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Written by amanda
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Thursday, 02 October 2008 |
Upgrades highly recommended. After listening to community feedback, I'm pleased to announce some significant changes to Rapid Forum
for 1.0.x. And dare I say, we're almost stable? If you haven't
upgraded, it's time, because the latest release is far, far superior to
what it's been.
1. We've removed the AJAX that was causing so many browser problems for some of you.
2. All English text is now in a language file to make translation much easier.
Remember to save your language file before upgrading.
3.
We've replaced the "SAVE" function, which allowed end-users to save
posts to get replies, with a more simple "[ ] Email Me Replies To This
Post." We found that very few end-users used the SAVE function and that
it wasn't clear, so we needed a new strategy to notify users when they
got replies to their posts.
4. We've fixed about 10 bugs that made RF annoying and unusable for some.
Rapid Forum for 1.5 update
Our
first attempt to release a version for 1.5 was a disaster (won't get
into it). I've moved to 1.5 on all of my client projects (my day job is
Soapbxx.com), and I love it, so I am pushing the 1.5 release through.
It's been completely recoded and has only 3 bugs left (we hope) until
it's ready to release. I have 9 people on a list who want it when it's
ready. Reply to this email if you'd like to be added to the list. I'm
not going to estimate a release date because I am sick of being wrong.
Did I ever say how much respect I have for extension developers? Much
respect!
Got any live examples?
Is RF doing wonderful things for your online community? If so, please send me a link as I'd love to see it.
My conundrum
I have a
conundrum. Due to my thriving day job, I have very little time to
commit to RF, but I love the project, so I've been paying to fix bugs,
enhance it and rebuild for 1.5. I can't afford to do this, but I want
to. I've researched revenue models, and the only one that seems viable
(donations don't work, adsense generates too little) is to charge a
tiny nominal annual fee, like $10, to download the code, do
whatever you want with it, and get updates for a year. I know, I've
read the argument for and against it here:
http://dev.anything-digital.com/Forum/1.5.x-General-Discussion/1363-JCal-Download-cost-$$-/
(a great read if you have the time and interest)
There will be about 10% of you who protest angrily and call me
names. And I think the rest of you (assuming a) it works beautifully
and b) you get support when you need it) won't hesitate to give me $10
for the 9 months I've put into this. For those 10%, I'm scared. I want
to be liked by everyone. But truth is, my wallet needs you even more.
So, consider this a heads up. Some time in the near future, when I see
both 1.0x and 1.5 releases are stable, I will be implementing an annual
$10 for the source code. I've posted this note on the Rapid Forum demo and invite you to reply.
In gratitude,
Amanda
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