Theme competition - G1 Themes and Wallpapers

I am looking to in the near future organize a theme competition. I would be willing to put up $100 dollars donated to the winning designer. If others would like to offer up as well we can figure that part out. I know many of the theme makers here do it for nothing more than for fun, the challenge and to give back to the community. I would love to see how far the envelope would get pushed and what amazing things could be done with something more on the line.
What I want to know is would any of you theme creators be interested in this? I'm sure many people would, but would the right people? I'm thinking all themes would be based on RC33 once everyone figures it out since its the most adopted...We'd have to work out the details.
So what say you? Any interest?
Edit: Contest is a go!
Ending date is March 13th ALL themes much be submitted by midnight pacific time - US. No exceptions!
Donation Link: https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/websc...ton_id=3192813 Thank you to "brandenk" for handling the money. He has provided my with verification information and I am comfortable enough to give him $100 of my own.(You don't have to donate, but if you believe in this competition and what it will provide, I would be greatful if you did. I am donating $100 of my own money. Any donations will go towards future competitions. 10% off the the prize money will be donated to XDA. for example...If prize = $100, then first place gets $70, second $20, and 3rd $10, XDA gets 10% of what the total prize is, however it will not come from the prize itself. If we donot get any donations to do this I will donate this out of my own pocket. I refuse to do this without giving back to XDA)
I am also toying with the idea of people who donate being allowed to BETA test and/or judge in some capacity (More on this as it develops, until then...Donate because you believe. This may not happen so don't donate just for that reason)
If you choose to donate please PM me your email address and donation amount, I want to keep track of everyone and give them a special thanks and credit for helping at the end
Rules:
1. No previously released themes, this goes against the push for innovation I hope to achive during this contest.
2. Designer has the choice to work in whatever enviornment he chooses...however RC33/ADP1.1 are the prefered choices as they are the most widely adopted releases.
3. The contest will last for one month from the start date. All themes must be recieved by midnight US/Pacific time on the final day to be entered in the voting. NO exceptions will be made. END DATE IS MARCH 13TH
4. The prize for this competition will depend on donations we receive, it will however be atleast $100 but no more than $200. If total donations exceed $200 the remain funds will be put towards future competitions. The winner will receive 70%, second place will receive 20%, and third place 10%, XDA gets 10% of what the total prize is, however it will not come from the prize itself.
5. The themes will be scored based on three catagories. Innovation/Originality(25% of final score), Technical Difficulty(25% of final score), and popular vote(50% of final score. If you are interested in being a judge let send me a private message and let me know. Judges are not able to compete, so any theme makers looking to sit this one out I can use your help as a technical judge.
6. All themes must be stable enough to run flashed to a phone and be useable.
7. Teams are allowed, however it will be limited to 2 members per team in order to keep the amount of themes up. I may do a larger team competition in the future however.
If you plan to compete please contact me via private message, so i can get an idea of how many contestants we are looking at. I hope so see this bring out some favorites as well as some new faces.
If you are interested in donating towards the prize look for donation information soon, or feel free to PM me and i will get back to you with information when we have it.
Any questions and/or concerns may also be conveyed to me through Gtalk if you wish. Hit me up if you wish "Doooshty at gmail dot com"

Hmmmm.....

Stericson said:
Hmmmm.....
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What do you think? I value your opinion seeing as you are the creator of all things theme(With help from JF, i know you're too modest to take all the credit ). Enough to bring the great Stericson out of theme retirement? lol

I think its a great idea, but how would you secure the funds? Plus, what would the time frame be? I might be interested.
[Edit] Not too modest, just like respecting the work and time of others that have helped me.

Stericson said:
I think its a great idea, but how would you secure the funds? Plus, what would the time frame be? I might be interested.
[Edit] Not too modest, just like respecting the work and time of others that have helped me.
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Initial thought on fund was I would donate it to Jesus Freak and he would then donate it to the winner...that was just a quick idea. We are pretty sure he's not going anywhere however he may very likely want nothing to do with it, but i'm still looking to work that out. As far as time frame, I was looking to get input from theme makers on this. Not being one myself I am un aware how long this process takes, I also know that no one does this fulltime so I want everyone to have a chance to make something nice.
Like I said it's in its early stages, I just wanted to see how much interest there was before I really went forward with it

This is a good way to get a bunch of themes in the wild =) I would participate...would you supply coffee and peanut butter & fluff sangwiches =)

well well well, i could enter a theme competition.... what time frame are we looking at
best in a month's time? 2 weeks? 2 months?
also, you could secure the transaction through paypal, or send a personal check to someone.... hmm
also will there be "all-the-neccessary-tools" to edit everything, from .9 pngs to png, i guess a fair playing field (well technically starting line) then whoever excels from there should be crowned winner....

