Orstio's bridge + Community Builder (CB) = LOCKED??

[rwbplano]

Re: http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=53301.0

At over 800 views and 20 replies, the now locked topic regarding Community Builder integration is clearly one of the most popular dicussions on this board, certainly for non-technical issues. But somehow the moderators felt compelled to cutoff this discussion, critically important to many in this community, with no explanation? C'mon guys. The silence from the SMF team on this subject is deafening.

It seems that although "the software will always be free," the flow of ideas and feedback will not. I believe the hundreds of SMF customers with a stake in this matter deserve better treatment than this. How does Lewis Media expect to grow its Charter member base with these sorts of tactics? I respectfully request a statement of position on this matter from either one of the moderators or someone else up the pay scale like [Unknown] or "Mr. Lewis" himself. This is a courtesy befitting of a professionally run software company.

I suppose the horse is dead. What a shame.

[Gino1968]

Maybe the moderator can clarify why he/she locked this topic.

For once I started an interesting topic

"The important thing is not to stop questioning"
Albert Einstein

[ptvideo]

Strange this thing between SMF and CB...

[rwbplano]

Strange this thing between SMF and CB...

Yes, the attitude here concerning CB is rather curious. Locking topics, no responses...it's as if the SMF developers feel threatened somehow. If that is the case, they couldn't be more wrong. SMF integration with Community Builder would be a powerful, and quite popular, solution.

To the SMF developers, for what it's worth, Community Builder RC2 has finally been released to the general public. I encourage you to have a look and re-consider your position. If, after having evaluated the possibilities, you are still not convinced of the merits of this integration, please kindly provide a brief analysis and I, for one, will leave this matter alone. Thank you in advance.

hxxp:www.joomlapolis.com/ [nonactive]

[bloc]

The attitude is nothing of the sort you mention.

The team is pursuing doing brigdes for a lot of systems, making it easier to integrate SMF with whatever you want to use. CB is not a CMS afaik (correct me if I am wrong), so naturally it isn't on top of the list.

May I remind you that everyone is doing this on on a voluntary basis, and as such, not ALL requests can be automatically be taken in? As I understand it, CB is a component for Mambo isn't it? Pushing something which have been already replied to will not make things "happen" any sooner.

[brine]

I had not read the topic in question, but decided to look at it after seeing this topic.

I have 6 Joomla sites.  I have looked at CB RC1 and RC2.  Personally, I don't see the big deal.  It appears to be popular with some.  I just don't see what funcionality it adds to my sites.

On the question about the other topic being locked...
Without a moderator's explanation, we can only speculate.  I would speculate that the IPs of a few posters in the topic might indicate the reason.

[rwbplano]

@Bloc

Thank you for your response. The frustration on my part, as well as others, has been a curious dodging of the issue. We've been told that either an integration plan is uncertain, or there is no need for this, or the same could be accomplished by hacking SMF, or, most recently through the locking of a topic, SMF developers just want to bury the subject. What are we suppose to think?

With respect to CB's status as a CMS or not, I don't see how this makes any difference. As I've pointed out before, CB is integral, and in some cases a requirement, for Joomla-based community sites. Given this, and the fact that we're on a Joomla/Mambo support board, I don't believe that engaging the developers in a discussion of future strategies with respect to a key Joomla component is out of line. In fact, it is quite appropriate. What should make the "top of the list" on a Joomla/Mambo support board is what is best for Joomla/Mambo users. The topic views are indication enough that this is far more than just an idle interest to many.

I fully understand that this bridge project is based on the voluntary contributions of talented developers. I have not, and would never, impose any demands on anyone. To the contrary, I offered the suggestion that an announcement be made on both the Joomla and CB forums as a call to interested developers who might wish to contribute to this type of integration. Unfortunately, this suggestion went unanswered.

Thank you again for your reply, Bloc. I encourage you, and the other SMF developers, to continue this dialogue. I'm certain we can find a way to make this integration a reality for the many who would benefit while adhering to the company objectives and development constraints at Simple Machines.

Best regards...

[Teessider]

Well, gotta say, after reading everything on this subject, I won't be choosing SMF 

I have taken a good look at it, and really like the software - great job, but the attitude towards discussion re CB rc2 has made me move on and look at other solutions.

It also concerned me at the way the last topic on this was locked without explanation - hardly good support is it and certainly not what I'm looking for. Locking a topic is fine, but surely a reason for this should be stated. All seems very unprofessional to me.

Its a shame, SMF seems like a really good product, and the developers should be praised for this, but guys, your attitude to support and dialogue with future users needs a rethink as it has put me, and I would guess a few others, off using your product.

Just my twopennyworth!

