Marmalade

pedrox posted 3rd of March 2010 in Community Voice. 30 comments.

My disappointment (and unconformity) with the Dolphin grows by the minute...

foto

(Translated with Google)

Here are the main reasons:

Apparently, the Dolphin doesn't have a strong and united community such as happens with Joomla or Wordpress.

Seemingly, who learns to use Dolphin doesn't return to help beginners. Why does this happen? And I wonder if I will be willing to do it...

Also apparently, the Dolphin has too much flaws in the system. And the fact of in the own site of the dolphin, too often, open pages with errors, doesn't also cause good impression on the system. And we didn't avoid to wonder if it will be worthwhile to believe in such a system.

It seems that the Dolphin was designed for people little interested in the utility of the system. This also explains, for instance, the form how the photos are visualized in the album. We have to click in the arrow to see the next picture and then we have to go down the page to see the picture... Clearly, this discourages users to continue visualizing the photos ... And from what I saw, the albums sold in MARKET are not very different.

Also, some MODs for sale (in Market) don't offer any type of assistance or even provide a demo, nor enough information to understand (without the possibility of misunderstandings) the usefulness of the same ones, inducing us into error, and leading us to buy (as was my case) MODs that don't correspond minimally to what we needed.

It seems that the policy of license sales of Dolphin was done thinking just in Australians (I suppose that there the dollars don't worth much!).

The cheaper license costs a sum superior to the minimum wage of some Third World countries, and even many of the Second. So, I keep wonder, what's the utility of such license.

Apparently, the MODs sold on the site are intended only to Australians and rich people... I'm convinced that if they were sold for a more accessible price (that took into attention the purchasing possibilities of most of the people) that would be compensated by a higher number of sales, and we'd all benefit from it.

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MARMELADA

A minha decepção (e inconformismo) com o Dolphin crescem a cada minuto. Eis os principais motivos:

Aparentemente, o Dolphin não possui uma comunidade tão forte e unida, como por exemplo, acontece com o Joomla ou o Wordpres

Aparentemente, quem aprende a usar o Dolphin não volta para ajudar principiantes. Porque será que isto acontece ? E pergunto-me se eu próprio irei ter vontade de faze-lo...

Aparentemente, o Dolphin tem demasiadas falhas no sistema. E o fato de no próprio site do dolphin, demasiadas vezes, abrirem páginas com erros, também não causa nada boa impressão sobre o sistema. E não conseguimos deixar de nos perguntar se valerá mesmo a pena acreditar num sistema destes.

Aparentemente, o Dolpin é concebido por pessoas pouco interesadas na utilidade do sistema. Só assim se explica, por exemplo, a forma como se vizualiza as fotos no álbum. Temos de clicar na seta para ver a próxima foto e depois temos de descer a página para ver a foto... E é evidente que Isto desmotiva os usuários de continuarem a visualizar as fotos...

Aparentemente, alguns mods á venda (em MARKET) não oferecem qualquer tipo de assistência, e nem sequer disponibilizam uma demo, nem informação suficiente para se perceber (sem a possibilidade de  equivocos)  a utilidade dos mesmos, induzindo-nos em erro, e levando-nos a comprar (como foi o meu caso) mods que não corespondem minimamente aquilo que precisamos.

Aparentemente, a politica de venda das licenças do Dolpin parece ser feita apenas a pensar nos australianos (suponho, que por lá os dólares devem valer muito pouco!). A licença mais barata custa uma soma superior ao salário minimo em alguns países do terceiro, e até mesmo do segundo, mundo. E pergunto-me, ainda, sobre a utilidade dessa licença...

Aparentemente, os mods vendidos no site destimam-se apenas a autralianos e a povos ricos... Estou convencido de que se fossem vendidos por um preço mais acessivel (tendo em conta o poder de compra da maioria dos povos) isso seria largamente compensado por um numero muito superior de vendas, e ficavamos todos a ganhar com isso.