Like having a select set of icons, or a pool of resources and see who makes the best from that pile? And how fast?
This is a great idea! I would gladly chip in the prize bucket to see the outcome.

JackD3ath said:
Like having a select set of icons, or a pool of resources and see who makes the best from that pile? And how fast?
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This is a very cool idea, makes it a real competition...If this doesn't pan out for this thread i will work with you on another thread.

i'm glad to see some interest...i was thinking 1 month, but i'm interested to see what everyone thinks. i'm at work right now...i'm off at 3 est, and i'll post some more thoughts i have on it, but until then let me know what you think. i'm excited...i think this could be fun

damnitpud said:
This is a very cool idea, makes it a real competition...If this doesn't pan out for this thread i will work with you on another thread.
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Like iron chef themeing? That could be interesting

The tough part is figuring out what iconset would be used...something with a few different colors so each themer can use a different color scheme. I think this could be fun. A month is a long time, i would say 2 weeks tops. If someone sits in one place for about 6-7 hours strait a theme could be completely finished, maybe even faster now that some of the images are supplied.
We should start a thread for people to post iconsets, then take a 1 week poll for the best one. Let the community decide the default stuff.

Actually, A month is perfect for me. I have a lot on my plate and I can't devote a lot of time at once. I have some tricks up my sleeve I'd love to throw into this....

Depending on how this pans out, I'll be willing to donate ATLEAST $20.
My vote will go to the most "THEMED", not color matched

However, I don't like the idea of just themeing for RC33, it's not as free as ADP1.1, which is way easier to theme on and allows you to do more things. I feel kind of limited by RC33.
After all, Adp1.1 is the "Dev Phone"
Stericson

What build? Please tell me ADP1.1

Boo!!! Well I guess this will give me a push to start reading more about ADB/ADP. I don't want to jump out of my limits.
Theme on themers

Maybe we can set up a donation spot and keep it full and have regular monthly contests whenever the donation pot is above $100. Maybe even split the $100 to $60 - 1st place, $30 - 2nd place, $10 - 3rd place.

Shoot, put me down for 20 too and you can call on me for it. Id love to see something with animations.

So here is a noobish question, I assume I can flash the ADP 1.1? If so, and if it is easier to theme, are there elements of RC33 missing from ADP1.1?
My thought is, if we all decide to stick with one build, it would help the communal effort of making themes.

Related

Since my thread was closed....

