In our quest for the latest and greatest we often overlook one small detail and that is developers are people too. Developers of apps roms, themes etc are not robots glued to a computer day and night. Contrary to how it may appear at times, our favorite developers do have a life. Like the avid mobile tech user, the developer has a “real” job, a family, real life responsibilities.
Why bring up what is common sense? I bring up a common sense subject today as a reminder of sorts. After reading several forums on Tuesday, it is fairly obvious to me, that we as a society of tech addicts are a hopelessly addicted to the need for an “update.” It appears that “we” fully expect to see updates whenever we want ’em with little or no reguard for the developer or his invested time. The sad reality is we are simplely spoiled by high quality developers that produce updates with great regularity.
Where’s the problem? The trouble starts when there is a usual or regular release date or time. This sets up expectations for the consumer. Case in point, there is a particular rom developer that had indicated there was to be an update scheduled on Tuesday’s. Yesterday brought about much anticipatory discussion on a particular forum. The day came and went without the anticipated update. My first thoughts were that there’s an issue with the rom or a personal issue called “Life” that got in the way. (I have great experience with Life getting in the way of my hobbies) To say I was disappointed by the direction of the conversations on this particular forum is an understatement. Things got so bad that a buncof comments were deleted by forum administrators.
There are some common sense rules of engagement when it comes to developers of mobile tech goodness.
#1 Never ask for estimated time of arrival or ETA’s. Like Grandma used to say “all good things come to those that wait”
#2 Expect delays. It should be expected that on the “promised delivery day” something will come up that delays release. Chalk it up to real life happens.
#3 Always show appreciation for the developers time and efforts. All the little things we as consumers enjoy such as roms, rom mods, themes and applications take a tremendous amount of time and dedication to produce. This means the developer sacrifices his family time to sit at the computer to code something for your enjoyment. The least we can do is to say thank you. I have yet to see any developer of freeware turn down donations. Donations no matter how small are always appreciated.
The bottom line is respect the time of others.
—@QBall45
