Shared Ownership
I’ve been mulling this over for more than a month now, since I brought it up to Blade as part of our conversations about the GoA after attending the GoMe meeting in August, and have finally reached a conclusion: I can no longer be the sole point of development and administration for DPWR. The site has gotten large enough, and I’ve gotten busy enough, that I simply can’t handle the work load anymore. Unfortunately, because of DPWR’s history, transitioning to shared ownership will not be an easy thing. The code has never been under source control, and development hasn’t exactly been what one might call “professional” at any point in time. DPWR is how (and why) I learned PHP, and a lot of what I do with the site generally consists of hacking and modifying existing files in Invision Power Board, with poorly-documented and poorly-commented results.
What I want to do is essentially start from scratch in some ways. I want to start with a virgin installation of IPB and the various components that I use for DPWR (Links, Gallery, and Wiki), and then build the current feature set back into the site. It’s a fair amount of replicated effort, I know, but I think it’s the only way to start off on the right foot. To make things potentially easier, I’ve already subversioned the current files so that there’s a base point of comparison that can be built from and re-implemented whole-cloth where appropriate (and possible). In addition to re-programming the PHP, I would also like to tackle modifying the site’s skin as well, since it’s got some rather obvious legibility issues and needs some love to pull it more in-line with the Guild of Archivists concept (Tweek being the awesome person that he is has provided me with his “Guild Pub” emblem for the GoA, which I’d like to run with).
Ultimately, my goal is to get everything updated and moved to the live site by the end of the year (just in time for IPB 3 to come out and start the process all over again :P). Since most of the stuff on the site doesn’t need much (if any) modification to work, and all of the really hard work of getting the Archive to support tags has already been done (it just needs to be re-implemented into the vanilla install), I think the thing that would take the longest would be the skin.
I’ve decided to do this now (rather than wait for IPB 3 to come out) for several reasons: 1) I want to make sure that the site is actually maintainable by a small group before IPB 3 comes out and the really hard work of porting the Archive component to the new version begins, 2) I want the site to be able to support all of the requirements that being the host for the GoA puts on it ASAP, and 3) I don’t have the time to do any of this by myself anymore. I’ve got one pro bono web design project I’m working on right now, and will hopefully have a contract for another site by next month. Coupled with the 3 months worth of other small-to-massive-sized projects I’ve accumulated over the summer without a Mac to call my own and the fact that I’m at work 9 hours a day, I just don’t have the ability to throw myself at DPWR the way I did when I was 15 without a care in the world ;). (On a side note, it’s actually kind of scary that I’ve been managing this site since I was 15… it originally launched on Homestead on June 30, 2000)
So, if you’re a PHP developer interested in helping to get DPWR on its feet, please leave a comment with some way of getting in touch with you, or email me and let me know you’re interested. I realize I’m asking a great deal with no real compensation (all I’ve got are my gratitude and appreciation [as well as my most profound apologies for the current sorry state of the code base]), so I don’t exactly expect a stampede of volunteers, but anyone willing to lend a hand would be very, very greatly appreciated. I’ll discuss the details of how to get to the SVN source, as well as some other guidelines and requirements, privately with anyone who volunteers. It’s not nasty, mean, paranoia-inducing “OMG SEEKRETS!” stuff, just stuff that I would rather discuss in confidence because it has to do with a non-open-source project ;).
September 25th, 2008 at 9:35 am
Well, I was about to say that I’m very sorry but probably can’t spend the time helping you (I do earn my money as web application developer). Then I read up on IPB and their business practices. Now I don’t feel bad anymore, I wouldn’t have wanted to touch that code with a pitchfork, I’m afraid, too much opportunity for litigation (I can’t afford to _see_ that code when I write similar applications for a living and just for fun as well (If I was employed by the licensee, Revision 1 Studios, that ought to be different, but IANAL and why bother?)) as well as an unhealthy dose of “corporate” (as in: let’s pretend there’s always going to be a free version too and then start gutting its features and limit the amount of time you can try it, etc.) on their part.
October 1st, 2008 at 5:15 pm
Wow; I don’t even remember the Homestead version. Talk about old. I’m not even sure I ever saw it..