Hello,
first thanks for this great place! I would have smashed my Touch HD if xda wouldnt exist
I have a suggestion regarding the ROM forums and threads:
As the cookers and chefs are mostly to busy to gather information from the thread and put them in the first(second...) post, it would be really nice if a threadstarter or moderator could assign a normal user as an "thread-specific" moderator (for only the first three posts for example). So volunteers, people very interested in this ROM, could maintain a buglist, tips and hints, fixes and other helpful stuff from the thousand and more pages and make the life for everybody easier.
Its sometimes really hard to find information in the thousand pages. I think a solution like this would help everybody and reduce the senseless spam questions in the ROM forums. All 1-2 pages new users ask the same as people before, and all are getting the answer "Read through the thread, its mentioned 10 pages before" for example.
Whats your opinion about this?
7Bit said:
Hello,
first thanks for this great place! I would have smashed my Touch HD if xda wouldnt exist
I have a suggestion regarding the ROM forums and threads:
As the cookers and chefs are mostly to busy to gather information from the thread and put them in the first(second...) post, it would be really nice if a threadstarter or moderator could assign a normal user as an "thread-specific" moderator (for only the first three posts for example). So volunteers, people very interested in this ROM, could maintain a buglist, tips and hints, fixes and other helpful stuff from the thousand and more pages and make the life for everybody easier.
Its sometimes really hard to find information in the thousand pages. I think a solution like this would help everybody and reduce the senseless spam questions in the ROM forums. All 1-2 pages new users ask the same as people before, and all are getting the answer "Read through the thread, its mentioned 10 pages before" for example.
Whats your opinion about this?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
1. I don't think this is possible with the standard vB software. And I know the webmasters are adversed to applying "patches" unless they really help.
2. There is a problem of trust. Moderators are selected on here to be trustworthy, not to carry out malicious activities and to always be fair. I've seen plenty of people on here become friends and then enimies as quick as they can. Giving many users complete control over a single thread could become problematic. If you're just speaking about allowing users to edit another users thread. I can't see that been too risky - but still Impractical with the forum software.
An alternative, If the ROM cook would like someone to help manage the thread, they should arange before hand to let someone bag a few posts on the thread when it's first started (I know its not practical to existing threads). Moderators can help add posts when needed and remove any
pesky "First" messages someone might inject in the way .
Just my thoughts
Ta
Dave
Yes you are absolutly right, good idea
It would be enough if the moderators could move a post of the "Useful thread stuff Collecter / Maintainer" at the second or third position of an existing ROM thread, or if the creator already plans it when creating the thread. That would be exact the same without editing the board software or applying hacks...
7Bit said:
Yes you are absolutly right, good idea
It would be enough if the moderators could move a post of the "Useful thread stuff Collecter / Maintainer" at the second or third position of an existing ROM thread, or if the creator already plans it when creating the thread. That would be exact the same without editing the board software or applying hacks...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Well if it's not possible to arrange this beforehand by timing a the time of thread creation, you could indeed ask on of the mods to help you out there. Don't look at me yet though, haven't figured that one out yet
...to put it bluntly. I've only had 2-3 occasions recently to use it since it was changed, in all cases, I think, to suggest a thread be moved to a more appropriate forum. Now, I have to remember to copy the URL before, click the 'report post' link, click "I need a thread moved...", click the link for the list of mods, have a Google Doc open, and then try and locate the forum. When I do find the name of the mod, I have to memorize it (remember, I have the URL already copied to the clipboard) and then go through the normal steps for sending a PM.
Really ? Sure makes it seem like you don't want people using that function !!
I do know of a shorter method, but many may not. They're likely to (try and) use the standard vBulletin route. If they're like me, many will probably say "screw this !".
Also, what if that mod isn't around for a while ? Granted, the issue likely isn't urgent, I understand, but as I understand with the old functionality, per vB design, reported post messages go into a queue and ANY mod can see it and act on it.
To some extent I appreciate what you say. However, all the Mods are volunteers and much of the copying of thread links and working out what forum a thread should be moved to etc had to be done by them.
