Come together with the global Drupal community in Rotterdam, 28 Sept – 1 Oct 2026. Sessions, contribution, connection, and Early Bird savings until 8 June.
By Insane Fisher on
[Flaming is not welcome here, this discussion is closed. chx]
Time to flame ya'll. Drupal is 'free' as in it does not cost money, and we are all 'free' to change it how we wish. That's nice. I have absolutely no desire to become a coder. And as usual in the open source community it is nearly expected. I have a domain named www.insanefishingclub.com, and I had a decent site for awhile using Drupal. But it crashed hard. Drupal has a LONG WAY to go before it is a contender in the CMS field at large. I just tried community server 2007 an MS based CMS and I have to tell you I am seriously considering switching. My site is down at the moment and will remain that way until I find a solution that has a simple member (not user... how crappy is that term? I am a user? Get with it. I am a MEMBER sounds so much better) interface AND a simple admin interface. I want forums, blogs, a calendar of events and a serious Photo Album solution. Drupal in no certain terms provides all of this, especially in the area of photo albums. Have you tried Gallery2 as a Drupal interface? It is terrible! Gallerix is as good as it gets and that is not anywhere near perfect. So, do I shell out cash and remain an MS junkie or do I get what I want in the order of Drupal? To be honest I can not afford to shell out any cash… Insane Fishing Club is a hobby. You want to beat MS at their own game? Then get smart... if it confuses my 87 year old grandmother at any point then in is entirely tOoOoOoOoO geeky. She should be able to set up and admin her own site right out of the box in less than an afternoon. Lose the cryptic code monkey BS and get with it. MS dominates the market for many reasons and one of them is because of the grandmother factor. If your grandma does not get it immediately then there is something wrong. No one cares about the lingo of the coder except other coders. Quit being so darn inbreed! Is that as deep and wide as you want your audience to be... other coders? That has exactly ALWAYS been the problem with open source of any flavor. When you (open source code monkeys) as a collective decide to break that cycle THEN you will have accomplished something truly stellar. Until then your audience is going to be incredibly limited. You as Drupal want to be the ‘defacto standard’ of CMS. That desire is a wonderful start. Blend your coding skills with the ability to look at the world of computing with the eyes of my 87 year old grandmother. You will go much farther. I look eagerly very forward to your agility in this matter. I can be contacted thru email @ patrick@insanefishingclub.com. In addition you can look at community server 2007 @ www.drupaltesting.org I will be playing with the non-commercial addition for several weeks to come.
Comments
=-=
user can be replaced with member if you prefer, there are methods for changing drupal terminology that doesn't involve writing code.
Also of note: Microsoft has a dedicated, fully funded (multi billions of $) company of people to work on software which will always give it advantages over open source projects of a smaller scale..
Ultimately though, commercial packages have their quirks and vulnerabilities too.
_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )
when did your site crash?
if, as I expect, it took place VERY recently, you need to cool off before posting any kind of critique.
The Heat...
Isn't the heat what it is all about? Seriously, when I am most passionate, is this not the best time to post? I am posting my troubles with open source at large. It is inherently geeky as all get out, and it really does not need to be...
you're right..
So take this passion that you have and do something constructive. "Flaming" doesn't encourage people, it discourages.
Why don't you start up a UI based firm that does nothing but improve the UI of OSS projects (like Drupal). You can find clients, like yourself, that would hire you to do this.
That is much more constructive.
have you ever thought...
that instead of spending the money that you would have spent on a single license of community server plus any additional software to run it you would spend that money on a trained OSS professional?
OSS is free as in freedom not free as in Beer.
No software is perfect. I hope you make the decision that best fits your needs.
So Right You Are.
No software is perfect I agree, what is Drupal striving for exactly... imperfection?
what is Windows striving for...
no software strives for imperfection, that'd just be silly. But trying to meet the needs of a few million people is hard.
Windows couldn't do it and they have billions of dollars. Drupal certainly can't do it.
My point is that a license of the closed-source is fairly spendy and would afford you several hours of a professional's advice. He/She would have you back up and running very quickly.
This way you are contributing back to the OSS software without having to code. There are many ways of getting involved and a lot of them don't involve coding.
=-=
Not to stoke your fires but ...
10 days ago you stated that it's a well known fact that drupal is becoming a "big stick" in the CMS world: http://drupal.org/node/202337#comment-665376
on november 22, you stated you were new to Open Source and that you loved Open Source & Linux = http://drupal.org/node/194349
It's a love/hate relationship, One I am sure you will find no matter what package you use, commerical or Open Source.
_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )
Love Hate
Yes I do still love it... and I hate it. I had some serious issues over and over again with drupal. Always just little stuff that would not work quite right. Then a melt down. I am very upset to say the least. It is amazing to me that when I ask for help with something I get nearly zero replies. When I post a flame it is a different story its the opposite.
=-=
The questions you've asked in the forums have been answered. The issues that you filed are a totally different animal. It takes someone with experience using those modules to be able to answer your questions.
_____________________________________________________________________
My posts & comments are usually dripping with sarcasm.
If you ask nicely I'll give you a towel : )
Insane Fisher
It is very disappointing to see a post like that in any forum. Thousands of those geeky guys you seem to have a problem with have worked for endless evenings to improve Drupal for you and the community as a whole. You suggest the product is improved, yet insult the very people who are trying to do just that.