 
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mauricecano
If you're having a problem with a mod and can't get the mod owner to contact you back, then go to the billing company (paypal or swreg) and ask for a refund.
killerhaai
I' am not completly agree with writer, most album mods have outstanding demo site. So nothing wrong with it. Also remember the time different between countrys and continents. Buy only mods from people who have a amount of market points.

I have different mods from several developers and I'am happy with them.
houstonlively
So... you are having a problem with a mod sold by ExpertX A.K.A Dolphinbugfixing, and you want to blame the entire community? If you can't get any help from the creators of the mod, you should ask for your money back. What makes you think everyone else in the community owes you support for something that isn't even a Boonex supplied product?
DeeEmm
I think that what he is saying is that you have to use the scrollbars to see the images, ie - navigate to page and then scroll down - not good if it is being used as a gallery site as the navigation does not flow very well.
mydatery
That can easily be changed by adjusting things in the template files to raise the images up. Does it take a little customization? Yeah. Does it take alot of skills? No, just firebug, FTP & a good code editor.

As far as the support here goes:

1. The community is not here to support a 3rd party mod. We couldn't unless we had the source files and we're not all going to run out and buy it just to provide you with support.

2. It takes time to properly develop a mod, those who develop see more them have a right to fair pay for them. If you don't like the prices then you need to learn how to code for yourself and develop them on your own, then it only costs you YOUR time. How much is your time worth?

3. Joomla charges for every single option on the site. You can't even run Joomla totally free like you can Dolphin, especially not with all the site options working.

4. Wordpress? Please, how can you even begin to compare wordpress, which has a support forum of non-coders/developers to what is here at Unity? They aren't even close to being the same beast. Wordpress is for those who know nothing about websites or coding and do not want to learn, they only want to run a blogging type site and place a bunch of ads all over it.
pedrox
The point is:

Who sells a mod has an obligation to support

I bought the mod in the Dolphin Market, so the responsibility and the Dolphin. I do not care who created the mod. When you buy a product in a store if not satisfied with the product you must submit your complaint to the head of the store, not the one who created the product ...

And where is written that the site of the Dolphin is not responsible for products sold in Market?

I do not know Australian laws but here in Europe this see more kind of attitude is reprehensible
tyke
While i can sympathise with your feeling of frustration there Pedrox, surely you cant be that nieve as to think any site works like a store on the high street. This site, like any other site (IPB VB) is just a vessel for the people who make mods or sell services, and has nothing to do with the site itself. (unless the mods are official mods) which i dont think there is such a thing on Boonex.
Im in Europe too, well UK, and this is how its always worked, the emphasis is on YOU to do some market see more research to see which modders can or cant be trusted, and if you read around the forums and blogs, you will soon get an idea of who you can trust and who you cant. Unfortunately Boonex doesnt have a good enough (if non existent ) and fair vetting system for the people who sell their services on here, and some would argue that they favour some and not others, all for the wrong reason.

regards

Tyke
Nathan Paton
Pedrox, I am sorry to say, but you are greatly misunderstanding the way things work, and all you are doing is, to be quite honest, making an ass of yourself.

That said, the issue you are having is not with the modification, but with the fact that you are unwilling to learn how to use this script. I know this, because you cannot even figure out how to add an HTML block, even when it was right under your nose.

We cannot hold your hand, as we have said to many before you, as you must learn this see more script for yourself and try to be independant from the support of others, or else you will go no where with your web site. Launch another web site, meant just for yourself, and look through every part of the script and try out as many things as you can, so that you can learn what this script can actually do, and realize where problems may lye, in case you encounter one. If you need help with this, then myself (and others, surely) will be more than happy to lend a hand, as we have with others.

Finally, you are coming down on us for not helping you with a third party script, which many of us know absolutely nothing about. You then tried to paint a picture of this entire community based off this incident, which in reality, is far from the truth. If you cannot get ahold of the developer for support, then that is not our issue to care for, as we are not the developer, nor do we have control over them. If you cannot get ahold of them, then you should use your payment provider's buyer protection service and request a return of your money.
DeeEmm
In all fairness to Pedrox, things do work a little uniquely here, and it does take a little while to get your head around the fact that this community is not like Joomla / PHPBB / Drupal / Whatever-other-open-source-community.