I was not expecting any more donations, it was intended to be a release to those that had already donated. I intended to let things die down on here before a public release here and my last public release here. Then everything was blown out of proportion and people felt that they were obligated to donate in order to receive it. I wanted it to be released for those that already had donated as a thank you for your support and that I would publicly release in about a week.
I can not help that people make assumptions, this is not my fault. I can not help it that Midget and JasJamming (AKA CRUSTEL) have to play games. It was done so I could decide if I wanted to publicly release or not because of recent events. If it would not have been here it would have been on my site.
So those that still feel as if I am "charging" for a M$ product so be it, I can not help how you perceive what my intentions were. The rom will be released here it is just a matter of when, and will be my final release on xda. All future releases will be on my site where I am not under the scrutiny of biased individuals.
Just as he said
I donated to Custel a few days ago. I had no expectations as I have donated to others as well. A short time later I received a PM with his beta. I did not ask for it and he did not request more donations. He only said for me to try it, not distribute and report back. I think he is being unfairly criticized. If others got the impression that he was requiring a donation then IMHO they are wrong.
I appreciate the hard work of the many talented pros on this and other sites. You have taken this gear we call a phone to a new level. Getting into pi**ing matches does not further the cause in the proper fashion.
I truly have no horse in the race here. I just want everyone to know that from my experience Custel was always above board.
Mark
nuff said
Nicely done, Custel. I've always had a feeling that you are a man of intellect and integrity, and I never doubted your sincerity, nor your intelligence when it comes to resale of M$ property.
I think you are owed an apology (yeah, wait for that), and recognition that you were mature enough to come back here and explain your intentions.
I wish you all the best luck with your new (and pretty slick) site, and with all your future endeavors.
Best regards,
-Paul
CUSTEL said:
I wanted it to be released for those that already had donated as a thank you for your support and that I would publicly release in about a week.
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Honestly, that is how I read your intentions to begin with. It's what ensued thereafter that made things appear 'underhanded' and perhaps get blown out of proportion.
While it's admirable to say that you 'weren't expecting any more donations' (and I take you at your word that you weren't), you should have backed that up with not accepting any more donations nor giving anyone but prior donors access to your pre-release until such time as you made a public release, wherever that may be.
That said, every indication was (and still is) that those who donate will be given access to your ROM and until that point is cleared up, your actions will remain questionable and under debate.
You do good work, CUSTEL. Don't let it be sullied by some silly scandal.
vp3G said:
Honestly, that is how I read your intentions to begin with. It's what ensued thereafter that made things appear 'underhanded' and perhaps get blown out of proportion.
While it's admirable to say that you 'weren't expecting any more donations' (and I take you at your word that you weren't), you should have backed that up with not accepting any more donations nor giving anyone but prior donors access to your pre-release until such time as you made a public release, wherever that may be.
That said, every indication was (and still is) that those who donate will be given access to your ROM and until that point is cleared up, your actions will remain questionable and under debate.
You do good work, CUSTEL. Don't let it be sullied by some silly scandal.
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Good Point, from this point on those that donate to receive will not be given access to it.
CUSTEL said:
Good Point, from this point on those that donate will not be given access to it.
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Glad you see as such. Yep, that's all you needed to do to put the brakes on this mess.
Custel the Best
It is unclear to me exactly what happened, and that isn't important. What is important is the deterioration of XDA-Developers. Some of the best cooks are leaving. If this trend continues, what kind of place will be left.
Custel - I will continue to run 2.5, it is almost the perfect ROM for me. Please try to work this out. Maybe some of the moderators will see what is happening.
Mark
And as far ass JazJaming and we know how the rest of his clan is i wouldn't worry too much about them, They know your work is good and thats what makes them mad. They know you have a short temper and they try to piss you off in every way they can I just hope that some of the few good Mods left on this forum will try to clean up some of the favoritism that has plagued this forum. If you leave the forum i wouldn't blame you and i would probably do the same
Good luck to you man, and keep up the great work you do for all the nerds and n00bs out there
not to sound like a d***
Custel - You can call requesting money for access to your work anything you want... call it donating if you desire but please understand that others will call this the way they see it. My personal opinion is that I will call a bird a bird and when someone requires a "donation" before granting access then they are "selling" it. Of course, these are just the words that I choose to use. /shrug
Despiadado1 said:
Custel - You can call requesting money for access to your work anything you want... call it donating if you desire but please understand that others will call this the way they see it. My personal opinion is that I will call a bird a bird and when someone requires a "donation" before granting access then they are "selling" it. Of course, these are just the words that I choose to use. /shrug
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Would you like a quarter?
Sounds like the right thing to do - BTW Syndicate looks good with the 'n' in it.
gregross said:
Sounds like the right thing to do - BTW Syndicate looks good with the 'n' in it.
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LOL smartass, hey it was made at 4am so yea... lol
CUSTEL said:
LOL smartass, hey it was made at 4am so yea... lol
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He he - the (syndicate) site looks great -hopefully all of this drama slows down soon ...
misfitflt said:
It is unclear to me exactly what happened, and that isn't important. What is important is the deterioration of XDA-Developers. Some of the best cooks are leaving. If this trend continues, what kind of place will be left.
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XDA-Developers isn't about cooking ROMs. It is our work that makes ROM cooking possible. For each and every device, we first take it apart and build tools to unlock CID and SIM. We do this at great risk to our expensive new devices. When finished with this part of our work, we have allowed the flashing of other operator ROMS. Then we begin to decode the ROM image itself and build the tools to manipulate it. Finally, we unlock the bootloader and make it safe for the masses to flash.
When this happens, chefs appear and custom ROMs are produced. Bickering and fighting occurs. N00bs are bashed. Yet XDA-Developers are mostly done at this point. Go back through the older device forums and find out what folks like Buzz Lightyear went through. It's a repeated cycle.
My hat is off to the Hermes XDA Developers: pof, Des, OliPro, Tadzio, Bepe, mun_rus. I shake my head in wonder at these folks as I use their tools and hard won knowledge to perform XIP grafts on my latest Hermes ROM.
XDA developers are application gurus too and we provide critical fixes/patches. I'm a part of this as are folks like SuperDave and ViJay555.
Hermes is at EOL. Be happy to know that we will once again begin taking apart the next big device. We are looking forward to Kaiser and the next set of challenges.
XDA developers won't die when the Chef's star fades with their devices. We will be doing what this site is all about: making your next device better.
why is everyone arguing? i thought everyone had a common goal!!
things will be much better when certain people get of there high horse I believe. the n00b bashing is almost a given I'm sure that will never change.
austinsnyc said:
things will be much better when certain people get of there high horse I believe. the n00b bashing is almost a given I'm sure that will never change.
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Must we remind you of your first few posts?
@Sleuth: A really nice, concise synopsis...it should be stickied as a solo post ... a motto ... a mission statement.
I've only been 'round these parts for a few months now, and have barely learned how to make use of the end-parts of this EOL, and I am forever grateful for the wonderful experience. I've learned some things, hope to learn more, and am enjoying the ride.
I thank you and all the geniuses on your list. This site is amazing! A real tribute to what this Internet thing could be. An educational tool and repository for historical knowledge. Better than any library ... bringing that knowledgebase first to our homes and businesses, and now, to the palms of our hands.
But I digress (15 hours of work will do that to you).
Thank you for that last post...I really enjoyed it after a very stressful day.
Kindest regards,
-pvs
pvs said:
@Sleuth: A really nice, concise synopsis...it should be stickied as a solo post ... a motto ... a mission statement.
I've only been 'round these parts for a few months now, and have barely learned how to make use of the end-parts of this EOL, and I am forever grateful for the wonderful experience. I've learned some things, hope to learn more, and am enjoying the ride.
I thank you and all the geniuses on your list. This site is amazing! A real tribute to what this Internet thing could be. An educational tool and repository for historical knowledge. Better than any library ... bringing that knowledgebase first to our homes and businesses, and now, to the palms of our hands.
But I digress (15 hours of work will do that to you).
Thank you for that last post...I really enjoyed it after a very stressful day.
Kindest regards,
-pvs
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I second that!! im very new here too and pvs is right, this place is better than a library!!
bennec83 said:
I second that!! im very new here too and pvs is right, this place is better than a library!!
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Never said i was never a n00b myself or an angel
Does pretty much suck that everyone is leaving Xda though