On a lighter note!
I have a fishing question that you could maybe help me with.
I was fishing last week in a river close by. I did not catch a fish after 5 seconds fishing. I demand that www.insanefishingclub.com get fish to pro-create faster so I don't have to wait as long to catch fish.
If you don’t get the fish to pro-create faster then I will leave insanefishingclub.com forever and start fishing in a closed source fish farm. You see, we have something in common, unrealistic expectations!
You have as much power to meet my expectation as I have yours, but thankfully the difference between you and me is; I understand it is not your fault but still love you for trying!
tOoOoOoOoO
That great big wall of gibberish will be a great help to both Drupal and Open Source, thanks for your contribution.
Useless
Criticism is totally useless. Lets further shut out our audience by making things even more complicated for the admin and the user.
You're right, Drupal isn't
You're right, Drupal isn't as super-userfriendly so that Grandma's can use it, but to promote the alternative, the Microsoft / Windows solution, I think is pretty laughable.
I came from asp.net looking for a cms, and there was basically Community Server and Dot net nuke if you were looking for a cms on .net / Windows. Dot net nuke has some major issues which I won't bore you with (I can't believe people need to run scripts to visit their pages regularly so they won't expire from cache. Otherwise it's *dog slow*), and Community Server... well, I looked into CS2007 and even enquired about a license. You say you can't afford to shell out any more cash, but do you realise that CS2007 costs $20,000 for a commercial license? (Yes, to have unlimited blogs, or no restrictions on the amount of forum sections etc!). And for that $20,000, you won't even get the versatility and the functionality that Drupal and its many, many modules provide? And do you even wanna compare the costs of hosting on a .net server and a linux server?
Money I have none.
Had no idea it costed that much. Drupal is more than likely what I am going to stick with. Although it is not perfect it seems to be the best I can find. I have tried so many CMS platforms. Community Server is just the latest. Nothing personal, I was just venting. It is OK to vent right?
No
Venting is not ok.
1. It does not change anything.
2. It is taken personal. It makes others feel worse.
3. Your karma decreases, which may make others feel less inclined to help you.
When you feel extremely frustrated it usually helps to write it down (text editor), wait a bit then throw the post away. You get all the benefits from venting, but none of the negatives.
The next step is then to post about specific issues and get people interested in solving those.
--
The Manual | Troubleshooting FAQ | Tips for posting | How to report a security issue.
Venting...
Well venting may be fine for you but it isn't constructive to the community and ultimately it doesn't help solve your issues. The next time you go to ask for help people may remember this and wonder if they should help you.
Have you thought of going with the supported versions of Drupal? I'll throw out Bryght as an example. They'll host your copy of Drupal for you and ensure that it stays running. Yes it more expensive than your standard hosting (not by much though) but you get excellent support so that your site continues to run. Remember Drupal and OSS are free as in Freedom not as in Beer.
Running a website still isn't easy, not with anyone's software. I wish it were but technology just hasn't advanced to that point yet.
You are, however, part of a much larger movement that is seeking to make the technology easier while also keeping it free. If OSS didn't exist you wouldn't be having this conversation. Your choice would be buy the MS license (which you can't afford) or don't have a website.
I believe that is $20,000
I believe that is $20,000 per processor, btw. And, I believe that does not include the similar cost of a per processor license for MS SQL server.
Bugreports, support requests.
Insane Fisher,
I understand that you are frustrated, but please remember; While venting may help you feel better, it does little to advance Drupal, nor does it ultimately help you.
Please file specific bug reports or support requests on the issues you have, esp. regarding the 'melt-down'. Someone may be able to help.
--
The Manual | Troubleshooting FAQ | Tips for posting | How to report a security issue.
Apologies...
Sorry about my rant. I really meant no harm. I was simply very upset that I lost everything, again. I made backups of the site and the databases but I could not get them to work. I am really not sure what happened. This is the third time a Drupal install has went south. It seems to happen when I am trying out new modules, module upgrades or Drupal version upgrades. I set up and alternate site for testing, so I hope this does not happen to me again. I am very greatful for Drupal because I simply can not afford anything else, still it is frustrating to put many hours into anything and have it flatline. I have tried over a dozen CMS packages and while Drupal is not perfect or even the most friendly to set up and use, it is the best there is for free. If I upset anyone, again all apologies. I will remember to stay off the posts when I am feeling cranky or frustrated about website woes regarding Drupal.
reading your post made me realize
as new web site owners we have been a bit spoiled.
we have gotten so much for free, some of us like me have assumed the advice and support should be free and available when we need it. here we are, planning our internet empires, and we have to WAIT for these miscreant volunteers to assist us! OUTRAGEOUS! lol.
the fact is, we may have to PAY for help, and folks like you and me need to consider that in our budget or at least factor in needing spend time and money on tutorials for php and mysql.
i just wanted to thanks the folks who have been involved in this great program!
ps,putting a donation is probably wont hurt either and i plan to do so in the next month.
How are you backing up your
How are you backing up your site and preforming the restore? I would also recommend that you set up a second instance of drupal (or anything application for that matter), where you can test updates, try new modules and make all of your mistakes on.