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Hi everyone!
First off, Merry Christmas! Virtual bricks are great, but I hope there are
many real bricks under your tree this year! :-)
If I have everyone's permission, I'd like to run at the mouth again. ;-)
Everyone's heard it before, just not phrased in this way. So, here goes.
I put the time into LDraw that I do to make the community better. So do a
few other bigtime contributors like Steve Bliss, Jacob Sparre Andersen, Dan
Boger, Terry Keller, Erik Olson, Mike Lachmann, Leo Zide, Lars Hassing, Bram
Lambrecht...and the list goes on (I can't possibly name them all). The
LDraw system of tools - the file format and all derivative editors and
renderers - are made available to you absolutely FREE. And it seems you
enjoy them too, because the main page averages 30,000 hits per week!
With all that popularity, why aren't more things getting done? Good
question.
I've been putting in many hours behind the scenes for a big surprise for you
all. It will make the LDraw.org experience a lot better, but I can only do
so much. Steve and Dan have been putting in many hours behind the scenes
and making the Parts Tracker -- one heckuvan awesome tool to help in the
parts update process!! No longer will we wait a year between updates at
times!! Woohoo!! I've got a few people doing other things like running
contests or moving data around when I'd rather be creating new content (Hi
Terry, hi Dan Crichton, hi Erik Olson!)
Even with all of us, why isn't more getting done?
Answer: Because we can't do it all ourselves. The current people working on
the site either don't have the time, knowledge, or desire to do it all. And
no one says we should have to either.
Through the history of the site, I've asked many times for people to do
things like write tutorials. Not many people have bitten on that. In fact,
I feel a lot of times my calls for help are ignored because I've called for
help so many times.
I think tutorials and reference materials are probably some of the most
important things LDraw.org could add to the website to make it better. If
there's a tutorial for an action - especially beginner actions - less people
get frustrated and shelf LDraw. More people get involved and do cool
things, like renderings. LDraw as a whole grows.
I've percieved something also - some people have downloaded the stuff for
free, even gotten it to work despite a complex setup, and then are
ungreatful because the website doesn't have a complete array of resources.
Instead, why can't there be more of an attitude to give back - to make LDraw
better? For someone who is knowledgeable in an area, it would probably only
take an evening or two to write a tutorial out. Not a ton of time, and not
a big sacrifice seeing the value people get in the LDraw tools for free.
The absolute BEST 3D LEGO-style CAD system for both renderings and
documenting models is available for free, and people are not willing to
spend a little time to improve it for others.
There's an old folk tale about the Little Red Hen. In a nutshell, the
Little Red Hen was baking a cake. She asked the other farm animals to help
bake the cake, and none volunteered. But when the cake was done, all of the
farm animals wanted to help eat the cake. The Little Red Hen refused, and
said 'he who does not work, does not eat.'
This is what I feel like when it comes to people taking a little time to
write stuff or pitch in here and there.
If more material filled the website, the LDraw community would be richer for
everyone. The community is what *you* make it. If you don't put into it,
don't expect much out of it.
I don't know about you, but I have a big vision for LDraw, and for the LEGO
community. It makes me sad when others don't take that same vision and chip
in even just a little bit.
All of this said, I'm calling for tutorials. Please - if you have a skill
in a certain area - POV-Ray, Animation, Building Instructions (hey
Guildsmen!), PARTS AUTHORING, etc etc... help by writing something! Take an
evening, two at the most, to do it. Write short stuff, brief tips.
Something is better than nothing. Give something back in exchange for the
awesome tool (and toy) you got for free.
I'm looking at the LDraw FAQ I'm in the middle of editing and cleaning up,
and there are a few questions that belong in tutorials rather than in the
FAQ. Like 'How can I create a part that is not yet in LDraw?' Good one for
a tutorial.
Email me if you're willing. I'll cut you a deal. Volunteer, follow
through, and not only will I post it on the site, you'll have room to
complain cause you helped out!! ;-)
Tim Courtney - tim@ldraw.org
http://www.ldraw.org - Centralized LDraw Resources
PS - Sure this is long. Sorry, but if I had just said 'I'd like people to
write some tutorials,' it would have been shrugged off like it has been so
many times before. Something has to be done to get peoples' attention.
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Message has 6 Replies:
 | | Re: The LDraw Community is what each person makes it
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| Tim, I'm no whiz with Ldraw, MLCad, POV-ray, or any of the other tools. I'm just a mid-30's guy who likes to mess around with this stuff. But, I do a fair amount of technical writing (user guides, SOP's, etc.) as part of my job. I'll volunteer my (...) (23 years ago, 24-Dec-01, to lugnet.cad, lugnet.cad.dev, lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)
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