Visual Voicemail for Google Voice

I've seen a lot of dialers for google voice, but is anyone working on a visual voicemail app for it? I tried one, but it just crashed my phone.
Something simple would be nice in the format:
img260.imageshack.us/img260/8013/exmpl.jpg
Sorry can't post pics yet because of site restrictions.
Should open quickly with stored login. Should only download the message when the play button is pressed to a specified folder in options and then automatically play in background. Also should be an option to limit to display the last n messages, because some of our google voice accounts are quite full. Messages should be displayed from most recent whether they have already been read or not.
Anything like that? Ah, that would be nice. I'm sure many of us would chip in towards its development.
I suppose that if people would be willing to chip in some contributions ($$) to me, I could take on this task for the people....
I hate being that guy who wants the money, but if you look at what I have done, I have done quite a bit for free, and am still doing quite a bit....
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
I suppose that if people would be willing to chip in some contributions ($$) to me, I could take on this task for the people....
I hate being that guy who wants the money, but if you look at what I have done, I have done quite a bit for free, and am still doing quite a bit....
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that would be cool, but how the heck do i get on google voice? anyone willing to shoot me an invite? [email protected]......
Cyclonezephyrxz7 said:
I suppose that if people would be willing to chip in some contributions ($$) to me, I could take on this task for the people....
I hate being that guy who wants the money, but if you look at what I have done, I have done quite a bit for free, and am still doing quite a bit....
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How much to get this started? I often donate but it's normally a pittance compared to the work. However, a GOOD gvoice app would be great. Any that I have seen are a shame...
The amount of $$ i get 'committed' to this project will determine its quality. I am not asking for some obnoxiously large amount, just a little something. Of course it would take me a little bit of time to read up on, and understand any API's or code i need to interface with GVoice, so if you want me to dev it, don't be super-pushy on a quick quick release date. Plus, if I dev this app, you get my promise to provide updates, fixes, etc. as they are needed (and since this will be for $$, it will take priority over my other Apps).
With that being said, I am off to research GVoice API's and the likes...
Okay,
So after some researching, I CAN make this application happen. I would like if there could be some sort of pledge of donations I could get upon completing this (as I will continue to update it to make it better)...seeing as I am engaged in a couple of projects now, but if nobody really wants to donate, I can add this to my ToDo and do it when i finish up everything else i am engaged with...
smiznith said:
that would be cool, but how the heck do i get on google voice? anyone willing to shoot me an invite? [email protected]......
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sent you an invite
Well, I'm definitely in for the donation! Just got my tax return.
I see there is a bit of interest in an app of this sort.
Thank you, Cyclonezephyrxz7 for volunteering your time. I'm going to check out some of your other projects.
I have done my research (like i mentioned prior), and I have done some coding...and I have a sort-of-beta working...but I do not plan on beta testing or releasing yet as it is GUI-less and limited in functionality...In due time I will release a beta/proof-of-concept version that will provide some functionality...If people are satisfied with it then (and want the extra features)..if I get donations I can release a fuller version sooner....but as I said, it is currently on the end-ish of my to-do list (which is a decent size)
Made a small donation to help in developing this.
Also encourage others to do the same. The main part is the voicemails and checking through the phone browser is a bit inconvenient. Hopefully this project can get some steam and move up the to-do-list.
htc-ppc said:
Made a small donation to help in developing this.
Also encourage others to do the same. The main part is the voicemails and checking through the phone browser is a bit inconvenient. Hopefully this project can get some steam and move up the to-do-list.
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I'm working on a project to handle this, take a look at: http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=671086
I hate to be that guy begging for invites but I'll definitely donate if I could get a google voice invite as well. Heck I'd pay for an invite without the new project hah.
email is [email protected]
Appreciate it!
DDVX1 said:
I hate to be that guy begging for invites but I'll definitely donate if I could get a google voice invite as well. Heck I'd pay for an invite without the new project hah.
email is [email protected]
Appreciate it!
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Ive sent you an invite to the email you mentioned ive got 2 left and would love to donate them to anyone that might be able to give sl4sher a hand on the app hes developing at http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=671086
Still no luck! PM me if ya need someone to help test any progress you make.
I'd give invites to those helping to get this project completed, but unfortunately google still hasn't given me any.
Sorry I didn't see your thread earlier, Sl4sher. Seems pretty close to what I had in mind. I'll download it and try it out. Haven't heard anything back from Cyclonezephyrxz7.
Sorry for the lack of updates...It has been sort of a hectic week around me...
Anywho, I have the program functions 90% working, and I am building a compelling and easy-to-use GUI...I am working on both a SmartPhone and PPC release, I just have to get some testing done, and I will be releasing this...Just hold tight.
*I'll try my best to have it done by the end of the weekend, and ready for testers, but if I take past wednesday of next week, there may be some delay as I will be out of state for that weekend....I'll try my best to beat this time-frame though.*
Thanks for the update. Been using Sl4sher's, but I dislike not having the play button on the first page, as well as no contact name or play length. Also some errors in there.
Looking forward to testing out your release. Enjoy your vacation!

