[Poll] Why don't you write filters for proxomitron?

[z12]

Oddysey Wrote:So why waste good Forum space by submitting a filter that might be useful to perhaps one or two others, particularly when no one asked for it?

As an administrator, I can't believe you said that.

The spirit of proxo is all about sharing filters.
How can you possibly know ahead of time how many people might find a filter "useful"?
That should not be the criteria for deciding whether or not to post a filter or even a whole config.

I see filters posted that I don't have a need for "today".
Does that mean I won't see a need for it tomorrow, next month or even next year?

Even if I never use the filter, does that mean it's without merit?
No. At a minimum, every filter I look at causes me to pause and think.
Sometimes I see coding techniques or ideas that help me solve problems that are completely unrelated to the posted filter.

People have their reasons for not posting filters, that's what this thread is about.
You want to veg, that's fine. It's not easy to predict all possible reasons in a poll.
But for you to suggest that posting a filter might be a waste of space is just wrong.

As for myself, I shall continue to post filters that probably nobody will use whenever the mood strikes me.
If the filter stimulates some thought or an exchange of ideas, that's good enough reason for me.

I'd like to see more people writing and posting their filters, not less.
I hope your statements on this won't discourage people from posting their filters.

My $.02
z12

[Oddysey]

z12;

Quote:".... whenever the mood strikes me."

That sums it up in a nutshell. I've done my time, and for the vast majority of my contributions, responses have always been positive. I was a teacher for 15 years, at the college level. I've gotten my jollies, and now I no longer feel the need to pontificate, that's really what's going on in my mind. But don't you think/believe for a NewYork second that I'm condeming, or at the very least, frowning upon, those that wish to share- 'tain't so! In fact, as far as I'm concerned, if they are verbose, so much the better - better to have too much information than too little, IMO.

But consider, I'm no longer in the mood, most of the time, because:

a) I've truly not done anything that Joe Sixpack would consider innovative - it's like I said, I've done nothing more than adapt what I've seen/learned long ago to whatever my current need(s) might be. No trickery involved, therefore, probably not much of an eye-opener for most folks here.

and.....

b) I am old (61 years and counting, all praise to my cardiologist ), and as you might note, my Administrator rank notwithstanding, I'm not high on the contribution list. What I bring to the table, and thankfully it's rarely needed here, is a kind of sight that comes only with long experience in the field. I'm the devil's advocate kind of guy, the one who finds and pokes holes in theoritical offerings. Kinda fun, from my point of view, but hardly indicative of some kind of programming prowess, I'm sure you'll agree.

In short, I burned out. Nowadays, if I need something and no one else has done it, then I'll break out a code editor and a compiler and have a go at it. But I don't see anything I've done in the last three or four years as being monumentally breath-taking, that I should toss it out for everyone's perusal, just in case there's a newfer out there that could benefit from reading what I've done.

Sorry, but there it is. And I too hope that no one else takes my bon mot as a reason not to post/share. I'm simply saying that's my reason, and I know it works only for me. Anyone else in that boat, they'll have to use their own reasons, 'cause I'm copyrighting/patenting mine!



Oddysey

[lnminente]

Oddysey, it seems you lost the north...

We are here for giving life to this forums (and the forum life to us), and i hope no visitors take into account what you said before about "wasting" space. They must know the proxomitron world is very complex, and they don't have to feel fear to ask, it's very easy to have fails here, very very easy. The most simple idea they can have can help to others to write very good filters. One very good post wich started with simple questions:
http://prxbx.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=1093
That's the proxomitron spirit: Share, help, ideas, filters, inprovements.

This forum could end soon and we have to do something better than speaking about our lifes. And that's why i started this poll, to know what people need. Nobody explained us HTML, neither proxomitron, neither what programs to use for debug etc... but we could (and i want) explain them the basic things to start doing their own filters.

My 0'02 euros!

[ProxRocks]

(Nov. 30, 2008 07:46 PM)Oddysey Wrote:  and.....

b) I am old (61 years and counting, all praise to my cardiologist )

wow! i'm impressed...
i can't get my 60-some dad to do ANYTHING with a computer outside of e-mail and solitaire...

[Kye-U]

I didn't vote in the poll because I still write filters for Proxomitron; they're either site-specific or for a "batch conversion" job (find/replace mostly, for work).
Occasionally I'll get some "grand idea" and write a generic filter, like my "Image Thumber", "Bypass Download Countdown Timers" filters.

I like to share, so you'll find that I post some pretty weird filters, such as my "Kill Suspected Landing Pages" and "Nocturnal Surfing Mode" filters. I know that someone out there would find some benefit from the filters, so that's why I post them. Take for instance my "Nocturnal Surfing Mode" filter: I know that someone out there is a night creature like me and squints whenever an excessively bright page loads up.

I enjoy the process of filter-writing: recognizing an issue with a site/many sites, thinking of solutions/methods, researching on how to transcribe your thoughts to code, then finally, testing and more testing until I'm satisfied with the filter.

As for the purpose of "TUOPF", the main purpose is to provide support to those who need it, be it Proxomitron or some other issue. While surfing around different forums, I've read that some people are afraid to ask for help with Proxomitron due to the "elitist" attitude those with "more Proxomitron knowledge" exhibit to those who ask questions. I want this to be a healthy learning environment, and also at the same time an environment where different talents and skill sets can combine collaboratively to solve problems (aka, produce filters). I don't want people afraid to ask for help.

Be assured, the low forum activity will not affect my wish to keep TUOPF up and running! So keep posting, keep asking questions.

[besafe]

I don't have the time to learn to write filters. I like using the filter sets that are available, as they do pretty well all I need. Most people "lurk" at forums as there are always a$$'s that act like they are the only ones that are alllowed to post; and that their opinion is always correct. No one wants to be picked on; espescially a noobie in any forum.
I for one am very thankful that Kye-U is interested in an excellent, but relatively little used product. It is nice to see you keep the forum alive, and want to keep it a place to pick up info on proxo. I enjoy trying out a lot of different software, but have never been even remotely interested in writing code or developing my own. I know I'll never write a filter, but I also know I'll use proxo for as long as it is useful to me.

[lnminente]

(Dec. 03, 2008 02:42 AM)besafe Wrote:  Most people "lurk" at forums as there are always a$$'s that act like they are the only ones that are alllowed to post; and that their opinion is always correct. No one wants to be picked on; espescially a noobie in any forum.

I'm looking for what visitors here would like to learn more. I'm pretty sure we could write a guide, and stick it and show it everytime a new person register in this forum.

Supose you use NoScript, and you think it's good but it could be better. It blocks javascript files depending of its hosts. But you now want to allow some javascripts from yahoo but not others from yahoo too. If you read 2 pages of the help you would be able to do that filter in one evening. Print them, and use your favourite marker

http://www.proxomitron.info/45/help/Matc...Rules.html

http://www.proxomitron.info/45/help/Matc...mands.html

For remembering the commands easily:
http://www.proxomitron.info/45/help/Matc...rence.html

Everybody is usefull here, and everybody can write filters. Everybody!!
Also without writing filters, one can give ideas, others knows a software to do it better, others finds fails, etc...