The enormous membership that we now have meant that the volume of reports being directed to a central location was just too high to cope with. We felt that reports should be directly sent to the Moderator who will act on it. What you say about reports in the old system being acted on by any available Mod is untrue. A report for a forum was always meant to be acted on by that forum's Moderator. However, due to the volume of reports going into an enormous list of reports meant it was difficult for Mods to pick out what was for them and what was not.
This s a community, we need to share the load and yes it will require the effort of knowing who the Mod for your forum is!! It will mean you need to prioritize what is reported and maybe you'll have to copy a link. This is about sharing the load, but spare a thought fo the Moderators who give their time entirely for free. You might say, why don't you just add more Moderators? Well, we already have around 100 and of course adding more requires more administration, bureaucracy and continual monitoring. All that has to be done by a couple of part time Administrators. If anybody feels that due to our size we must be a wealthy site who could employ more paid staff; think again, Forums are notoriously poor at generating advert clicks for banner adverts!
So, I agree the changes we made, do require some additional effort on behalf of the Members for some of the less urgent tasks. You may need to find out who your forum Mod is, and copy a link or two. We appreciate you taking the time and effort to do that. The Mods and Admins, spend the day copying links and doing other similar things, so we know what it is like - in fact we really really know what it's like!!
MikeChannon
Forum Admin
Sorry, but this new method is truly awful.
You have taken a useful reporting system and completely made it useless!
I don't get how PM'ing a mod a link to the thread is better than the report system?
With the report system it automatically notifies the mods of the exact post you're reporting.
I have gone from reporting posts almost daily on the old system, to literally never reporting posts now because it's a giant pain in the ass.
Seriously;
Old method:
1) Click report button on offending post
2) Select reason, type in an explanation if necessary
3) Click submit
4) Mod gets report, clicks link directly to the post in question, and deals with it.
New method:
1) Click report button on offending post
2) Click a link with the reason you're reporting
3) Get taken to a message about having to PM a mod
4) Click the back button twice to get back to the thread you were in
5) Copy thread URL
6) Try and figure out who the hell the forum mods are
7) Navigate to your PM box and create a new message to the mod
8) Paste in the thread URL, then try and explain what is going on and who is breaking the rules
9) Send PM
10) Then the mod has to read through the thread and try and disect out exactly which posts the person making the report was talking about, and deal with it.
In what backwards world do you live in that the new method is better?
The new reporting system is a detriment to XDA and the community as a whole.
I'm going to have to agree with the others who've said this new approach is a major step backwards. In fact, the last time I reported something, it went something like this:
Click report post button
Use the list of mods to figure out which one I needed to PM (not even a link to their profile to make it a bit less work)
Explain what was going on in a PM with links and all that fun stuff
Get a PM back from the mod later telling me to report such posts in the future
I replied that I wasn't anymore thrilled than they were that I had to PM them but the reporting feature no longer works and we're now required to do it this way
They were nice enough to apologize and say they must have forgot about that.
Sure sounds to me like he was in favor of the new process
I agree with the OP that the new method is truly a PITA! I use to report with the old method regulary, but now I'm not reporting at all!
It is far easier to send a PM directly to the Moderator of a forum than it is to try and use the 'Report' tool... I don't wish to use the Report tool that often, but the steps required just make me not want to report anything.... I hope Management here believes we are trying to help them make a better/cleaner forum via Reporting.
I love the forum, but this function is broken.
Guys, I can appreciate it may take a *little* more work, but is it really so difficult to have a look at the bottom of the particular forum page where the problem is to find the forum mods:
{
"lightbox_close": "Close",
"lightbox_next": "Next",
"lightbox_previous": "Previous",
"lightbox_error": "The requested content cannot be loaded. Please try again later.",
"lightbox_start_slideshow": "Start slideshow",
"lightbox_stop_slideshow": "Stop slideshow",
"lightbox_full_screen": "Full screen",
"lightbox_thumbnails": "Thumbnails",
"lightbox_download": "Download",
"lightbox_share": "Share",
"lightbox_zoom": "Zoom",
"lightbox_new_window": "New window",
"lightbox_toggle_sidebar": "Toggle sidebar"
}
Then all you have to do is send a PM to those mods. heck you can even click on their name to go to their profile, which you can then PM them from....
the_scotsman said:
Guys, I can appreciate it may take a *little* more work, but is it really so difficult to have a look at the bottom of the particular forum page where the problem is to find the forum mods...
