The problem is not that we don't know how to post to the forums or the blogs or any one of several channels for communication. The problem is one of processes. Our current release processes are not optimal for the core code. We have spent months fine tuning our release process for modules and we have not had this same level of scrutiny on the processes we use for the core releases. That is changing. We recently started working on the processes we use for core releases, but know that we will not have all the needed changes in place overnight.
Some of the changes we are implementing include a more formal release process that details everything that has to happen for a release to occur and which will aid us in tracking where we are in the process. A large part of this process includes our project testing procedures. Right now testing is handled by the core team members and Benefactors. As we get more of our baseline processes in place, we will start looking at broadening the size of testing group. How we do that and who will be included still remains to be determined.
Until the release processes are in place and the tools are in place to manage those processes then we will not solve the communication issues. It is not as simple as saying post this information "here". You have to identify the information to be posted and then find out who has the information. It does not always reside in a single location. What is the status of DNN today? If you asked that question of every member of the DNN core team you would likely get a completely different answer. Shaun might have one view of the status, Charles would have a different view and Sebastian would have yet another view. This is why answering a question like when will DNN be released is not currently possible. Nobody has the entire picture to be able to adequately answer the question. We have not had a method in place to bring all of the various pieces of data together to give us a snapshot of where DNN stands in terms of our current status. What bugs have been found in testing? Have we had enough testing? Are these existing bugs or are they regression issues? Do we need to go back and fix code for a feature/enhancement/bugfix that introduced new problems or that didn't properly correct the previous issues? Even once coding is done, we need to determine if the code has been dogfooded and if the new release package has been built. Have our marketing items (press releases, blog posts, newsletter) been created? There is no person on the team, not even Shaun, who has the answer to all these questions at any given point in time. So. No. It is not as simple as take 30 seconds to post the status. It takes a bit of effort just to get to the point where we could make a 10 second post.
One of my many tasks is to straighten out these processes and get the tools in place so that we have a unified view of the project that would allow us to consolidate all of the information in a single place, thus making status determinations possible.
How did we get here? One feature at a time. As the DNN project has grown in size and complexity, everything about the project has also grown. Our infrastructure has grown, the size of our active team has grown, our release processes have gotten more complex, and our relationship with various stakeholder groups in the community have become more challenging to manage. As this has occured, the informal processes which worked for the first couple of years in the project just became unmanageable. Just the shear volume of communication that goes on both within the team and within the broader community has become staggering. None of the problems we currently face are insurrmountable, however, they will not go away overnight.
So. What this means is that in the short term our communications with respect to status will see some improvements. But these improvements will be incremental in nature. The cumulative effect over the long term (6+ months) will be fairly substantial. Even as you have seen improvements in the communications from the projects over the past year, you will see similar improvements in the core project over the next year.
@Colin, To specifically address your issue - We do try to look at things from the customer's point of view. However that does not mean that certain customers always deserve that same level of consideration. There is a reason that AT&T just terminated the contracts for a more than 1200 customers in the US who were constantly complaining. So while I am more than happy to have an open discussion with many in the community, there are some whose constant complaints are a distraction rather than providing anything meaningful to the community.