RE: Is Ernest still here?

I check in here quite often, but for now, I'm just focusing on clearing spam and keeping the instance alive. In January, I was working on the AP module, and there has been significant progress in the work, which hasn't been publicly published yet. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, I developed a skin condition that worsened from week to week, reaching a point where I couldn't even leave the house. In February, I spent my time visiting doctors and undergoing treatment with medications, which often had very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, I decided to hold off on any major updates to avoid causing even more chaos. Today, I've undergone one procedure, and I have another one scheduled for Thursday, which I hope will be the last.

Just because it's not visible that something is happening doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything during this time. In fact, two really significant things have been successful, which I've been working on for a long time and which I intended to announce soon once I recover.

This weekend, I also plan to work on infrastructure with Piotr, and from next week onwards, I intend to resume committing, provided my health allows it. I understand if you're exploring alternatives, but I hope I've exhausted my bad luck limit for this year, and the remaining time will be marked by gradual, steady progress, especially since new opportunities have emerged, about which I will hopefully write soon.

uhmge,
uhmge avatar

Thanks ernest, hope you feel better soon!

HopeOfTheGunblade,
HopeOfTheGunblade avatar

Thanks for the communication! It sounds like you've been having a rough go of it. I hope things get better for you soon.

BolexForSoup,
BolexForSoup avatar

Thank you for the update Ernest, here's hoping your treatments and recovery are respectively effective and swift!

boolean,
boolean avatar

This is a good reminder to remember people are human and may have a life outside of the computer.

Thanks Ernest. Hope you get your issue fixed up. Your health is more important that software.

theinspectorst,
theinspectorst avatar

Thanks for the update Ernest! I hope you continue getting well soon and I look forward to everything you've got planned for this place.

Rayspekt,

The Fediverse gives a whole new meaning to "The Importance of Being Ernest".

zeluko,

Good luck to you!
But i think instead of waiting to announce planned things you should just show them, even in early stages.
Then we can give feedback, check your code and contribute ourselves.
You dont have to do everything, we really want to help.

Pamasich,
Pamasich avatar

On the other hand, if people really wanted to contribute, there's plenty of open issues on Codeberg that are unadressed. I agree that it would be better to announce plans in advance rather than surprise drop them, but I doubt there would be more contributions from the community.

melroy,
@melroy@kbin.melroy.org avatar

Done that, tried that. Not working great. Hence Mbin was created.

Pamasich,
Pamasich avatar

I know. I'm just saying that the idea people would magically help out on kbin if he was more open about his plans doesn't work out, because the people willing to do so would either already be contributing to cleaning up the backlog or have moved on to mbin.

Btw, do mbin devs look at kbin issues too or do common problems have to be posted to both repositories to be seen?

TheVillageGuy,
TheVillageGuy avatar

Currently I wouldn't count on it as for as long as there is no activity on codeberg, looking at it in general is a waste of time. If you find an issue on both Kbin and Mbin and are convinced it is the same issue, it's definitely worth reporting on both.

sab,
sab avatar

Sometimes showing that things are being done is more work and way more stressful than the act of doing them, so I can relate to that.

But it would probably be a good idea to get more admins on board - sometimes one needs to take a break, and a one-person moderation team for a page with this many users cannot be sustainable in the long run. But I guess getting to a point where that is feasible, not to mention finding qualified people, might in itself be a fair share of work. :)

And of course - get well soon, Ernest! It's great to hear from you.

Maestro,
Maestro avatar

It doesn't have to be a show-and-tell. Just pushing your changes to a branch is enough. That way people can at least see that something is being worked on.

As a software dev I find it strange that you can go a month or more without pushing. At work I push at least daily, even if it's just a WIP commit that I reset the next day.

zeluko,

Exactly this is what i mean.
Name your branch something useful and push reguarly.
Ernest feels like doing so much secrecy for code that is ultimately going to be public anyways.. We wont scold you for having fucked up code. We will fix it ourselves if we have to.

ThatOneKirbyMain2568,
ThatOneKirbyMain2568 avatar

Thanks a ton for the update Ernest! It's great to hear from you, and I hope your health improves soon.

That being said, I do have a few things I'd like to suggest.

--

In February, I spent my time visiting doctors and undergoing treatment with medications, which often had very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, I decided to hold off on any major updates to avoid causing even more chaos.

If I'm interpreting this correctly (i.e., that you chose not to give any updates as to prevent people freaking out), I don't think this was the best move. I understand where you were coming from, but (if you were able) some sort of small status update would've been preferable to a month-long silence (especially since you'd previously said that you'd be unavailable for only 2–4 days). A simple "Hey, I'm currently not doing well. I'll get back to things as soon as I'm feeling better," would've at least let us know that you were alive and that the project hadn't been abandoned.