Then all you have to do is send a PM to those mods. heck you can even click on their name to go to their profile, which you can then PM them from....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Wow, the tone of your post and the lack of understanding for how this affects members are more frustrating than the issue itself. Maybe we came across as whiny but that was not my intention in the least. I personally just wanted to give some feedback on the change. What I gather from MikeChannon's post is that a change was needed due to the large size of this master, unsorted list of reported posts where the mods had to find what was relevant to their forums. I understand the importance of the mods, appreciate that they've volunteered, and know their time is valuable which is exactly why making it easy for all members to easily report issues to them is essential. This change feels like a poorly thought out and convoluted "fix" that will discourage the reporting of posts by new and previously committed members.
I would bet money that there have been far fewer posts reported under this new structure and it wouldn't be because the rules are suddenly being followed. In fact, I would say the number of belligerent/rude/demanding/junk posts is only increasing and needs to be cleaned up which will require a post reporting system that works smoothly for both mods and members and is agreeable to everyone.
As you say, the forum mods are listed at the bottom of the forum's thread list...but it doesn't do me much good when inside a thread and wanting to report a post. Since they are known/listed for each forum though, why can't they be listed on the report post screen? Or better yet, automatically fill in a PM with the appropriate forum mods as the recipients and a link to the post that we want to report since that is easily known as it is done with quoting.
I'm interested in what the forum mods themselves think about all of this since they are the ones actually getting the PMs. Do they find it to be less work/easier than before? Do they get a proper post link and a decent explanation? Sorry for the long post.
Oh... there is actually a topic on this. I will be blunt:
- overcomplicated, overengineered, confusing like hell and plain sucks goat's nuts. People get lost in the options, and some of those redundant options sending people to check Google docs for a list of moderators is just a WTH. Why on earth Google Docs, why is it not a plain HTML here on the site and why should anyone check manually for a moderator when the forum DB already has that information available to assign the moderation rights?
If you felt the need to add code to stock vBulletin since the bundled moderating functionality was not fitting your complex needs, either code it properly and completely, or do not code it at all. Do not send me to GDocs to look up a moderator.
Grrrrh.
The enormous membership that we now have meant that the volume of reports being directed to a central location was just too high to cope with. We felt that reports should be directly sent to the Moderator who will act on it. What you say about reports in the old system being acted on by any available Mod is untrue.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
To add something constructive here, all it takes is a freaking improved DB select hacked into the vB report post functionality. Like, where forum is X and offense type is Y and ... blah (whatever criteria you need), then take the post's $URL (which you already have in stock functionality since someone clicked on the ! in the post) and send it to the appropriate moderator via PM.
the_scotsman said:
Guys, I can appreciate it may take a *little* more work, but is it really so difficult to have a look at the bottom of the particular forum page where the problem is to find the forum mods:
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Just to clarify, when I said this
I do know of a shorter method, but many may not. They're likely to (try and) use the standard vBulletin route. If they're like me, many will probably say "screw this !".
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
that's what I was referring to. It isn't ideal though...
In total agreement here
I'm sorry, but saying it's just a 'little bit of work' to report a post is a gross understatement.
I am a moderator on several forums (one is very large, like this one, and chatty, with a varied, opinionated membership, just like this one), and I know, for a fact, how difficult it is to deal with reports. However, they are the key to keeping things civil on a forum. Is your membership large? Absolutely. Then bring on more staff. That is the only way to handle this, it isn't by crippling the report system. Now, with this new system, making a member jump through hoops to report things means they won't - if that's your goal, then you have succeeded marvelously. Really? Is that really what you want? I can't believe that, but from the tone of the answers from moderators here it would seem to be the goal.....
reinbeau said:
I'm sorry, but saying it's just a 'little bit of work' to report a post is a gross understatement.
