Quote Originally Posted by Frankie_Says_Relax View Post
While I understand the points you make here, I hope you'll pardon my amusement at the irony of a forum member who has personally taken the time and effort to not only volunteer his personal time to aide in the maintenance and functionality of the site (which was literally physically failing before he and others worked to help move it, evaluate the problems surrounding bugs/errors/etc. and bring it up to a level of stability) but also with the revision and further proliferation of the DP Guide (in this case bringing it to the realm of smart-phones/apps).

I get that this can easily be scoffed at by many here with the sentiment "we don't want it/we don't need it" (which seems to be a running theme lately when new projects are discussed) ... but what nz17 is doing for the community is relatively epic, even in what some consider to be a low point of on-site community activities or a time of exodus for many forum veterans.

While it may not be particularly appealing/desirable for some who have vocalized it here and elsewhere, to write it off under the assumption that nobody would use it is silly. I'm sure there are an equal number of people who would similarly be disinterested in an analog version of the guide, but that doesn't mean that one shouldn't be compiled/published on a semi-regular basis.

Furthermore, this does appear to be a well thought out project which incidentally specifically includes a level of detail on the budgetary break-down that many criticized Joe for omitting in the Museum project. And, since Kickstart is a risk-free endeavor from a pledging standpoint I see no harm whatsoever in attempting to solicit assistance from the community in this fashion. But, hey, that's just me and that's just my opinion.

And where the concept of bringing in new members in to the "community" is concerned, what's to say that the DP name being exposed to millions who may search the Android/iOS marketplaces for keyword "classic video games" won't help bring new community members into the fold?

I certainly can not argue with the fact that there are many that vocally miss the community-centric topics, contests, and activities that helped DP members bond/grow in the past, but as far as I know those were all volunteer activities/roles/duties in the past and they continue to be in the present.

Would we stand in the way of anybody who wants to run 12 days of Christmas, the Mystery Sound contest or the Zine? I don't think so ... at least I've never seen any such resistance from those who are in the position to say "Go for it!" ... so, why not just let this one play out on its own?

Even failure by way of not attaining a Kickstart funding goal shouldn't be considered a failure on all counts ... I still think that a live-update-friendly digital proliferation of the guide is a goal for the future that should not be ignored.

*shrug* I don't know...I just see somebody going above and beyond and in what seems like a trend, those efforts are questioned at best and scolded at worst by the community that the efforts seek to benefit. That's just my take on it. I'm not saying you're wrong and I'm right ... I just can't help but feel that sometimes this community is its own worst enemy.
I agree with you to some extent and people should be encouraged to pursue whatever projects they feel would benefit the community, but I am also someone who has seen a lot of people with good intentions come and go over the years and sadly, good intentions can actually cause a lot of distraction and sapping of energy, especially at a critical time when financial resources need to be 100% focused on the biggest initiative the DP team has ever taken on.

Just to clarify, as I read his proposal, he is going to only develop the app for Android right now and I would assume an iOS version would require a separate fund raising and development effort. While I am an Android user, many other collectors I know are iOS users or use other mobile operating systems including Windows Mobile and Symbian. As such, he has already limited the value of this particular application to a subset of a small niche community to begin with. It seems like the suggestion someone else brought up to create a more universal mobile version of the DP site would better address this issue.

I think another critical issue here is that he is looking for people to pay for his investment of time up front and is asking us to buy him a new computer and Android phone which is not something I have seen other people do here or elsewhere in classic gaming communities. In fact, the only time anyone has ever asked for this type of compensation up front that I can think of is when someone dumps a prototype, but even then, it's to compensate the owner for the loss of value which will be suffered once it's dumped and widely available. It's not a completely charitable effort and I'm not saying it's an inappropriate approach necessarily to expect some compensation for hard work, but it's not like he is stepping forward and assuming all of the risk or volunteering his time.

Finally, I find it troubling that the OP posts several times lamenting the fact that people aren't contributing and then ignores most of those posts explaining why people aren't sold on the idea, instead focusing on the fact that in one week, only a single contribution has been made. Certainly, he is free to continue the fund raising efforts, but I have learned over the years that sometimes it's much more powerful to take a step back, admit you made some mistakes and then regroup to take another shot at something with the benefit of advice from other people.