[wp-hackers] Making it better

[Podz]

Owen Winkler wrote:
> Podz wrote:
> 
>> Question: Do we actually WANT to make life easier for Joe User ?

More in my line of fire was options or the lack of. Pinging could be 
switched on / off per post in 1.2 yet in 1.5 a decision was made to 
remove this. The "Options are bad" has already been voiced.
Where is it clear that if you want help you click a Title in the admin 
posting screen ? Hardly intuitive is it ?
The release of 1.5 has caused the number of CSS questions to rocket yet 
despite the knowledge gained from before, this was not used. 
Consequently, valid questions are being lost due to numerous questions 
about the default template. A proper guide for that is essential.

> On the other hand, and here's where the forum and support is lacking, 
> there isn't a well-defined place for Joe to lobby for his ideas where it 
> gets visibility by developers. 

Yes - there is - it's the forums. Just go look but again you will have 
to look correctly. The problem is EXACTLY what the post matt referred to 
said. Now whether the software is at fault can be discussed but from 
what's been said, should I be flagging one thread for the hackers list, 
another for the devs list, another for another list ? No.

> Hell, I'm often looking for something 
> dumb to code to waste an hour or so.  Set me up an RSS feed to these 
> crazy user suggestions and watch the custom code fly.

I appreciate that but who does the work to supply the feed ?

> Is it your expectation that WP becomes a tutoring ground for PHP newbies?

No.

> This is why I keep saying that there needs to be a line that once you 
> cross it, you're in development territory.  You can certainly use 
> WordPress with virtually no programming skill.

True - I am such an example.

> But as you start to 
> demand custom features, you have to expect a little programming 
> knowledge. 
> WordPress can't write the code for you.

So lets be a little more truthful on wp.org ?
Not wrap it up so nicely, be a touch harsher, lower expectations ?

> Sorry if this sounds more confrontational than it was intended, but I 
> think it gets my points across clearly, so I won't soften it.  :)

It didn't offend :)

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