Just a frustrated girl with an idea

LOL. Whatever.

I never said I'm not willing to help or discuss. I did say that I am not interested in suggestion/comments on improving docs for things I release.

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That's weird, where have I done this anywhere including on this thread?

This isn't 3rd grade Englsih. No one is giving us grades and we are not being forced to release anything. What, are we only going to be allowed to discuss things if the posts live up to your standards? Don't read them. Don't follow them. That's your choice. The sense of entitlement if amazing.
"You did something great and therefore you must make sure I have that great thing too." I'm sorry but it doesn't work like that. Just because someone knows how to do something doesn't mean they owe you and have to teach you how to do it too. Maybe their post inspires someone else to document it in a more thorough way. Maybe someone comes up with a better way to do it entirely. Just because you can't follow it doesn't mean it can't be helpful to someone. What you are suggesting will just cause people to stop posting anything.

Sorry, I realize my comment came off as negative. What I meant to say is I really appreciate that you are honest about how you'd take the feedback, which is awesome as it would save someone like me time from trying to help out. Again, I apologize if it came out different. I edited above.

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I knew it would turn into "if you don't like it leave". That's not it. Someone posts a project and leaves out information because it's assumed that you know it. I said that I would pm a person. And not start any trouble asking if they could insert documentation that I've possibly written or found. NOT to chastise, but contribute to their appreciated efforts. You immediately jump to the conclusion of criticism, which was not the reason for my mention in this topic.

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Fair enough, and sorry for my somewhat over the top response. I edited it to be less pissy.

I understand your comment. Better documentation is better for everyone, and making suggestions should always be fine. My only point is that there is no obligation on any authors part to incorporate the comments or suggestions.

That's why I have a lot of respect for Cobra, Brian, Steve, Kevin, CodaHQ and many others on here that are willing to provide so much of their personal time for free projects. Because I sure won't do it.

Don't get me wrong, I contribute a TON of code to open source projects. I am not that interested in providing much code for apps on a commercial hub. :man_shrugging: Why release something that is a ton of work and effort for me, just to make a commercial company money for free?

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You have an amazing knack for adding things to people's posts that they didn't say. i was just sharing a story from way back when. I never said that I expect any developers to provide detailed instructions.

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+1, this community is insanely awesome. CodaHQ I'd add as well.

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Then why post the story at all if it wasn't in reference to what we're discussing? I fail to see how anyone wouldn't make the same conclusion I did.

Yeah, I probably shouldn't have named any names to prevent forgetting a ton of others.

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Nothing wrong with that.

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We were discussing documentation and my simple story was in reference to writing documentation and how difficult and time consuming it is. That's all it was; nothing more nothing less. I am curious what in my post you used to conclude that I was asking for everyone to better document their integrations.

I am just happy that people are willing to create community integrations and wish I had the knowledge-base to provide my own but at this point, I don't. I am not afraid to ask a developer questions but cringe every time I do because I am afraid that I am asking too much of their time. If any of them told me to "pound sand, figure it out" I would completely understand. There are a couple where I have quit asking because I didn't want to impose any more on the developers time and I am sure there are others who feel the same.

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this community is helpful and fun, but this community also needs to grow. And that's going to happen regardless, or HE will be no more. This community is boasted for helpfulness and being respectful. I simply posted my frustrations when I have to ask a million questions.

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Kettle

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Because it was an interesting story. I didn't come to the same conclusion.

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Aww April...
You are not a member of my club..

Every app and driver on my website has detailed, screenshotted installation instructions..
These have NOT been created by me but by @Royski.. who is not a programmer but who writes really clear instructions...

Phew!
What does a guy have to do? :slight_smile:

Andy

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I get the frustration. But it is akin to the same reason engineers don't do tech support. That isn't what most of us are good at, nor like to do. If I had to answer the same entry level questions a 1000 times at work, I would go bonkers and quit.

I think that happens a lot in the free/open source community. The people posting the solutions are the coders and architects, and the last thing most coders want to do is sit down and write a manual/documentation. That is why the most successful large open projects have separate documentation people.

So for small projects where it is a team of 1, I would expect there will always be documentation gaps. Nature of the beast.

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If it's going to happen regardless, then why would it matter what anyone does?

Yeah, that can be very annoying. But it's not the developers fault for not documenting it to the level necessary for you to be able to follow it.

And it happens to all of us. For example, I have tried at least 4 or 5 times to get MQTT set up. A couple of times before the currently released app/drivers and a couple of times since then. And for the life of me, I just can't get it to work. Is that the fault of the person who posted their apps/drivers? Of course not. And I haven't felt like asking a million questions to get it to work. So, I have made due without MQTT. That's the choice I've made.

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I agree :slight_smile:

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I love you Andy. Just haven't been over there yet.
:kiss:
It's not YOUR documentation. It's not everyone's documentation. It's all great, but lots of user submitted projects are missing things like a setting for maker api for it to work. How can a new user know that?
:bomb:
this blew up

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