I am a moderator on several forums (one is very large, like this one, and chatty, with a varied, opinionated membership, just like this one), and I know, for a fact, how difficult it is to deal with reports. However, they are the key to keeping things civil on a forum. Is your membership large? Absolutely. Then bring on more staff. That is the only way to handle this, it isn't by crippling the report system. Now, with this new system, making a member jump through hoops to report things means they won't - if that's your goal, then you have succeeded marvelously. Really? Is that really what you want? I can't believe that, but from the tone of the answers from moderators here it would seem to be the goal.....
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks. I would like to elaborate on this. We had a working workflow and procedure. Now, we have manual hack at best, which makes the process annoying to the point that people simply will not bother. Let me explain what I mean.
Say - you are a vendor and write some nifty application. Since you want your users to report bugs to improve it, you include a function that produces a pop-up when the application encounters fatal error/crashes. In there, you let users fill in (optional) comment and their email contact, and then you submit the crashdump automatically to [email protected]
Now, the application becomes immensely popular and [email protected] email becomes a mess. What to do?
Well, what you should do is to improve the crash reporting code so that it gets smarter. Say, you let your users fill in a survey letting them select from multiple-choice list of options about what they were doing when the crash occured etc., maybe do some intelligent automated parsing of the crash log and - according to their answers and the analysis - you send the crashdump only to the people resposible for that part of the code that is involved.
What you absolutely should NOT do: Abandon the nice automated crash reporting and tell users something like: "Oooooh, I crashed. Never mind we already have the info related, we are getting too many reports, so in case you want to report this so that it would eventually get fixed, go, move your lazy ass, dig up the crash dump, find a relevant part of it pertinent to the crash, then go to our website, download a DOC with a list of developers, find the one responsible for the part of the code involved and report it to him via email."
Generally noone will bother since it is way too much work to do. Additionally, the few reports that you still get will miss vital info (such as the crash dump), will get mis-sent since people suck at searching for relevant developer. That is NOT an improvement, that is actually a huge step back.
An eloquent enhancement to my point, doktornotor. Thank you.
Just wondering if this is a dead issue as far as the mods are concerned. I'd at least like to hear an actual response/explanation for the issues raised here. Both responses so far have avoided the real problems. It worries me about the future of XDA if this change really was thought to be the best solution to the "reported issue" master list being large and unsorted. Also, telling us it's now on us to do a *little* more work and play secretary for the forum is a cop out and will result in people to not report anything and allow the increasing flame wars to become much more prominent.
MongooseHelix said:
...and will result in people to not report anything and allow the increasing flame wars to become much more prominent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I suspect this is the case. I haven't went through the steps to "report" a post since this change. As I mentioned above, I started to 2 or 3 times and then gave up. Call me "lazy", but it's too much effort....
I will say that I frequently used the function, mainly to get non-development questions/threads moved to the appropriate forum. Not any more...
hallstevenson said:
I suspect this is the case. I haven't went through the steps to "report" a post since this change. As I mentioned above, I started to 2 or 3 times and then gave up. Call me "lazy", but it's too much effort....
I will say that I frequently used the function, mainly to get non-development questions/threads moved to the appropriate forum. Not any more...
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
This frustrates and saddens me for the reasons you and others have outlined. Unfortunately running a forum means dealing with all of these issues on the admin/mod side - this really seems as though they've just decided it's too much work. Rather than just throw their hands up in the air, they need to bring on staff. Also, come up with an infraction system (automated), with points assigned to each infraction, once a threshold is reached, a ban is put into place that lasts for a specified period of time. We're doing this right now on Backyard Chickens (don't laugh, it's a huge forum with 95,000 members, chicken people can be quite unruly ). If any mod or admin wants the notes on our system I'd be happy to share them, we're hopeful it will cut down on our work there.
Reports are a pain, but it's the only way you can keep your finger on what's going on, if users find it too difficult to do, they won't.