[chadness]

The bridge was made by a user who wanted to use both, not by the SMF development team, though they are ALWAYS available to help.  Now he's been asked to work on bridges for other CMSs, which I'm sure will be helpful to a LOT more users than the subset of Joomla/Mambo users who use CB.  Not that there isn't value to integrating CB further, I'm sure!

Now if someone who wants to use Community Builder would just step up and work on it like Orstio (and Cowboy) did for the bridge, instead of whining because no one is doing it for them, there wouldn't be an issue.  These are user written things, not Simple Machines written!

Sorry, I have no affiliation with SMF or Joomla, I'm just getting annoyed by all of these people acting like someone is denying them something.

[Kindred]

Sheesh...   I'm thinking it was locked mostly because of all the whining.
People not coming up with solutions but rather demands and threats "if you don't do this, we won't use SMF"

once again.. sheesh.
  And Teessider, you have amply illustrated my point.

Yup... there are three big coders for the bridge on this board, Orstio (as the main author), myself as a module hacker and chadness as the new guru of the discussbot... Up until recently none of use were affiliated with SMF as anything but users. Recently Orstio was added to the team to work on some other bridges...

As I have publicly stated... *I* have no need for CB. I personally dislike it and prefer to expand on the SMF profiling system.  So, considering that all the modules that I have done were first and foremost works for my own system that I made available, it's unlikely that I am going to do any work on integrating CB... unless someone is willing to pay for it, in which case I may be willing to take a look...
I don't know about Chadness, but it doesn't look like he's extremely interested in it either...  And as noted, Orstio is really busy with other integrations right now which will benefit many more people who like other systems...

And, to set the record straight, none of the official SMF people have even commented on this subject!  So, shaking your finger at the developers is unjustified and means that you have not really been paying attention.

So...  Rather than whining and threatening not to use SMF, why doesn't one of you people who IS interested in CB step up and take a whack at it? Or find someone who is willing to do the work for you....

It doesn't hurt *US* if you choose not to use the best forum software out there.... (which is SMF, for those of you who were not paying attention).

[Teessider]

  And Teessider, you have amply illustrated my point.

Lol, no mate, you have illustrated mine! I never once said "if you don't do this, we won't use SMF", so how my words illustrated your point is beyond me.

I simply suggested that the admins treatment of potential users might need re-assessing. I put this in  words and phrases that were not meant to offend, but to be constructive. Yet out of all the people that commented and did whine you decided that I would be the shining example of your point!
I also said SMF was a great product and said the developers should be praised for it!

As you state, no developers have commented...sort of illustrates my point really...

It doesn't hurt *US* if you choose not to use the best forum software out there

LOL! I'm assuming you don't have a job in sales!

[chadness]

Kindred is saying it doesn't hurt US - other end users.  Again, you are mistaking him for being an SMF developer.  He's just an end user who is trying to give back by helping out here on the forums.

As you state, no developers have commented...sort of illustrates my point really...

The developers don't really hang out in this forum much (that's why Kindred and Orstio were made moderators), so chances are they wouldn't even have seen it, let alone commented.

So, Teessider, are you going to step up and work on this?    I just would like this whole CB discussion to turn constructive.  One thing I haven't really heard yet is what further integration is desired.  Something like, "I wish SMF could do XXXXXX with CB."

[Orstio]

The facts of the matter are:

1)  The bridge works with Community Builder.  There is code in the bridge to ensure that users are entered into the Community Builder tables.  This is nothing new.

I simply suggested that the admins treatment of potential users might need re-assessing.

2) SMF is a stand-alone forum product.  It is not a Joomla component.  Perhaps when Community Builder starts expanding into products such as Xoops, PostNuke, and PhpNuke, I'll take another look.  For now, see point #1 above.  I think the work I'm doing on PhpNuke is going to bring in far more "potential users" than Community Builder ever would.  (And those users are likely to have a more respectful tone in their posts.)

3) The whining, complaining, threatening to use other software, and now bickering in regards to this matter are sickening.  If this is the type of people for whom I would be making a product, I would look for another market.

4) As Chadness pointed out, there is nothing stopping anyone else from creating a CB extension that does exactly what they want.  I understand CB 1.0 RC2 has some extensible features for third-party developments, similar to building components and bots for Joomla.  If you want a CB extension that works with the bridge, either create it yourself, or pay for it to be created by somebody else.  That's part of the spirit of open source, is it not?  Doing that will get you a lot further than what's happening in this topic, and the one previous.

5) Like the previous topic, this one is not constructive in any way.  In fact, this one is even worse.  Like the other one, I'm locking it.  You came here to change people's minds about CB?  Well, you have.  After reading the posts in this topic, I would never build a piece of software for people like those posting in this topic, even if I were paid for it. 

Consider the matter closed.  Don't start another topic -- that would just be trolling.