Money Pledge Thread for a OTA Froyo Root of 2.2 [Now Up to $280 US] is OVER.

****Last Day*****
Since money motivates some I'm starting a pledge thread for the DEV who roots an OTA stock version of Froyo on the EVO. For folks who are going to pledge here, please be serious and adhere to giving in the dollar or euro amount you are pledging. Understand these folks are doing this stuff on their free-time and with the money being offered we are hoping it will put a little more focus on getting this initiative completed sooner rather then later.
At minimum I am hoping for:
hboot.93 hack
Root Stock OTA Froyo 2.2 with Super User
Wifi Tether working
Everything else can stay the same in the ROM.
Once a Developer produces such an image with install instructions and is verified working, then those who pledge will insert funds to to the developer's Paypal account within 24 hours. Should be pretty simple. Again if you pledge, be a man or woman or your word and give this person what they earned.
I'm STARTING out with my pledge of $50 U.S. Dollars. Good luck!
**** Based on a Suggestion Going to include a deadline of 8/20 for the project to be completed to be eligible for the funds ***
Finally should a DEVELOPER decide they don't want the money, whatever is pledged here will be given to the XDA website donation link. And Please keep this to pledge donation amount replies.
(To admin, please make a sticky if possible)
Well it was a good attempt. I want to thank all of those who actually "PLEDGED" money and did not come to this thread to complain about the reasons why we put this pledge together.
For those that are stuck, I think it's time we face the music and consider one of two options:
Continue to Wait. (It's been 17 days since the release of OTA Froyo and no known exploit has been found)
Start looking at another device
I've decided to cut my looses and pre-order on an EPIC. It has been a pleasure being on the EVO side of the XDA forums. I wish the best of luck to everyone here and I hope one day root is achieved and that new bootloader is defeated.
Cheers
Never mind, the other thread is for an updated PRI for rooted phones.
By all means start a new thread.
I thought about starting a similar thread. Many developers have already put a lot of effort into solving this without monetary motivation. The only way I see this helping is if an HTC/Sprint person with access we don't have, helps out. The brightest minds in this community (dare I say anywhere) are already working hard on it. That, or maybe a non-Evo developer will start, but prob doubtful. Either way, $25 to support this. Save me from my stupidity/nonroot hell!
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App
Since I am chronically impatient and therefore Dl'd the OTA I will throw down $10. Sorry I can't contribute more, new father here.
I can scrape together another $25 for the effort.
the price of one months tether
$30
So then are you guys planning on paying unrevoked tonight?
edufur said:
So then are you guys planning on paying unrevoked tonight?
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maybe you should go read again. you need to have a rooted phone already.
Somehow, I don't think that it's the lack of a monetary award that’s keeping the 2.2 root from happening. Normally, bounties are used for issues that nobody’s really working on, or for issues that have been worked on for some time, but are exceedingly difficult. What you’re doing here is setting a precedent where devs will be racing against each other to be first out the door with something that they’re all already working on, to win a monetary reward. I don’t know if that kind of precedent is a good idea.
2.2 root will happen, just be patient.
BTW, I’m no dev, so I can't speak for them, I'm just a member of the xda community. It just makes me a bit uncomfortable to see these kinds of threads. And that’s also not to say that the devs don’t deserve every dollar – they do! They kick ass in every way, shape and form. So maybe when they do root 2.2, send them a donation. But the reason I’ve been coming here since way back when I had the HTC Kaiser (although I only joined up when I got my Evo, I've been lurking here for years), is for the community and the people. Specifically people helping people, just to be helpful, and because they can, because they have the knowledge, and to show what can be done when the corporate locks are removed from a device so that it's capabilities are only limited to the coding skills of the dev, and the imagination of the community. Not for the money. To be frank, I think that if we keep going down this direction, we’ll all be worse off, and xda may change – and not for the better.
Just my $0.02, so take it for what it's worth.
And get off my lawn! Sorry - the above came out with a much more doom and gloom attitude than what I had intended. Didn’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. ;-)
fachadick said:
Somehow, I don't think that it's the lack of a monetary award that’s keeping the 2.2 root from happening. Normally, bounties are used for issues that nobody’s really working on, or for issues that have been worked on for some time, but are exceedingly difficult. What you’re doing here is setting a precedent where devs will be racing against each other to be first out the door with something that they’re all already working on, to win a monetary reward. I don’t know if that kind of precedent is a good idea.
2.2 root will happen, just be patient.