I think that the crux of the issue is that Dolphin is in essence a commercial product, but being labeled as 'open source', is often thought of as free. (as in free-beer).

Nowadays, many of the users of Dolphin are from a community background - users like myself, who run see more not-for-profit community sites, where true 'free-beer' open source projects are more dominant. Coming from a community where help is free, and more easily available, this expectation is also, (perhaps wrongly?), something that people expect here.

I know that there is a small and dedicated bunch of forum users that form the real backbone of the help here in the forums (yes most of you have already posted here), but this is nothing compared to other open-source communities. So guys - don't take it personally - I don't think that Pedrox is having a go at you guys - only that there should be more of you. (and I kinda agree).

I think that Pedrox's following statement is actually a very astute observation.

"Seemingly, who learns to use Dolphin doesn't return to help beginners. Why does this happen? And I wonder if I will be willing to do it..."

/DM
mydatery
But DM that very statement is actually wrong. I learned Dolphin and returned to help, HL Learned and returned, Caltrade learned and returned, Dosdawg, Magnasoft, Yourself DM and many many others. GuyPC, Dolphinmods until he was chased away, Killerhaii and the list just goes on and on. The difference between D and other community softwares:

Wordpress: mainly for blogging, you do have to pay if you want the multi-blogger version.
PHPBB: Mainly for Forums with a weak IM and E-mail system integrated see more into it. Awesome Moderation controls
Joomla: Social Networking software severely lacking in comparison to D. Nowhere near the options that D has.
Drupal: I don't know much about that one admittedly.

But my point is, most of these are for small nice type things that are not meant to have a huge amount of functionality. What the OP is missing is the amount time it takes anyone to learn D. Crap I spent almost a year on it myself becoming comfortable and able to understand it all. The others can give clear cut instructions because they are very basic in comparison to D, hell, most of the others will run on almost any server set up. D is truly a unique product and as such it takes courage to run it.
Nathan Paton
@mydatery: not so much courage, but suicidal tendencies.

Everything else, spot on.
houstonlively
I think it's a bit odd that 'dolphinbugfixing' has not offered Pedrox any help, considering how much Mr bug fixer likes to blow his own horn. Mr. bug fixer has already got on my bad side by trying to sell a vBulletin mod for D7 in the market that did not exist, I reported the listing in the market, because I don't think a seller should be allowed to sell something they don't have.... dohhhhh. Now I see that bug fixer's original vBulletin mod listing was deleted and it is now relisted.... probably see more just to get rid of that report of mine. I don't like the way bug fixer goes about business, and Pedrox probably has a legitimate gripe about the mod, but that's something pedrox needs to first take up with Mr. bug fixer first.

There still is no good mechanism for long standing members of this community to convey to others, any insights they may have into various mod purveyors competence and trustworthiness. What good is giving a mod in the market a negative report, if all the modder has to do is delete the listing, and relist it? Then.... as long as we're able to give a mod a negative report, why don't we have the capability to give a mod or developer a positive report, without having to buy the mod?
DeeEmm
@mydatery - I agree, there are a few of us, but considering that the little counter on the main page has clicked up 379282 downloads (567 today) just for D7, I would have expected that there would be more than there are.

I know that Wordypress etc are very different products from Dolphin, it's not the features that I am comparing, just the expectations that new users of Dolphin have of support - perhaps as you say wrongly. I know that when I first started using Dolphin I had these same expectations see more - that help should be free and plentiful, and that extensions should be free.

Now I know that Dolphin is different from these other products - In my opinion, not necessarily because it is bigger or better or more complex - but simply because it is a commercial product and the model surrounding how Boonex runs is geared towards being a successful business, not winning kudos points in a geek contest, as with these other open source projects. (BTW I consider myself a geek)

Personally, I think that Boonex has an excellent framework - taking what others are doing for free and turning it into a commercial enterprise, my comments elsewhere (http://www.boonex.com/unity/blog/entry/Product_release_cycles) are actually in support of this - making it better is both good for Boonex (business) and good for the end user.

