Let me tell you a story.
It’s more of a rant really.
In the Smoothie project, we have many ways users can get in touch with each other, or the devs, to get help.
IRC, forum, mailing lists, Google+, facebook …
All those channels are very active ( except facebook, not sure why ), and users get good quality answers there, relatively quickly ( IRC being the fastest in general, if you ask at the hours both the US and Europe are awak ).
And on github, we also have another communication channel, something called “issues” : https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/issues
We try to reserve those issues to actually reporting bugs. This is a way to be better organized : that way we know that all the bugs are there, and only bugs are there. Because of this, we forbid users from asking “general” questions there. It’s not a problem since there are many other places to ask questions.
It’s simple : bugs go to github issues, general questions go everywhere else.
From time to time, somebody asks a “general” question there anyway. When that happens, we politely tell them it’s not the right place to do it, and we point them at all the other ( many ) places where they can do so.
They are going to get help, just not there.
Despite this, very rarely, one of them gets upset. It’s not justified, it’s unfair, but it still happens. I’m not sure why.
Months ago, this happened with a user. He had gotten help from us many times before ( just search his name on the smoothieware-support mailing list ), but he asked there, he was asked ( politely ) to ask elsewhere, and got upset ( via private email, calling us arrogant and other things ).
This is what got him upset : https://github.com/Smoothieware/Smoothieware/issues/940 . If you can understand how that justifies getting upset, please explain it to me.
They emailed us, said they went on IRC, waited a bit and got no answer ( dozens of users get help on IRC every day, have for years, but sometimes you have to wait because people are sleeping ).
They complained the documentation didn’t contain things it actually contains ( like information on how to compile the firmware : http://smoothieware.org/compiling-smoothie . It’s linked to on the projects homepage … ).
They thought that meant the Smoothie project didn’t have adequate help channels ( and therefore asking in the issues should be ok … I guess ).
I wrote them an extremely long, polite and diplomatic explanation of where to get help, why things are the way they are, very nicely trying to help them, answering the questions they hadn’t had answers to yet.
I didn’t get an answer from them.
Now months later, I realize that person is now writing MKS SBASE guides on Instructables, and dissing the Smoothie project in their guides’ comments.
They know the MKS boards hurt the Smoothie project, they know the volunteers who gave them the Smoothie project don’t want MKS to do what they do, and despite all this they promote the MKS stuff.
They essentially are holding a grudge against the Smoothie project, and are actively helping destroy it.
I just wrote them very angry messages ( I’m like that, sorry. Injustice makes my head boil ), and I’m posting this here to vent ( sorry again, you didn’t do anything wrong ).
I really don’t understand some people.
http://www.instructables.com/id/SbaseSmoothieware-Use-a-Free-PWM-Pin-and-Power-Exp/#comment-list
And just to be clear : the MKS guide in the link was posted the day after he got upset about the “issues” thing.
So it’s very much related.
He took his grudge, and his way of dealing with it wasn’t to try to figure out if maybe we hadn’t done anything wrong ( turns out we hadn’t, and he’d know that if he had talked to us. We tried communicating ), but to actively try to hurt the project instead.
What a nice guy.
Or am I wrong ? What do you think ?
I think I’m giving up on explaining to him why what he is doing is nasty, but if you want to have a go at it don’t hesitate.