MongooseHelix said:
Just wondering if this is a dead issue as far as the mods are concerned. I'd at least like to hear an actual response/explanation for the issues raised here.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
+1 on this
(And ROTFLMAO @ unruly Backyard Chickens )
MongooseHelix said:
Just wondering if this is a dead issue as far as the mods are concerned. I'd at least like to hear an actual response/explanation for the issues raised here. Both responses so far have avoided the real problems. It worries me about the future of XDA if this change really was thought to be the best solution to the "reported issue" master list being large and unsorted. Also, telling us it's now on us to do a *little* more work and play secretary for the forum is a cop out and will result in people to not report anything and allow the increasing flame wars to become much more prominent.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
The new RP system was designed to make it easier for our mods to action on the most important issues by reducing the noise and sheer number of RPs, while secondarily sharing a bit of the work with the membership. This is a community, certainly, and we all take part in the efforts to keep it moving smoothly. Each and every mod is a volunteer who moderate out of a true passion for the site and for mobile development, they do the best they can.
Now, we're also flexible and willing to change should anyone have a specific suggestion that would still achieve the goals above while making RPs less cumbersome for members. We can't let members *easily* report anything, anytime, because guess what happens...hundreds of RPs flow through, and the important ones get lost because of this. In our previous system, all it took was a simple click and a post was reported. That got taken advantage of.
But you don't address the fact that now people aren't going to bother. There were pictures in the Post Your Home Screen thread I tried to report, but I gave up - and I'm not a stupid user - that's obviously the way you guys want it now. Sad, I guess the concerns raised here are falling on deaf ears.
You say you tried, but gave up? What did you try? What made you give up? Just curious...
There are a lot of posts such as
[Q] Windows RT port of WinUAE
Windows8 downgrade to Win7 lost os
webcam rt
work around for 3rd party vpn for remote desktop
Disabling windows hardware button
is there any way to setup program like MediaMonkey on Windows RT ?
that have absolutely no business being in a developer forum. I got all of those off of only the first page of topics, they continue at that rate for the first few pages, at least.
There is seemingly no moderation going on in that section, unless a post is reported. Since I personally feel that reporting each and every one of those posts is too tedious for end users, and would spam up the moderators inboxes too much, I haven't been reporting them.
So, what I'd like is to see either the moderators take a more active interest in the section, or to appoint someone who is active there (My suggestions would be myself, or GoodDayToDie, though do note that I haven't contacted him about this)
I should also note that there's also a problem with users asking the same questions over and over a lot too, it's been asked to port OpenVPN, for example, at least 3 or 4 times, by users who have obviously not even attempted to use searches.
There are also a lot of threads that one of the previous moderators, chrisd1a1, made and stuck which aren't important or helpful at all, or just contain wrong info, including:
Goodbye from me Pointless
hello from your new forum mod Pointless
IMPORTANT - PLEASE READ!!! Contains some outdated info and is pretty much just a reminder to read the rules
THREAD STRUCTURE - IMPORTANT!!!! Erroneously implies that this is a phone section
Thanks.
As part of the team of moderators responsible for that forum, I'll take the blame for letting some things go for a bit too long.
With that said, a lot of moderating is based on the feedback and reports from those active in the forum. If you see an outstanding issue there, I would encourage you to utilize the report post button. If you need to point out a larger set of issues or have some suggestions, my PM box is always open to you.
I've taken care of all of the problems you've pointed out in your post and I'll be looking at some more maintenance items in the next couple of days.
Thanks for your post.
Thanks. Just for clarification, you don't mind if I report every one of those threads/posts?
Edit: I went through the development subforum, here's what I came up with. A lot of these are old enough that they've been pushed way back and aren't in the way anymore, but I posted them all for completeness sake.
