General/Question Blame the nit-pickers

Man who says it cannot be done should not interrupt man already doing it.Chinese proverb

People who offer their help on volunteer-run technical forums are often criticised by experts—experts who, just as often, fail to provide easy-to-follow advice to novices—and it’s in this context that the Joomla! forum is at risk of becoming the last place where people seek advice.  In my last article—Drawing people together—I discussed the kind of criticism that some of my clumsily-worded tweets have attracted.  It’s extremely difficult to express one’s opinion in 280 characters or less and not attract a flood of opposition in return.

Michael Babker{footnote}We tried to contact Michael for comment before publishing this article but he declined to respond to our request.{/footnote} is one of my heroes.  I’ve probably learned more about Joomla—the Joomla! project and what happens behind the scenes—from Michael than from anyone else.  Although self-described as “opinionated”, he writes with a breath-taking clarity that puts the rest of us to shame.  Every time I see his name on the Joomla! forum I make sure that I read his contribution to the issue being discussed.

Over the past twelve months, perhaps as the result of the apparent torpor with the Joomla! 4 project and the inability to breakthrough into the beta phase of development, I’ve observed Michael has become less active on the Joomla! forum.  His website says that he’s, basically, had enough.  That, in itself, is a pity but it’s not the reason I am writing this article.

In this article we will look at the effect on a self-help forum of censuring of people by experts.  We will particularly look at how the Joomla! forum is at risk of becoming redundant owing to this kind of behaviour.