Hello everyone, before I begin my post, I would like to express my gratitude. In my opinion, I can say that Perchance is currently the best in their field. What they offer us is truly invaluable. Therefore, I would like to thank the developer for their work and what they offer, and then this wonderful community for their help.
What makes Perchance, "Perchance" is, first and foremost, this project that the developer humbly initiated and maintained, and then the people's contributions and made by taking advantage of the opportunities offered by this project.
People love Perchance. This isn't just my opinion; there are many people who think like me. They want it to continue because they love it, and they want to contribute. There are many people who could help with this, but only if the developer says so. That's exactly where the problem starts, because the developer either says nothing at all or says very little.
Over the past few months, a number of updates have been made to improve Perchance, and more are still in progress. A few months ago, an update was made to the image generator, and I learned about it beforehand from a random post on this forum—not from an official announcement. If you browse the forums a bit more, you'll see that some people learned about the update after the model was released. Anyway, after learning that an update was coming, the developer went silent and said almost nothing. Neither I nor anyone else knew exactly when the model would arrive, how the development phase was going, or had the slightest idea about the upcoming model. One night, the update was suddenly released, and that's how everyone found out.
Now we are waiting for the text update that is in the works and currently being developed. And again, apart from the post shared on August 8th with very little information, we know absolutely nothing about when it will arrive, how development is progressing, or what the model of the upcoming update will be. This lack of information breeds rumors and speculation. The only thing that is certain is that no one knows anything.
- So I'm asking again: What will the model for the next update be?
To give an example from my own experience, I'm currently working on a story, and because an update is coming, I haven't done any work on it for “MONTHS.” If the upcoming update is going to be a minor one, I'd rather not wait in vain and get back to working on it. And if the dev provide information on this, it will also prevent people like me from being disappointed and wasting their time after the update is released. This situation also reduces the burden on the developer's shoulders.
- How is the development phase going?
I know it's hard to do something on your own and you're facing some problems, but if you keep us informed, we can do our best to help. Because we love this place you've given us. For example; Is it a financial problem? Let us raise funds for you. Or perhaps we can keep running ads even when we're not using it.
- When will the new update be released?
The post shared on August 8th said development was “middle in progress,” but there has been no further information since then. Has it gone from 50% to 60% over the past few weeks? Or is the update about to be released?
And most importantly, why do I have to stalk the developer's profile like a creep to find out the answers to the questions above? Why is every update treated like it's some top-secret project? PLEASE KEEP US INFORMED, PLEASE LET US LEARN AND HELP.
It doesn't matter how busy the developer is, I don't expect them to do this every single day, but taking a few minutes now and then to provide information on this matter isn't that difficult. As someone who loves this place and invests his time, i think i have the right to ask for this.
Thank you, best regards. @perchance@lemmy.world
Well, I did see an em-dash in there...
Anyway, I do understand the sentiment. It's not very fun being left in the dark, especially when we're not even given a chance to participate.
That and the bullet points for me. I get that, I was more making a joke than strictly criticising (at least for the communication). I view it more from the other end. Some times features or fixes take far longer than anticipated, if you promise things or even speculate on a timeline; you’ll get feedback when you inevitably go past it. Sometimes you can also feel like people don’t want to hear from you unless you have an actual announcement. Sometimes I just need to be left alone to work, no updates beyond “Im still working on it”. Especially if the project is free or open source. I’ve seen more than one open source dev get burned out from similar community related issues. Some times you just gotta trust the dev and be patient; sometimes that’s all they need. This post is much more appreciative and positive than what I’m referring to, just to be clear.
You got me, my friend because my writing was created by AI in a way. :) Not in terms of content, but in terms of English translation. Since English is not my native language, i didn't write in my broken English.
Back to the Topic: I agree with what you're saying and I understand. The only thing I want to point out is that I think it would be healthier if the dev came out today and said something like, “Hey, I've got a lot on my plate and I can't really focus right now, so I'm postponing the update for now.” It's not a problem if the update stops or progresses slowly. As I mentioned in my post above, it would be cruel to expect him to submit daily reports or do these things on the exact date he said, and such a thing cannot be expected. But an occasional word from him wouldn't hurt anyone.
This period of uncertainty isn't having a positive effect; it's having a negative one. Uncertainty also creates high expectations and pressure. And if these expectations are not met, people may end up unhappy. (I think we all remember what happened when the image generator was updated. If you ask me, the update was successful, but there were still many people who were unhappy and angry about it, and I think one of the reasons for this “lack of information.” )
But I think staying in touch will both reduce the burden on the Developer's shoulders and somewhat appease the users. So I'm trying to look at the situation from both sides, like you.
Because it's a free service and, in my opinion, it's extremely successful in this regard. Yes, we shouldn't be too picky about what's put in front of us. We should be grateful. But I don't think people who spend their time here and love this place should have to pay a fee just to know where they're going. I believe this is everyone's most natural right.
everything you said is excellent except for the very last word.
I concur with what @RudBo@lemmy.world. That word is thrown around a bit too much. Having access to Perchance is not a right. Thus being made aware of the @perchance@lemmy.world's progress on an update for Perchance is not a right. Let's not confuse rights with desires.
I get that you’re trying to defend the idea that devs should be able to work without pressure. And I agree they should. But that doesn’t mean communication doesn’t matter. People aren’t asking for constant updates or personal check ins. They’re asking whether the project is still moving, if issues are being addressed, or if it’s even maintained at all.
Just because something is open source doesn’t mean users should be told to stay quiet or expect nothing. Transparency isn’t a burden. A quick note, a pinned issue, or a status update doesn’t take much but means a lot to those relying on the project.
And no, the fact that it’s free doesn’t erase the need for basic clarity. Open source works best when there’s trust and openness, not just in code, but in process. If no one knows what’s happening, they’ll assume it’s dead or broken. That’s not complaining. That’s human nature.
You can respect a dev’s time and still believe that sharing basic info is part of maintaining a public project. If you don’t want any questions or feedback, don’t release it publicly. But if you do, then conversation isn’t optional. It’s part of the deal.
That’s not quite the point of my post nor do I claim communication doesn’t matter. Pressure is unfortunately a reality for most projects; as much as I would like to see it minimised where possible. More so, this is sorta what happens with this type of smaller team and/or free projects.
Anyone who’s had a mod/app/etc they’ve waited eagerly for the next update only for the sole dev to vanish into the aether or, preferably, because someone saw their project and offered them a job; can relate. Sucks but there not much to be done in that case apart from hope someone else picks it up and maintains it.
Again, I didn’t claim otherwise nor do I think that. I presented another perspective with the intention to demonstrate that sometimes it happens, communication lulls due to life happening or other commitments, to provide some examples. Not “shut up and put up”, just that there can be reasons for it other that aren’t just someone ignoring a community.
My mentioning it being free was to suggest setting more reasonable expectations. When this was up it had been three-isn weeks since the last communication? It’s fine thinking that’s too long but it’s not rare for smaller projects to go years without feature updates, though Im sure communication was slightly more frequent. E.g. Dwarf Fortress.
I’d point out that people don’t solely develop their project in a FOSS/open source manner for questions or feedback. Sure feedback definitely helps and is of value. Collaboration and the general spirit behind open source are other benefits as well.
I don’t necessarily agree with that phrasing. The main benefits (in my eyes, someone who again, has not worked on a project of this sort/popularity) of open source is mainly transparency and the ability copy, run and modify it (depending on the chosen license). That and potentially having people look over and contribute by coding stuff like features, or bug fixes. Collaboration obviously begets communication but I don’t view that as some of guaranteed right to end users.