
help from people who've modified core code and really don't know what they
are doing. It sounds like you might, but realistically all such hacks have
to have the same sort of response when it looks as if people are asking for
support for a problem caused by such changes.

Where I think that this has possibly gone a bit south is that this thread
was indeed in the "hacks" forum, do berating someone for hacking core code
is perhaps unexpected. I imagine that's the cause of your frustration, and
I can see your point. However, from the mod side, your original post
presents the impression that you had no idea that the upgrade would
overwrite your changes and, with that being the case, the mod was correct
to tell you not to do things that way.
Lastly in my view it was perhaps overly harsh to close down the thread. I
think though that this was a judgement call and it could have gone either
way.
Had the thread been left open it's possible that your immediate response
would have been to post something similar to this email on the forum, and
preventing threads being sidetracked with this kind of meta discussion is
one of the reasons why forum mods exist.
I doubt that there's much point to re opening the thread. It's probably
best for everyone to just move on.
Thanks.
Mrmist.
Sorry, no, you're the one who really needs to tone it down.

You experienced a problem because you modified a core file, and an update
replaced that file. That's why we always say to never modify core files.
You should always use a plugin instead, and that's what Jan said, because
plugins are easier to manage and aren't wiped out by core updates.

Plain and simple, don't modify core files because bad things happen (as you
noticed), try a plugin instead, he even gave you a link to get started.

There was no attack there, no bad humor, just another person pointing out a
problem and offering a solution.

Instead, you choose to make it personal, suggesting that he "take a chill
pill" for what? For trying to help you?

So then, he pointed out again that he was only trying to help, and then
shut down the topic because you had your answers and were instead making
personal comments.

So then how do you respond to someone trying to help and then re-affirming
that's what they were doing? Apparently with this. You jump on a mailing
list of volunteer moderators and attack another volunteer moderator.

Say what you want here, we don't censor. Say I'm of bad humor too, say I
need a chill pill too, but all I see here is someone who was helped by a
volunteer and then took that as an opportunity to slander him on a mailing
list.

No, sir, you are the one who is wrong. Jan is a good person, he helped you,
and you attacked him for it.

________
James Huff
http://macmanx.com

> On Aug 8, 2014, at 7:55 PM, Xen <list at xenhideout.nl> wrote:
>
> There is a moderator on the WP support forums called Jan Dembowski who is
really badly humoured, or let's say chagrined, and who will do unfair stuff
like close forum topics to new replies (after having the last say himself)
for no other reason than that a contributor (like myself) said something
that hit a wrong nerve with him.
>
> Let's call it "looking at him in the wrong way."
>
> And let's call it "abusing a power position to settle an argument instead
of dealing with it as a grown person."
>
> I had made a reply to my own topic that has existed for a while talking
about my experiences with the 3.9.2 security update, which broke my
(amateur, hobby) WordPress installation (that is allowed to be broken at
every turn, more or less) in a slight way. And I related the interesting
stuff I had learned from that.
>
> Mr. Dembowski insisted that no person should modify core WP files like I
had and that the breakage of this minor feature was my 'own fault' and that
I would perhaps have more luck doing a search in the plugin repository with
some obvious keywords he suggested.
>
> I replied by saying that he was making assumptions as to the importance
of my site's operation, that there was no problem whatsoever and I was not
making a support request of anyone, I was just relating a fun experience.
>
> I also suggested he take a break if he saw every supposed 'negative' as a
thing that required immediate fixing, and that he take a step back if he
could not enjoy any type of post that was not an utterly serious request
for help on these forums.
>
> Of course, I did not express these things as eloquently as I do now, or
as verbally apparent, but that's what I said to him.
>
> He responded by saying I was wrong about everything, and that the forum
was not a place for having fun, and he ended with a jab at me for having
abused his forum.
>
> Such a badly humoured moderator who is so tensed up that he can only
think in terms of problems and cannot appreciate anything even moderately
less "important" or "urgent" or "serious" being discussed on the forums
.... as if this is some life or death race to keep every single WordPress
install on the planet running smoothly and without issue.... and it is also
HIS responsibility to achieve that...
>
> For he is acting like he is the "support guy" and I am the "noob who
needs help". And that I am only on these forums to /receive/ help. But most
of the time I am not asking help at all. Most of the time, when I do visit,
when I do have time and focus in my life to be visiting these forums, I
spend most of my time answering to other people's support requests.
>
> I learn most from helping other people, so I pick questions that I want
to know the answers to, and then I set about answering them. These
questions are always smaller than the stuff I need to do myself, so they
are like the sub-problems to my own needs and plans. Because of that, I
save no energy or effort in trying to help these people and get them the
perfect solution for what they want, sometimes spending hours and hours and
hours to develop a solution for someone I don't know. And I believe the
forums are a better place because of that, no matter how little I do....
>
> And now suddenly I am not allowed to have a few jokes in my own thread in
the HACKS subforum that is dedicated to core adjustment (my thread, I mean)
for reasons of creating (and experimenting with) diversity design as an
answer to automated spamming and spam registrations and the like...
>
> ...and this MODERATOR comes in to tell me that HACKING WORDPRESS IS NOT
ALLOWED.
>
> In the bloody HACKS subforum.
>
> Fucking hell, what did I do wrong?
>
> You tell me. Here is the link:
>
> https://wordpress.org/support/topic/anti-spam-registrations
>
> And I know this Dembowski is probably reading this, so I will say again
to you: if you are living under such a tight schedule, maybe just MAYBE it
is time to take a break now and then so you can appreciate the less serious
aspects of life again, yes?
>
> I think everyone would benefit from that, certainly here on this forum.
>
> Bye now.
>
> Oh, and I do expect an apology. I am not going to keep sitting around on
these forums doing my best for everyone if the people in charge think it is
a good thing for berating me for doing my work. That spells
"unappreciative" like nothing else... No matter how valuable the forums may
have been to me before, if I'm getting abused like that, there is no point
for me to stay, or to be staying.
>
> And I would just need to find some other way or mode of getting my
information and my 'learning kicks'. That's all.
>
>
> "xennex81" on the forums, or "Bart Schouten" from the Netherlands.
> _______________________________________________
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