--

Just because it's not visible that something is happening doesn't mean I haven't been doing anything during this time. In fact, two really significant things have been successful, which I've been working on for a long time and which I intended to announce soon once I recover.

I don't think this whole "holding off for a big announcement" thing is a great approach, at least not now. There are currently several issues that we're waiting to see fixed, and we have no idea which ones (if any) are being worked on. If you must wait for a big reveal though, at least telling us, "I'm still working on stuff" would be better than nothing.

--

And finally, I really suggest getting some more admins for the instance. You're absolutely correct to prioritize your health over Kbin; nevertheless, it's far from ideal for your absence to mean that spam piles up, moderation requests lie unanswered, and accounts can't be deleted. We'd all appreciate it if you could have at least one extra person on deck for whenever you're ill or in need of a break.

--

Thanks again for all you do for Kbin, and I hope things get better!

stopthatgirl7,
stopthatgirl7 avatar

Agreed with all of this.

mizzyc,
mizzyc avatar

I hope Ernest gets well soon and can pass through all of these stuff, but I must add one point to this:

And finally, I really suggest getting some more admins for the instance.

And, as important as this, letting more people help with Kbin development.

It's impossible to maintain the code and develop new features, while dealing with all his personal life problems (which of course are a priority) and maintaining the instance all at once and almost alone.

Why not getting some help? I know that Ernest already said he has a problem trusting people, but come on, it's visible that this approach is not working and it’s not benefiting anyone.

ProdigalFrog,
ProdigalFrog avatar

His reasoning is kind've... Like, off, isn't it? How would a single paragraph message saying "Hey guys, I'm not dead." cause... Chaos? Like what?

And him saying he's been working on stuff... So, he's been around and watching, but chose to work exclusively on the code when Kbin was under assault with spam, some of it illegal?

It's so crazily clear that Kbin needs additional admins to fill in for Ernest, to add more mods, to combat spam, to delete communities and accounts that have been sitting around for months, and yet still, there is absolutely no move toward rectifying any of that.

This isn't sustainable. People are saying it in this post, people have been saying it for months, there's no change. I don't mean to come down on Ernest, the dude is putting out all this work and effort for free selflessly, but it's becoming painfully clear that his personality traits (specifically the desire to do everything himself) is not only putting incredible stress onto Ernest himself, but it's severely effecting Kbin itself negatively, to the point that people are leaving and Ernest's response is... Basically business as usual.

I don't see a positive outcome here.

TheVillageGuy,
TheVillageGuy avatar

He may well be referring to my posts and the chaos that ensued in the comments thereof. You have a valid point. However, Ernest's communication has up to now not been very consistent, both timing and content wise. It makes sense he hasn't given updates, for the time being, as he didn't have any real improvements to announce, unlike this one, to prevent another escalation. Not the best strategy, but given the odds of a similar situation arising again, understandable. You are already part of a similar discussion it would have started and it would have been over nothing. At least now he had some (good) news to announce. I would not likely have responded though, I haven't really paid much attention since the last time. Once again I was attracted by the notification of a message, on matrix this time, leading me to have a look at what's going on. I am saying this because some people were convinced I was stalking and harassing Ernest last time, to give you an impression of what chaos he is likely referring to. Of course odds are something would have triggered my attention and I would have, as I said I won't be silenced. But other people have taken the lead this time.

Let's hope Ernest really is doing better and will do as he says, so we can forget about the past.

1Fuji2Taka3Nasubi,

Please take good care Ernest.

pro,

Get well soon!

HarkMahlberg,
HarkMahlberg avatar

I hope the procedure goes well and you have a speedy recovery! ❤️

elgordio,

Thanks for the update Ernest, and best wishes for your health to improve.

Teon,
Teon avatar

Thank goodness you are alive. We thought you had been abducted by aliens!! :)
Sorry to hear that your medical issues escalated.
Hoping you have a painless and speedy recovery.

guyrocket,
guyrocket avatar

I thought he was eaten by a grue.

Best wishes, Ernest!

density,
density avatar

Hope you feel better soon!

I have to say that I agree with others there are significant structural issues with the benevolent dictatorship type governance model. A team of people with diverse skills, strengths, weaknesses, commitments and all that is needed to bring a project like this to its potential.

Establishing a committee of some sort to share the work is really going to allow your efforts to shine to a greater degree and highlight your contributions, not diminish them. Perhaps getting in touch with some organization like Software Freedom Conservancy for advice? They exist to help with this sort of thing:

Conservancy assists FLOSS project leaders by handling all matters other than software development and documentation, so the developers can focus on what they do best: improving the software for the public good.

static,
static avatar

I appeciate all you do, but please start delegating for your own sake.
Find people to handle the spam and moderation, that gives you more time to focus on dev and infra.
And on dev too, there is lots to delegate.

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