Asking questions that should be in general/googled first
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2094857
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1866298
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1931088
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1879803
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2119201
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2093525 (Did have a bit of indepth stuff, though)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2099016
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1967974
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1983457
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2079290
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1862956
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2029817
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2089545
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2090055
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2082984
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2001630
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2003384
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2060413
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2032271
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2033316
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2112689
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2111530
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1844275
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2105996
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2104073
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1960034
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2021973
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2014708
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2018097
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2014782
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1999506
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1996897
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1993884
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1927909 (A development related question)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1978987
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1975449
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1964909
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1953831 (Totally offtopic, also starts with "This isn't relevant to hacking...")
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1934709
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1914323
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1921347
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1916765
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1886139
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1884365
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1889911
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1832775
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1871891
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1809111
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1778235
Asking for app ports (we have a thread for that)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2109121
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2101379
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2094167
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2093543
Just plain stupid threads
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2011767 (This one was locked, and I believe the OP was warned)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2045170
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1836344
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1965335
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1957858
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1879394 (Was about a crack, previous moderators removed the links, locked it)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1818902 (Was about a crack, previous moderators removed the links, locked it)
Threads relating to piracy that still had contents intact
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1888003 (Pirating Windows 8, asking for cracks to be PM'd to him)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1881678 (Asking how to activate Server 2012)
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=1843586 (A mod locked this because it was relating to piracy then left the contents intact)
netham45 said:
Thanks. Just for clarification, you don't mind if I report every one of those threads/posts?
<snip>
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's fine if you want to report problems in that forum. I or one of the other moderators will take a look at it as they come up.
As for the list you gave me, I'll have a look later on this evening and work through them. If you have any more concerns, I think PMs would be better than posting here. This forum is more for general, site-wide issues. If there's a forum issue, it's usually better to contact one of the moderators directly.
Ok, basically this thread is meant to inform the DOs and DON'Ts on XDA, and also how to do certain things. I started this thread as I have noticed that there has recently been an influx of posts that fail to serve their intended purpose well (e.g. asking for help, bug reporting etc.) Also I hope that this thread will serve to at least provide a general guideline.
Rules
1. No stealing of ROMs.
Ok, this is quite obvious but I thought it would do well to just explain what this is so that some of you don't accidentally steal someone else's ROM. What this means is:
You are not allowed to publish a ROM that you didn't create yourself. What this means is simple -- you are not allowed to publish on the web any ROM that you:
a. have not compiled from sources yourself AND that you haven't added in your own code to
b. have ported from another device WITHOUT permission from the original ROM developer
c. have cobbled together from already-published work (take parts from different ROMs and combine them for a hybrid ROM without adding in your own original code)
The following kind(s) of ROM(s) are exempt from this rule:
a. Stock ROMs with/without modifications
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If you contravene the above rule, it will mean that you have stolen a ROM. If you wish to publish a ROM that breaks the above rule, you have to OBTAIN THE PERMISSION of the developers of the parts (be it scripts, ROMs, mods etc.) that you used in your ROM. Furthermore, in your ROM thread, you must give proper credits to the devs whose work you used and also link back to the original ROM.
If your ROM is simply someone's ROM with cosmetic changes (e.g. different theme and/or a few scripts added in), you must do the above and also post it in the Themes and Apps section as an update.zip that only changes the parts of the ROM as needed.
Lesson is simple: If you want fame on XDA, learn how to compile your own ROM sources and don't simply soft-mod -- usually many people inadvertently steal someone else's ROM this way.
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Guidelines:
1. Don't post any non-development related stuff (bug-reports ARE development-related so feel free to post them though) -- it only serves to spam up the thread and hinder development. Posts like "This ROM is great", "this ROM is fast and the best I've used" and "Thanks for this awesome ROM" or, god-forbid, "This ROM sucks" etc are hardly informative, development-supportive, and have no purpose. You might feel good after posting this, but honestly it just serves to annoy others that are trying to locate something in the thread. So don't post this, PLEASE .
2. No ETAs. Please, do not post stuff like "When will the next release come along... can't wait!", "When will you fix XXX bug" and similar questions AT ALL. The ROM will be released when ready, and as above this only spams up the thread. If you are that impatient, I suggest you flash back to stock 2.1, no disappointments and is definitely the most stable .