BTW, I’m no dev, so I can't speak for them, I'm just a member of the xda community. It just makes me a bit uncomfortable to see these kinds of threads. And that’s also not to say that the devs don’t deserve every dollar – they do! They kick ass in every way, shape and form. So maybe when they do root 2.2, send them a donation. But the reason I’ve been coming here since way back when I had the HTC Kaiser (although I only joined up when I got my Evo, I've been lurking here for years), is for the community and the people. Specifically people helping people, just to be helpful, and because they can, because they have the knowledge, and to show what can be done when the corporate locks are removed from a device so that it's capabilities are only limited to the coding skills of the dev, and the imagination of the community. Not for the money. To be frank, I think that if we keep going down this direction, we’ll all be worse off, and xda may change – and not for the better.
Just my $0.02, so take it for what it's worth.
And get off my lawn! Sorry - the above came out with a much more doom and gloom attitude than what I had intended. Didn’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. ;-)
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*******
I totally respect your view and agree that it should not be a money race. Open source is a beautiful thing and that is what I love about this platform. Developers craft their skill and share with others because they have a passion for what they do and not because they want to make money.
Once in a while though we should honor them for what it is they do and since the release of Froyo, it saddens me to read postings from individuals who are mocking people who upgraded their phone via OTA though there were warnings about it, lets face it, Froyo is an enticing update and unfortunately some folks jumped on it. But I also believe that there are a fare amount of people here who either recently purchased the phone or was in the middle of a warranty issue that ended up with an OTA'd Froyo and because these individuals want to mock and make these assumptions, it could be perceived that the only people who are begging for a root are the ones who OTA'd by choice. Regardless on how everyone got to OTA Froyo, we are here now and are patiently waiting for a workaround.
So in the hopes of offering in incentive not only to the fine work of developers here at XDA, but to help those of us who are stuck in limbo, I started this pledge to help get this initiative going.
fachadick said:
Somehow, I don't think that it's the lack of a monetary award that’s keeping the 2.2 root from happening. ~snip~ Didn’t mean to rain on anyone’s parade. ;-)
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Agreed, so consider my contribution a donation to whoever roots this beast.
You can put me down for $20.00. Im in a slightly different boat than everyone else. My phone already had 2.2 on it when I picked it up. I dont know if it was that way out of the box or if one of the nice Sprint employees was kind enough to upgrade it for me. I paid for the phone/service when the store opened but didnt come back for the phone until after lunch because they needed to port the number, paperwork, etc and I didnt have time to wait.
That being said, I bought a bunch of software for my N1 which is now useless as I dont have root and Id really like to have that stuff back working again.
it's unfortunate that an open-source community, where devs work with free software, needs to resort to money to motivate people. i understand that there are devs out there who will do this for free because they enjoy doing it for free (so not all devs need money for motivation), but lets be real. you're promoting an environment where open source also means "but not for free".
there's no doubt that there are very very very talented devs here and maybe they do deserve some money. but what happens when they start thinking, "hmmm, if people are willing to pay just for root, I wonder what they'll pay for my services?"
cnstarz said:
you're promoting an environment where open source also means "but not for free".[/I]"
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Open Source doesn't mean the devs are working for free. If they want to sell their services then only those willing to pay shall receive such services. It is totally up to the devs.
jedwardmiller said:
Open Source doesn't mean the devs are working for free. If they want to sell their services then only those willing to pay shall receive such services. It is totally up to the devs.
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+1
Also, just because people are offering a bounty, doesn't mean that's why the devs are doing it. Like I said before, bounty or no bounty, someone will find a way to root froyo, and when that happens, I doubt that they'll have done it for the money.
Sent from my blah blah blah blah
bump..................................
Ok much better...
Should a developer decide that they don't want the money for their work, then what ever funds we have collected here, we'll donate it to the XDA forum paypal account to keep to site running. In either case the money will go to a good cause.
There needs to be a deadline tho. If not..it means it can be a year from now and still collect. I'd say by next Friday. A simple root will do, we can hold off for nand unlock. Atleast with simple root we can still tether which is what we mostly want.
Put me down for $20! I'm a newb with all this. Came over from the jailbreak world just last week. Can someone give me a heads up on how I donate the money once the root is released? Do these devs usually have pay pal donation function on there sites?
sent from my evo

