Community Concerns

Don't get me wrong, BUT, if you realy think the community would / will pay for all of what they can get for free, you are, in my opinion, following the wrong direction.

I have, in the past, asked for community members to contribute towards funding the Evo community developers - nothing whatsoever came of it.

That's the problem with this kind of software, it's free, and if you ask someone to help in a financial way, they usualy won't, unless they have enough money to do so and get some form of publicity for doing so.

My niche is similar, and I have experienced the same

The majority assume or relate open source to automatically be something that doesn't cost anything - well, it does, it can cost millions.

Splitting the LLC from the Open Source product isn't in my opinion viable

Another BUT here:

The problem that has arisen with the software is that it has become a widespread tool.

There are tens of thousands (probably more) using the software nowadays and a marketplace has been built around it, meaning, the responsibility of the LLC towards those who now use it has grown immensely.

I know a lot of people would like more transparency and would like to know what is scheduled (I am one of them) but if the LLC aren't willing to give this info out, what can you do against it => nothing.

The attitude that a large community can do nothing about the way a tool they rely on is built is IMO a toxic one. It only reaffirms that the LLC leads the project without accountability to their users. I totally get that as people don't pay the LLC they don't get to make demands and of course no business is in any way obliged to do anything because someone says so, but that is exactly why people are worried about the situation, the future and why this thread exists.

If the LLC can't handle the added pressure with the software being used by so many people who need - and as major stakeholders deserve - clarity, then perhaps it is time for a more decentralised, community-powered alternative. That doesn't exclude the LLC from involvement at all, but instead of being the sole entity that is in the eye of the public considered responsible, they would take on a more forgiving role of major contributor to an OS project.

In the earlier suggestion of a non-profit foundation, I do see a big role for the LLC team and other major contributors of the past and current.

To continue about the idea of a foundation, I've been thinking about that for a while and have been working on figuring out things like structure, funding and responsibilities.

I just made this google doc public which is meant as an introduction to the concept and point to start a discussion about specific points in there. It doesn't match 100% with the discussion in this thread, but in a nutshell I see the need for working groups that lead development/strategy in their specific areas, and a board that has the final responsibility. Feel free to comment on the google doc. Link: https://docs.google.com/a/markhamstra.com/document/d/1UrPmLUjMVUHNwHqqMVbVDG-SGTqRlsB0LhlKTZkJoZQ/edit#heading=h.8c3kq2apgu4y

The community can do a lot - excide just spent a couple of days working out an unzip feature for the Manager's file browser, and he's made a pull request. I've installed his patch package on Mac and Windows, and besides some not-so-unexpected IE issues getting Revo installed and getting the unzip feature to work, it works great. http://forums.modx.com/thread/84971/unzip-function-for-file-manager?page=3#dis-post-497602

If a foundation is an acceptable way forward I would be quite willing to pay $99 a year to support it.

Quote from: markh at May 11, 2014, 01:24 PM

To continue about the idea of a foundation, I've been thinking about that for a while and have been working on figuring out things like structure, funding and responsibilities.

Feel free to comment on the google doc. Link: https://docs.google.com/a/markhamstra.com/document/d/1UrPmLUjMVUHNwHqqMVbVDG-SGTqRlsB0LhlKTZkJoZQ/edit#heading=h.8c3kq2apgu4y

Hi Mark
The structure outlined in the Google doc seems solid. Is it based on a model you've seen working succesfully elsewhere?
At this stage, it might be helpful to hear from the MODX Team. The idea of sharing out responsibility for various elements of the MODX product and ecosystem is just one (good) approach but may not be something that the LLC see as the best future for the CMS. Who knows?

sounds good to me.
then again anything sounds promising compared to the official don't ask don't tell don't worry strategy.

I would sign up right away.

I just read through these threads and I have many of the same concerns. A year ago I brought up a similar concern when MODX was going through the whole Siphon labs thing (http://forums.modx.com/thread/83497/modx-core-development-team-abandoning-modx-please-read#dis-post-460596) and it seemed like there was such a lack of clarity in the direction of MODX at that time. Currently I don't feel there's a lot that's changed since that last year other than marketing fluff that is released stating there are exciting things coming to MODX. I hate saying that b/c it sounds critical, but I'm just trying to voice my frustrations which will hopefully lead to a honest dialog.

Our company is heavily invested in MODX and it has been our platform of choice since 2006. We have shown clients time and time again why it is superior to other popular OS options. I am currently a MODX ambassador and while my monthly $100 contribution is a drop in the bucket compared what it costs to run MODX, one of the goals of my new start up company (http://www.smashstack.com) is to really crank a lot of MODX sites out and invest financially more heavily into MODX. I love MODX on so many levels and still think it's the best option, but I'm really wondering if it's falling flat and lost its steam to move forward.

But the points brought up in this thread about a lack of movement in MODX as a platform has been concerning me a lot as of late. Again, I have a lot of clients on MODX and my concern at the moment is what is the direction of MODX? Is there a public roadmap? Is the MODX LLC team tied up paying their bills and don't have time to re-invest and grow MODX? If so, are they willing to open it up more to the community to give coding input? One of the posts above mentioned they'd like to avoid a swarm coding approach which I understand. I appreciate the fact that the core team is focused on MODX to ensure a much better level of quality than maybe a large group of people could provide. But when comments above are made like "well, it's open source. don't complain. help out with the code." I get that. But how open is the core team to the MODX community's input?

Again, I don't want to sound critical of MODX and I hope my above comments do not come off as so, but I'd give anything to see openness from the core team and to allow the community more input in helping steer this ship.

All good and valid points above and I agree with a lot of them.

I personally think the things have changed massively over the last couple of years, some good some bad.

I've been a MODX user since the early Evolution days and one of the things I used to love about the community was the fact the core team were very active here on the forums, this has sadly changed

When they created Revolution it was a very exiting time as it was such a big improvement from the old Evo, and a hell of a lot of man hours must have gone into that and improvements are still made as well as developing MODX 3, but as everyone has stated, communication has fallen as the core team don't seem to come on here any more.

I also think that the creation of MODX Cloud then changed to Sython Labs and back to MODX cloud again has had an impact on them, as since then 2 very valued / talented ( in my opinion ) members of staff have gone their separate ways, namely MarkH and SplittingRed, these were both constantly on the forums, and although Mark still posts on here it's nothing like the level he used to before joining the MODX team and while there

I'm sure the team are doing great things behind the scene, but as said in all the above posts, a little more detail / communication would be great.

Always have and always will love MODX

I'm not privy to any inside information. But just a reminder to everyone here: in any organisation, there are limits to how much of the internal discussion it's wise to air to the world at large. The people who are driving the project do not have an open-ended duty to explain every action - especially HR decisions, which may be highly sensitive for all the parties involved.

We all feel we have a stake in MODX, and we do. The project's leaders should communicate, and they do. The project should continue to grow, and it does.