3. Provide as much detail about your bug as possible. This is by far one of the most common problems. Posts like "my WiFi isn't working", "there's xxx when I yyy, please fix!" are really useless. There !re 1001 possible reasons why your WiFi isn't working, and why blahblahblah happens. To be actually helpful and have a greater chance of having your problem rectified, provide the following:
ROM you are on
Kernel you are using
Paraphernalia you have installed (e.g. Scripts like Supercharger, swap, OC frequency etc)
(If possible) How to replicate your issue
What steps you took to rectify the problem (if any)
Your logcat and dmesg
ON TERMINAL EMULATOR
How to get logcat output saved as a file called logcat.txt on your sdcard:
Code:
su
cat /dev/log/system > /sdcard/logcat.txt
And for dmesg to be saved as a file named dmesg.txt on your sdcard
Code:
su
cat /proc/kmsg > /sdcard/dmesg.txt
or for last dmesg after odd shutdown
Code:
su
cat /proc/last_kmsg > /sdcard/lastdmesg.txt
Flaming and trolling:
1. Refrainkfrom using personal insults as much as possible like "you are dumb", "how stupid can you get", "you are a noob" etc. This is the precursor to an unnecessary flame war. Try and be polite instead like, " you are new, so you may not know this, but blahblahblah". You were a noob once, so try and treat noobs as you would have wanted others to treat you when you were a noob.
2. Don't continue flaming. If someone posted something that flames something, don't flame back. Just report the post and sit back and relax. Continuing the post will just feed the troll and make things worse. You might get punished too.
3. Mind your language. Use English on XDA always, if you can't, include an English translated version of your original text and post it along with your original text. Also, never ever use vulgarities on XDA -- it's a surefire way to get infracted. Don't post any racist/political posts either. XDA is for mobile phone discussion and development, not for expressing your extremist/whatever views about...
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Q&A
1. Use the search tool first. You are just one of over 4 million members on XDA, and it is very likely that your question has been asked and answered already. Search before posting any question to avoid spamming the forums. Remember, you are likely to get an answer faster this way, and this also prevents you from being flamed if your question has been asked before
2. Don't be demanding. People do not have an obligation to do things for you, hence don't demand quick answers, insta-fixes, or a detailed step-by-step guide. It just shows how much you actually bothered to search for answers first and also people will be less likely to answer to you.
3. Post questions in the Q&A forums. Just because the DEV and General forums get more traffic doesn't mean that you should post them there. Again, your question will most likely be answered faster in the Q&A forums and you won't get flamed either.
4. Don't revive old threads and answer them. Recently I have seen users who answer threads 2 days+ old that have been resolved already. Their answer is usually a paraphrase of one of the answer posts above. Then they put in a "Please hit Thanks if I helped". Thanks for answering, but no thanks for spamming and trying to get thanks for free.
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Miscellaneous
1. Hit the Thanks button whenever you feel like posting Thanks instead. This reduces the amount of spam on the forums and is a good way of showing your appreciation for the person that helped you. Generally XDAers have a thanks limit of 8 per day, so use them wisely! (Unlimited on Tapatalk/XDA app apparently). At the same time, don't be a Thanks hunter -- someone who actively posts only for Thanks. Please, it is not some sort of "prestige meter", and anyway people can clearly see that you are a thanks hunter and will treat you as such.
2. Use the Report feature. If you see a post that breaks the XDA rules, report the post. Many people that I see just flame the rulebreaker on the thread instead of reporting and allowing a moderator to deal with things. Remember, moderators are not Gods that know whenever some person breaks a rule, so Report posts to help them along.
3. Think, search, then discuss, not the other way round. Only then will a constructive discussion start. Unfortunately, many people just post without thinking, resulting in flaming and general unpleasantness on the forums. XDA is a place where individuals from around the world gather to discuss and develop on mobile phones, so let's keep it that way :highfive::victory:.
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Credits goes to SpyderX for the post. Original link is here.
Nice copy-paste.
You can at least give credits.
Original thread here by SpyderX.
stamatis said:
Nice copy-paste.
You can at least give credits.
Original thread here by SpyderX.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Done.