[Q] Implement Reputation System?

Hey guys (mostly the senior/mod/admin folks, but anyone feel free to chime in). Could XDA implement vBulletin's (I think there is an official plugin/option... I may be wrong about this though; I cannot say for sure since I am not an admin on any site that uses vBulletin, $user = phpbbWhore reputation system? If it's not built into the latest version of the code, I'm sure there is a 3rd party plugin available from VBulletin's official site (I know of at least a few of those that exist and would help if needed).
My thought behind this is that sometimes someone posts some really useful information and adding a reply that says something like "+1 thanks!" almost seems like a waste of a post to me (I really dislike "filler"/OT threads, but I still want to give the person credit). However if I was able to give a person a point (+) or if someone was just being a jerk for no reason (-), I think more people would take the time to think before they posted. Plus, since we know "post count" mean nothing in terms of someone being a helpful person or not, this would allow new users to spot trustworthy/reliable folks.
My only qualm is that I don't know if XDA as a whole is mature enough to use this kind of system responsibly, but I have faith that any real abusers could be weeded out fairly quickly. I think it would be cool to at least trial run this. Thanks for your time .
Hi DeeBG,
Yeah, it's good idea generally, thou i'd prolly advocate XDA going a step further right off the bat, and implementing a point trading system as a supplement to the donate buttons, especially for those without easy access to paypal credit.
Reputation has issues when someone on the fringe of the group is battered down for being different. Like imagine someone says "Let's make an iPhone section!". They might lose a years reputation in like a day. At least with a point trading system you're dealing with actual assistance or virtual services, rather than base emotional responses or crowd bullying.
I'm still learning about XDA's donate system, which seems fairly arbitrary or opaque. Maybe someone can explain how well that system is working out so far.
Cheers.
Reputation is built into vB, looks like they opted to turn it off. Good thing, every forum I've been a part of / admin'd, it's been abused.
I7redd said:
Reputation has issues when someone on the fringe of the group is battered down for being different. Like imagine someone says "Let's make an iPhone section!". They might lose a years reputation in like a day. At least with a point trading system you're dealing with actual assistance or virtual services, rather than base emotional responses or crowd bullying.
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The reputation system only works through "thanks", doesn't it? So your reputation cannot get worse, but only better.
I7redd said:
I'm still learning about XDA's donate system, which seems fairly arbitrary or opaque. Maybe someone can explain how well that system is working out so far.
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It's not much of a system - you can donate directly to xda, which will help cover costs of running the servers, or you can donate to individuals (like me ) whose work you like.
Well there are really two types of systems. One is where you can give a thumbs up or thumbs down on a comment (sometimes represented by a [+] or [-] sign), and then there is the "Thanks" system, as seen on such sites as http://androidforums.com.
I agree that the first system can and sadly usually is abused (I think I saw it work well on one private torrent site I used to belong to a long time ago). There is a somewhat "pack mentality" that some users can fall into, whether someone is "outed" (falsely or not) for being an abuser of the forums or sometimes members are found "guilty by association".
I would like to see at least a "Thanks" system in place, again the folks at androidforums.com (which I'm sure at least some of you are also members at or at least have been directed to a post there before) have this successfully working within their vBulletin-powered site and would happy to help XDA admins if needed (not that I don't have faith in the XDA site owners/coders, you guys are pretty awesome yourselves =p). Of course I would be happy to lend my ~10 years of PHP/MySQL/etc experience to the process if it'd help.
I would start a public poll, but I think it's really in the interests of the site owners (also they can probably setup a more wide-spread poll than I can if they want public opinion).
Your friend in code,
DeeBG =)
I think it would be good to show appreciation to other users but It would be abused knowing that you can knock down someone's reputation (last thing we need is more flaming)
Captainkrtek said:
I think it would be good to show appreciation to other users but It would be abused knowing that you can knock down someone's reputation (last thing we need is more flaming)
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Yeah, that's why I think a system where you can ONLY give thanks would be cool. Again, forum admins, let me know if you need any assistance getting it up and working (it shouldn't add a performance performance hit to the backend database/system... the php code would be very light and the mysql db would maybe grow a few hundred kB since users without thanks wouldn't have any data).
Developer Bidding...
Livven said:
The reputation system only works through "thanks", doesn't it?
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Still open to cheating using multiple accounts to "Thank" themselves here and there and everywhere.
It's perhaps harder to gain anything with requests from yourself, and gifting points to yourself, while offering up public solutions. Thou i wouldn't put it past someone to try.
It's not much of a system - you can donate directly to xda, which will help cover costs of running the servers, or you can donate to individuals (like me ) whose work you like.
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Hmm... There seems to be a growing trend on XDA towards "donation requests" or "developer bidding" in certain forums. (see Xperia x10 Froyo request topic for example).
It involves people collectively posting that they will each donate a small amount to their favorite cause. (Android on Samsung Wave being another good example)
The current running tallies of offered donations is also interesting idea, thou there is some concern that those who have offered to donate $10 or $20 dollars will actually do so once the developers have done their magic.
Again, the opaque or arbitrary nature of hidden donations is a problem here.
Without going as far as escrow payments system (for requests that could likely need time limits and a refund), a basic "pre-paid" point system should work pretty well. For instance, once a task is completed the points could then be traded back for paypal dollars, completing the "circle of trust".
Any other ideas on this?
(or is there already an active "services" marketplace here somewhere that i've perhaps overlooked?)

