Need someone to convert PSD to MODX theme

Quote from: sepiariver at Jun 05, 2011, 03:42 PM

I have the greatest respect for Mary, and I totally see her perspective: if I’d spent years investing time in MODX and the MPP comes along, making me feel like 2nd priority somehow - that is a source for contention....And I urge @modxcms to do something about that. BUT, I really don’t think the MPP is the problem. Sure, it’s different than other CMSs - so is MODX. Maybe there’s a way to recognize the long-standing contributions of people like Mary within the new MODX commercial ecosystem? I dunno...that’s beyond me. But a couple other points:

Thanks for saying this, but it really isn’t the crux of the matter. It’s not personal for me, I haven’t invested my time to get something in return. I don’t need to be recognized for contributing. I feel honored that there’s a link to my blog on the MODX site. I would not feel disgruntled if there wasn’t, or if it was removed. I honestly wouldn’t care. There are lots of people out there giving to open source for free and for the joy of it, and I’m one of them. It’s more of the "principle of the thing" issue for me. I’m not asking anyone to defend why they joined the Solution Partner program, I don’t need lists of reasons. I don’t need convincing. It’s entirely the prerogative of the MODX team to make money however they see fit, and for members to choose to join or not join the Solution Partner program. I’m just saying in my opinion, and that’s all it is - my opinion, this is not the way to grow MODX and attract developers and users. It’s not an even playing field. And the fact that the reward for joining the partner program is that you get the best resources and the best support and the direct quality interaction with the core team members, plus the leads, just makes it even more of an exclusive hierarchical model that, as I said, is off putting for me and seems counter-intuitive for growing the MODX ecosystem and promoting wider acceptance and embracing of the platform. I’ve been in the open source community for a while now, and have been around the block with a number of CMSs, and I’m still actively involved in several, MODX included.

Now these are just my opinions and my feelings on the matter. I’m not saying the Solution Partner program is wrong, I’m just saying I don’t agree with the principle and spirit of it in the context of an open source project. We need to tread carefully that these steps don’t end up making MODX an island for only those developers who can or are willing to pay to join the program. I could of course be completely mistaken and it may turn out that the Solution Partners program is the best thing that could ever happen to MODX, in which case I will happily stand corrected.

I think we should let this topic rest for now. I never meant to derail the OP’s post, which unfortunately is what has ended up happening. I am glad to have heard the different sides of the argument. At the end of the day everyone needs to make a living, and we all need to support the things we believe in and feel comfortable about.

It’s an important subject (and as the MPP still new, I am quite sure everyone involved is quite interested in feedback on it to make it better) so I think it’s good to discuss it, even if it started in a slightly unrelated topic. If there’s other things people want to share / discuss about it we can split the topic and move discussion there.

Your points did get me thinking about it all (even tho I haven’t responded to them specifically yet) and it’s very interesting to see it from someone outside the program. I personally don’t feel like I’m a better developer / modxer because I’m a partner - I simply invested. I’m not giving up releasing OS addons because of it, or helping out on the forums..

It’s not personal for me, I haven’t invested my time to get something in return. I don’t need to be recognized for contributing. I feel honored that there’s a link to my blog on the MODX site. I would not feel disgruntled if there wasn’t, or if it was removed. I honestly wouldn’t care. There are lots of people out there giving to open source for free and for the joy of it, and I’m one of them. It’s more of the "principle of the thing" issue for me. I’m not asking anyone to defend why they joined the Solution Partner program, I don’t need lists of reasons. I don’t need convincing. It’s entirely the prerogative of the MODX team to make money however they see fit, and for members to choose to join or not join the Solution Partner program. I’m just saying in my opinion, and that’s all it is - my opinion, this is not the way to grow MODX and attract developers and users. It’s not an even playing field. And the fact that the reward for joining the partner program is that you get the best resources and the best support and the direct quality interaction with the core team members, plus the leads, just makes it even more of an exclusive hierarchical model that, as I said, is off putting for me and seems counter-intuitive for growing the MODX ecosystem and promoting wider acceptance and embracing of the platform.

+1

I know very little about the Partner program (and I’m not a partner), so I’m talking out of my butt here, but my take on it is that it’s primarily a way for both corporate clients and developers to take out "insurance" when deciding to use the MODX platform.

With the program, both groups will know that highly skilled MODX professionals will be there as a backup when developers get in over their heads. No large corporation is going to hire an unknown MODX programmer (however skilled) who has no certification at all. The more critical the site and the bigger the contract, the higher the level of official MODX "backup" the company will want.

Personally, I think the lowest level for developers is pretty reasonably priced and the program seems to me like a good way of keeping the MODX core team from going out of business and providing leads for developers (which can only help all of us by helping MODX become more widely known).

Small clients will still be able to hire non-partners, and TBH, I doubt if most of them will even be aware of the program -- and Non-partners will still be able to find clients, but if If Harvard or IBM wanted me to do their web site, I’d definitely want the backup provided by the partner program.

Just my $.02

Mary, please accept my apologies. I had intended to make a case for both sides, but I see now from reading my post again that I may have indadvertedly misrepresented your work as being motivated by some "agenda". I did NOT mean to do that - it was just bad writing, which I’m going to fix immediately after this. (Can you edit these posts after the fact?)

Anyways, for the record I wholeheartedly believe that your selfless contributions come from a deep-seated dedication to Open Source principles. I admire what you do and share those principles with you - I just have a different way of demonstrating it

Quote from: sepiariver at Jun 08, 2011, 01:19 AM

Mary, please accept my apologies. I had intended to make a case for both sides, but I see now from reading my post again that I may have indadvertedly misrepresented your work as being motivated by some "agenda". I did NOT mean to do that - it was just bad writing, which I’m going to fix immediately after this. (Can you edit these posts after the fact?)

Anyways, for the record I wholeheartedly believe that your selfless contributions come from a deep-seated dedication to Open Source principles. I admire what you do and share those principles with you - I just have a different way of demonstrating it

No need to apologize It’s all part of the dialogue, but I do thank you for clarifying what you meant. I think we all give what we can, how we can, based on our individual abilities and constraints. Thanks again.