[FX.php List] [Ann] FileMaker Shopping Cart Extravaganza

[Chris Hansen]

On Jul 24, 2007, at 7:54 AM, Stephen Knight wrote:
> We are here for the good of the community, and that offends some  
> people...

List (and especially Stephen),

I am not going to tolerate this sort of thing.  Anyone reading this  
comment, and thinking logically will recognize that this remark is  
pure poison.  NO ONE is offended by those who work "for the good of  
the community."  Your insinuations are abhorrent.  And worse still,  
this was in response to a couple folks on the list saying (in short)  
that they didn't appreciate this sort of off-topic, commercial post.

FX.php is an open source project, and as such this entire list is  
working for the good of the community.  In fact, when it comes to the  
materials that are distributed with the official FX.php distribution,  
fmwebschool is a tiny contributor (one bug found, and no code  
submitted.)  Compare that to one of the supposedly "offended".   
Gjermund has contributed a huge amount to this tool and I can't say  
enough how grateful I am for all of his help and contributions.  I'd  
encourage anyone who uses FX.php to take a look at CHANGES.txt from  
time to time, just to get a feel for how many people have given for  
the public good.

I had contacted Stephen back channel and let him know that his  
original post was not really appropriate -- this is a targeted list,  
with low, but relevant traffic.  For that matter, I have contacted  
people back channel in the past with requests to tone things down,  
etc.  This is the first time there has been a subsequent -- and  
rather nasty -- follow-up post to the list.  In kindness?!?

I have stated before how amazed I am by all of the good that comes  
from this list.  Lots of folks post here, and the fact is that I  
learn things from the posts to this list.  Generally, I'd say the  
members of this list don't have any problem recognizing appropriate  
content.  And even the odd commercial posts tend to be very relevant  
(I believe a hosting related announcement was the most recent example  
of this.)  Of course the occasional off-topic post is fine, but this  
list isn't the place for general FileMaker product announcements.   
When in doubt, ask me; that's partly what I'm here for.  But again,  
this hasn't been much of a problem in the past so I'm not expecting a  
plethora of related emails =)

Please don't post any more responses to this thread on the list.  Any  
further related discussions need to be back channel.  Thanks again  
for everything!  Best,

--Chris Hansen
   FileMaker 8 Certified Developer
   FileMaker 7 Certified Developer
   Creator of FX.php
   "The best way from FileMaker to the Web."
   www.iViking.org