Not sure if the whole model of how the product is sold, and how the marketplace that supports it is set up, was a conscious endeavor, or it's just a coincidence that there are a greater percentage of commercial mods than free ones, but I tip my hat to Andrey and those involved.

/DM
DeeEmm
@HL - is this not what the marketplace forums are for?
mydatery
There's a marketplace forums? Oh you mean that attempt under D7 forums? Noone uses it, so regardless of the intent, it's not a good venue to make these comments. Plus, it would just turn into a spam forum if it was frequented and the kudos would be way at the bottom.

The best way I see is to comment directly on a modders profile and then have the newbies check those comments. Harder to get rid of profile comments. Actually, I haven't found a way yet.
pedrox
"* If you're a premium member BoonEx you can download this mod for free"
(http://www.boonex.com/unity/extensions/entry/Multilingual_HTML_Block)

This information proves that the relationship between the seller and the site BoonEx is not just casual and they both work in association
houstonlively
Pedrox, if you put as much effort into asking the mod seller for support, as you put into whining about Boonex, you might get something resolved.
pedrox
I am not "whining." I'm just saying what they think is right. I'm not the type of person who shut you feel. Nor am I angry, I'm just discussing the subject ... I think we protest when we feel cheated.

I do not like marmalade :-)

_
Fortunately, all is not lost ... I am a beautiful children's drawing
Felizmente, nem tudo está perdido... Sou um belo desenho infantil
houstonlively
RE: "I do not like marmalade :-) "

Maybe someday, you'll explain this blog's title. I don't get it.
Nathan Paton
It's a bitter fruit preserve. That could have something to do with it.

Yay, riddle time.
pedrox
Unfortunately, I do not know how to explain in English the meaning of the term "marmalade" :-)

But it can be understood as: Promiscuity, lack of clarity, confusion, orgy, etc..
houstonlively
OK.... I think I LIKE marmalade
tyke
marmalade is like promiscuity and an orgy.... Erm ok...... Blimey i never knew that, i will have to remember that in the morning when i spreading it on mi toast... I think id get a slap though from my better half if i said " hey love, pass us the marmalade, i just fancy an orgy this morning..... :-)
Nathan Paton
I want me some marmalade.
mydatery
So then Dolphin is Marmalade is what your saying. Just a huge orgy of different functions and coding types to create a big cluster marmalade.
DeeEmm
lol @ cluster marmalade
DeeEmm
Hey that's a great name for a swingers site - www.cluster-marmalade.com
Spreads "Marmalade" all over his toast every morning in the hopes that his morning wood will now have something to do.

BTW, I think your screen cap of the issue pretty much puts an end to the Dolphin/Mods issue. Your posts seem to indicate that you were trying to get support for the Mod itself, without much success. Did Dolphin work as you expected without this mod? Why did you purchase something that you didn't even have an idea of its' "utility"? And I agree that you see more have a legitimate issue with the developer of the mod. Evidently this person is incapable of even fixing their OWN bugs, and I think this thread pretty much does the job of getting the word out about them for you.
CodeSatori
I have to agree with Pedrox's point that if Boonex offers mods as a value add-on in their pay-for premium membership, they should be responsible for ensuring that mods actually provide some worth, rather than just plain old headache. Otherwise, we're talking about encouraging users to pay premium and gain added value, only to get something without the assumed worth in return.

I understand why Pedrox might be upset over this particular mod not working (among others), since multi-language extensions see more are clearly a part of his general plan for Dolphin usage, and not having them will keep him from using Dolphin as intended. If he became a Boonex Premium Member to gain access to this, "100% off for Permium - Save $25!", his investment backfired.

Perhaps it works only if you are a "permium" member, and "premium" members' mods are something else altogether. =)
pedrox
"Why did you purchase something that you didn't even have an idea of its' "utility"?"

I thought it was a translator. I thought it was the same as it is on site http://www.asienladyboys.com/
 
 
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