To 'DEV' or not to 'DEV'.....

I just wanted to vent off about a trend that is starting to p*** me off greatly.
It is these so called 'Devs' that are 'cooking' ROM's and claiming to be Developers, then expect some form of payment for their 'work'.
Now before I get flamed, I am not talking about the recognised Developers on here who do some fantastic, complex work. I am quite willing and often do, donate as a token of my appreciation for their work and to help cover development costs.
I am talking the 'chancers' who take either a Stock ROM or AOSP (or indeed, another Dev's ROM), theme it a bit, add in some fixes and apps from other developers, then release it as a fantastically named ROM and ask numerous times in the first post for a donation.
This then leads to a thread full of posts asking the 'Dev' for fixes, who usually reply something like, "I'll look into it ", then wait for a real developer to make a fix elsewhere, and then include it in their ROM, inferring that they have fixed it.
I should state here that the tipping point for me today was a cooked ROM I saw, where the guy is not asking for donations per se, but has a 'wish list' on Amazon, a 'wish list' for f*** sake.
I know the Mods on this site have more than enough work on their hands, but couldn't we have a sort of two-tier system, whereby the submitted work could be scrutinized and a decision taken as to whether it has been 'cooked' or 'developed'. Then the person submitting could be advised as to whether they can call themselves a 'Chef' or a 'Dev'. Also some advice could be given about donations.........
lease report any abuse of the donation rules to us so we can deal with it appropriately.
Thankyou for raising some very valid points as well. Unfortunately though it's simply not viable to evaluate all releases.
Sent From My Fingers To Your Face......
Problem is you cant make it so only Recognized Devs can release ROMs either because there are so many good devs that are not recognized
Of course you are both correct. It would likely discourage people from trying to create ROM's and these guys (whether they cook or code) deserve all the plaudits they receive.
I should take a deep breath before sounding off .
That's what happens when you have to work over the holidays!
killall said:
...the guy is not asking for donations per se, but has a 'wish list' on Amazon
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I saw that too. I think the only reason I didn't report it was because I was so flabbergasted! (Ask the mods, I'm not shy when it comes to reporting stuff )
The thing that really got me was that it was mostly stuff around the $40-$60 range, some more! If it were things like USB cables and screen protectors that were only a few quid a go then I could accept it, but not the stuff he was asking for.
Edit: Found it and reported it. Let the mods decide.
I never ask, in fact I'm dead against it. If I do something its for my phone. Of course I will share it, but I did it for me. A few people have asked so now I include a charity link in my work. That way I don't know who donates and I feel no obligation to them to do more, or edit it to there wants, also I might be doing some good in the world. I feel this is the way to go. I rarely donate for fear of abuse of the system. And yeah, I recently saw a guy post a unworking ics port. Let other guys in the forum fix then ask for donations.
Sent from my GT-S5830 using xda premium

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