Lead Programmer of phpBB calls it quits...

**Vin DSL** · 09-20-2005, 04:41 AM

The lead programmer of phpBB, psoTFX, has quit. psoTFX's real name is Paul Owens. Paul states:

Finally I took the decision I should’ve taken two or three months ago … I quit phpBB. I’m sure some of you, the idiot brigade will say “Good riddens”. Fine, no problem, you probably have the mentality of a deranged gnat (appologies to the gnat) so your opinion counts for … erm … less than nothing.

...phpBB I believe came along at just the right time, well, version 2.0 anyway … the alternatives at that stage were vBulletin, an excellent board but at a relatively “high” price, UBB same as vB except for the excellent part and ikonboard, again an excellent board but one which was being banned at an increasing rate due to its performance issues (mainly that it was written in Perl of course). phpBB offered a good all round solution … for free … gratis … nowt … nada. What’s more support was free, extras were free, localisation … yep, free. An entirely free (as in beer …) project...

I honestly feel that had phpBB not existed the explosion of community fora would have been considerably lessened...

I can't help but agree...

Source: http://www.starstreak.net/blog/2005/09/14/im-free/

**Ron** · 09-20-2005, 06:52 AM

HE ran the project like an idiot. HE caused himself all the problems. HE changed version 2.2 into 3.0 through poor management and scope creep. HE obsoleted his own skins. HE prevented others from joining in and helping the project. It has been about 3 years since HE promised a 2.2 enhancements release.

HE thinks riddance is spelled with an s ...and HE calls his "customers" deranged gnats?

HE is a confused, overwhelmed and bitter person.

But I do agree with his conclusion. Too bad HE has been letting it die and wither on the vine.

**Vin DSL** · 09-20-2005, 03:17 PM

You know, having been involved with various web development communities over the years, all I can tell you is -- I've seen this happen over n' over n' over again. It's almost like it's the same person, cause-for-cause, attitude-for-attitude, word-for-word, over-and-over. It amazes me, really. It's almost like some sort of shared psychological defect that all lead developers have. In the real world, I've noticed that many engineers share these same traits.

Heh! Does that observation make any sense?

**Spathiphyllum** · 09-20-2005, 05:16 PM

I know nothing of this particular fellow or his product, so nothing I say is an indictment of him or his methods.

As far as a template of behavior by certain leads, you may be right, Vin, about a psychological phenomenon in practice. I imagine it takes a bit of arrogance, stubborness, and dedication to get a project (particularly a popular one) off the ground. The project is one's "baby" and turning it over and sharing responsibility with others of various trustworthiness is a pretty good leap of faith. On top of that, there isn't direct remuneration for the effort and the demands escalate as the product gets a wider audience. That's a lot of pressure and a tough position to handle. Sure, some have better social skills and may have successes elsewhere; conversely, they may fail in places where an "ass" may succeed.

Having developed my own products, I'd not readily release responsibility to others without some pretty tight demands. In some regards it's a flaw and others a merit. But then again, nothing I will produce will have the wide dissemination into the public domain that a bulletin board will have; so, I don't have as much pressure turning me into an idiot. Nonetheless, I don't doubt there are shared traits either inherent or absorbed that project developers exhibit. Call it a profile.

**Gwaihir** · 09-20-2005, 05:25 PM

It's something that can happen easily. A lead developer got into it to develop something. Once it gets of the ground he finds a lot of other tasks keep him from doing that developing he likes to do / wants to focus on. Basically he get pushed into a management role he didn't want. I've seen a project or two that did succeed, by attracting a manager at that time and allowing the lead developer to remain just that.

**Ron** · 09-20-2005, 05:30 PM

I'm not sure if Vin was refering to Paul... or to me

**Vin DSL** · 09-20-2005, 05:39 PM

Originally Posted by Ron

I'm not sure if Vin was refering to Paul... or to me

Clever boy...

**Spathiphyllum** · 09-20-2005, 05:40 PM

Ron,

As you know Vin is always cordial to this community, so I'm certain he wasn't referring to you.

**Vin DSL** · 09-20-2005, 05:41 PM

Originally Posted by Spathiphyllum

Ron,

As you know Vin is always cordial to this community, so I'm certain he wasn't referring to you.

Never assume...

**Spathiphyllum** · 09-20-2005, 05:41 PM

Drat. Posted before I could squeak by.

**Spathiphyllum** · 09-20-2005, 05:41 PM

Dang it. Did it again. What are you on... speed dial?

**Vin DSL** · 09-20-2005, 08:58 PM

Originally Posted by Spathiphyllum

Dang it. Did it again. What are you on... speed dial?

Heh! Amazing, huh?

**mattsiegman** · 09-20-2005, 11:31 PM

Sweet, maybe YaBB will pickup some of its market share. (He didn't mention us, although we were around longer than ikonBoard [hell, Matt Mecham was on the YaBB team before he start iB])