my solution to modx's horrible awful dreadful approach to dates and tvs

I must say I love MODx and so do all my clients! The community and people who have developed it rocks.

THANK YOU!!

@omnivore Without quoting your entire post I’d like to say that the modx Team doesn’t shy away from making improvements based on suggestions in the forums. Nor do we mind unvarnished criticism in most cases. I personally have offered some wonderfully acidic requests in the forums. That being said, sometimes language will create barriers to acceptance of criticism. I’ve worked in management and the first thing you learn is that if you are going to offer constructive criticism it must be done in such a way not to deride the person first. People’s hackles go up immediately and will invariably be on the defensive. In the first paragraph of the post you included no less than 2 negative points about modx (and indirectly the devs) and one phrased in such a way that would make any dev cringe. Had you posted your OP without the first to paragraphs there would be no issue with it at all and taken it for what it was, a suggestion and some code to possibly address the issue.

You are abolutely correct that we all need to accept criticism but those of us who offer it should always be responsible for how it is shaped. In the case of a client’s criticism, their right comes with the cheque/payment. In the FOSS world its help and honey that greases that wheel. I may privately bitch at modx for not being absolutely perfect but I say please and pretty please when I am asking the devs who dedicate time and money to the project to help me out.

I do agree 100% that your complaint and criticism is a sign that you care enough about modx to write the post in the first place and I thank you for that sincerely. I’d also agree that we should worry when people aren’t complaining.

I am glad you are passionate about modx.

Cheers,

Jay

Quote from: rthrash at Nov 11, 2008, 09:03 AM

Any suggestions that work for dates outside of the unix timestamp (pre-1970) would be greatly appreciated.

I’m storing my dates as int and use ADOdb Date Time Library http://phplens.com/phpeverywhere/adodb_date_library for handling with dates. It works with no problems in my scripts.

Cheers, Bruno

So far, none of them has made any code contributions to the projects I’ve created for them. I appreciate that their real value is that they’ve taken the time to criticise, however sharply and harshly, and that it’s when you stop hearing from them that you know you’re really screwed. Ultimately they’ve helped me understand that I made the decision to work in what is probably the industry with the highest-rising, fastest changing standards, and if I want to stay part of that industry, I’d do better to greet their contributions that irritate me so much when they deliver them with the greatest gratitude, since without them, I’m just another dreamer, free to imagine that what I do is fabulous, instead of being able to actually make it that way. And they’ve taught me to be generous with my criticism, when I see potential in something, and to be silent with things that don’t matter.

Omnivore, seriously.

I deleted your post mocking one of the other members here to save your reputation. I thought I’d give you a second chance.

We at modx have never shied away from criticism. Go look at JIRA for the buglists of critics finding bugs or feature requests. Go search the forums to find posters here who’ve drastically influenced the project’s direction and code (for a recent example, see Revolution topics/foci). We develop our team from these forums - primarily from people who offer constructive criticism, and then offer solutions.

However, we don’t tolerate immature behaviour. I don’t care how right your code is - if you’re going to be smart-aleck and sassy about it, chances are we’d rather not implement your code into a GPL project. There are tons of other solutions, and I’m sure someone else with a much nicer temperament could find one.

So, it boils down to this: what are you here for? If you’re here to help, we welcome you with open arms. If you’re here to criticise, please stick to forum etiquette (it’s a small task, really). If you’re here to troll - well, I’d suggest you find somewhere else.

We are a team in this community. That means contributors here are unofficially part of the modx team. Which means they know to respect each other and offer criticism in a way that values the other team members as human beings. I can promise you any other team development environment that grows and continues to thrive holds to those same standards. Teams that fail are teams that lose respect for one another. You will not find that here.

We do not tolerate self-vaulting, sarcastic commentators who decide to deride the team that spends their own time and money creating a product for free.

I know you’ve made much better comments on this forum. In all respect, we’d like to ask you to stick to those, and keep the snark away from modx.

Code Deleted.

@omnivore:

Personally, I didn’t find your post all that offensive (except for the title/topic) and I appreciate that you offered a proposed solution to what looks like a real problem.

That said, I think there’s something you’re missing in your analysis of the dynamic between you and the MODx team. You say you’re very tolerant of client complaints. Of course you are -- they’re paying you.  Unless I’ve missed something, you’re not paying us. In fact we (a team of unpaid volunteers) are providing a service to you absolutely free. That means that, in this case, the appropriate thing to do is to ask *very politely* for changes to the product and suggest *possible* solutions. If you do it right, your solution can show up in the next release. If you essentially say "Here’s my brilliant solution to fix your stupid program design," it could take a little longer.

Which is better for you?