[wp-hackers] RSS/Atom Feed Article Categories Gone

[Brian Layman]

Aaron> It's a place where we can "hack" WordPress. 
That's the problem.  That's NOT what this list is.  The name makes it sound
that way, but that's not it.

I have no idea what "the metaphysics of blogging are" but except that Guru's
description hits closer to home: "WP-Hackers is for discussing code and
ideas pertinent to the evolution and
future of WordPress. It's where we discuss/dissect code-ideas..."

When you visit the codex you see "The wp-hackers list is meant for people
interested in extending WordPress either through plugins or improvements to
the core code.", but many people interpret that as "The wp-hackers list is
meant for people interested in extending WordPress [for your own purposes]
either through plugins or improvements to the core code."

Matt's post makes the purpose clearer (despite the spelling):
"But for discussion of core WordPress development, the plugin API, and
building applications on top of WordPress, there really isn't a place yet.
No longer. I've set up a new mailing list specifically for advanced
WordPress development discussion..."
http://wordpress.org/development/2004/06/hackers/

This list should really be called "WP-CoreImprovement" and all of the
confusion and misplaced questions would go away.

The problem is that there still is a "whole in the discussion fora" <g>.
Hacking WordPress, to my mind, means bending WordPress to your will.
Changing it to get it to do what you want it to do.  And I agree that it has
nothing to do with what you can reach from the menus.  That's all definitely
support forum stuff.  Hacking WP means building custom solutions that don't
exist in the core or even just changing the core if it is already close to
what you want.  From that, of course, good ideas would be generated that
would make it into the core.  We don't really have a place for that sort of
discussion as questions about how to alter Wordpress's code are routinely
rejected. And justly so, if this is the WP-CoreImprovement list.  

Here are the first five unique rejects I found:
How do I integrate a form into a page template?  (included PHP code)
How can i remove the a tag *only* from parent pages? (included PHP code)
[Is] anyone is aware of a way to hide or minimize the file upload iframe
section? (Solution was a hack that happened to already have in code Mark
wrote)
I am looking for code that will create a dropdown menu in my sidebar
[containing the categories] (included PHP Code)
What are the differences between [using the_date and the_time] for inside
the loop? 

Most people trawling the forum CAN'T answer those questions.  That's why we
had the whole "Lack of code savvy volunteers vs wp-hackers" discussion.  All
of these were questions involved hacking WP code to make their sites do what
they wanted.  So they wandered into here.  It sounds like where they should
be.

The purpose of this list is fine, but the name causes people to be shunted
back and forth. It also makes the list look elitist, when it really isn't.
List members are shunting those questions elsewhere because they really are
off topic to the description of the list.  The problem is that they aren't
off topic to the name of the list...

That's how I see it anyway...
_______________________________________________
Brian Layman
www.TheCodeCave.com