Nossie:
With all due respect, I think you miss the point about DNN and what we can expect from it. The argument that we as users, integrators, developers, and evangelists of DNN get the software for free does not mean that we have to quietly accept low quality or lack of response from Core Team members or members of the various module teams. I just had to write a long post about the Gallery module and this very issue because one of its team members was upset that I have been asking (with progressive levels of frustration) about the status of the Gallery module. This is a good example by the way, my questions have been totally ignored, no response for months, so when I increase the tone of frustration he snaps at me and admits that he has been watching my messages in silence. Still, the Gallery module blog has not been updated, with Gallery Module specific and relevant information, in more than a year.
DNN is not a curiosity for hobbyists any longer. The makers of DNN are making a big effort to market DNN so that it is used for serious work by businesses and government organizations, otherwise why do you think they bothered to incorporate a company and even have permanent, paid members??? So, when we take this free tool and start using it for real, we deserve, and I even go as far as to say that we can demand, a certain degree of response from the Core Team and module teams.
And I'm going to repeat this again, I understand that volunteers have lives and stuff happens, but that is a known and predictable fact that needs to be managed. We all know that programmers are optimistic and stubborn (I can be that way) so they may not ask for help when the going gets rough. Managers must recognize that situation and get the guys help, adjust the schedule, and make the proper announcements. My main gripe with the Gallery module is that there is no, none, zero, "official" communications about its status, only some comments by various team members with the usual disclosures about the commitment to a schedule and volunteer staff situations. Now, even though the previous version was never out of Beta, they decided to rearchitect the whole thing to start the development and testing again, in my opinion a bad decision, they should have finalized the current version and release it for production so that they can take their time to work on the new architecture.
Now, I do think, and have faith, that things will get better soon. The effort to put out DNN 4.x on ASP.Net 2.0, with all the architectural changes that required, was an incredible effort. I hope that now the Core Team continues working in making this line of DNN more stable and easier to use every day.
There is definitely more that can be done regarding education to new users and distribution and organization of current knowledge. I keep answering the same basic setup questions in the forums about Host Headers, aliases, DB connection strings, and the need for the source package and Visual Studio or VWD Express to get DNN running. I have seen three levels of users that get consistently confused about the same things depending on their backgrounds. The first is the user that knows a little Frontpage and HTML, the second is the somewhat more technical users, maybe coming from PHP or Cold Fusion or graphic designers, the third group is developers. Note that the ones that know what they are dealing with and figure out the problems on their own don't post the same problems over and over (they know how to search for solutions too). There should also be a true knowledge base with specific solutions to specific problems including common error messages and a diagnostics flow chart.
Again, I think that the DNN community is entitled to make questions and even demand answers, silence is not an answer. And don’t tell me that I have to volunteer my time either, I already do a lot for DNN by being an advocate for DNN and by participating in this forums actively as much as I can.
Carlos