Wondering about the future of this project

i picked tinymce, only by default, because the particular project i mentioned is a mambo-based site and the content editors were already used to it.

and just to be clear - i only switched for this one project - heaven help me if i have to go back and reintegrate another editor on all of the projects i've used fck on.

also, the primary reasons that i switched was because the main two things the the content people wanted to do didn't work well in fck (at least in firefox): pasting plain text, and adding links. they didn't want to have to go through multiple steps/dialogs to paste plain text, and the link editing dialog in fck is very buggy (at least in FF). i tried to see if there was a way to fix fck, but moving to tinymce was just easier given deadlines.

maybe the question i'm asking can only be answered by fred himself, so perhaps i'm asking for too much, but i was honestly hoping for more thoughtful commentary than "do it yourself or shutup", but what else can i say...typical. i'm not taking 'digs at the forum supporters', i'm just calling it like i see it, and so far not much has been said to show otherwise.

also, i full well understand the nature of OS, from the days when i dedicated part of a team i was managing to help work out some issues that Linus was having with file locking in XFS, and the contributions i make personally on a day to day basis beginning back with early mysql. i also understand that it is generally a good sign when people are interested enough in a project to ask important questions, and a bad sign when prominent members of the community are snide or defensive about it.

it also goes without saying that anybody, with any random coding style can contribute patches so i don't need to be told that either (we also know what happens when there is not a code review process in place to complement this). however, as many of us are rolling out systems where stability and client satisfaction is critical to day to day operations, i believe it is fair to ask how this project will remain stable and supported moving forward. this question is not only in my best interests personally, it's also in the best interests of the project.

we all know that some blend of coordinated development is a better way to encourage long term sustainability of a project (OS or not) than random patches alone and a one man show. and there appear to me to be too many core problems for any one person to handle in his/her spare time with fck. so i'm curious to know what the future holds - and what other people's read on the situation is. i'm not critisizing or maoning - i'm asking a question, and relaying my experiences. i'm frankly worried about how the project is being run...there, i said it.

i like fck. i like the architecture - but i'm a coder, so i don't spend as mich time using it as my clients. so when i get bug reports or complaints and i start tinkering around as a user and i realize there are some pretty basic things that are just broken with no end in sight, i naturally get worried.

and as far as forum questions being 'hard' to answer - this is no different than on any other forum. there will always be newbies, and we all have to keep in mind that everyone's first language is not english - and forums are about helping people. helping a person get their question stated properly and then answering it is the thing that enriches the net for the next person with the same poorly phrased question. that is exactly what a forum is for,a nd that phenomenon is exactly how many of us know some of the things we know.

yes, yes, yes, i know. if it's not working out for me i could just use something else, go somewhere else, but obviously i'm not ready to do that yet. i'm just hoping to elevate the level of discussion here, if i may be so bold. and it would really be nice to change the tone from mocking and dismissive to "people helping people". and xenden, i'm sorry if you've had much more negative forum experiences than this one, but i guess i've tended to avoid them - those are the types of communities that usually fail. i'm not looking for a battle, i'm just hoping for better and more Open collaboration and communication. free expression without fear of flame.

i want to have faith, and maybe i do have some, but unfortunately faith alone doesn't keep web sites up and running or projects alive.

i know that fred doesn't owe me/us anything, and i'm already extremely grateful for the work that he's done. i accept his gift humbly the way i do with all such gifts.

...i'm just wondering...

http://www.gnu.org/gnu/manifesto.html