Aircoookie
commented
4 years ago What does this mean for you?
You have an issue or question about your specific setup, installation, or usermod
For example, your LEDs flicker, you need a binary for a specific pin, or a feature doesn't work for you.
Of course I will read your message. If I believe I can help you in a few sentences, I will. If I would need to write code or don't immediately know the cause of the issue, I most likely do not have the time, and I'm sorry for that. Maybe a fellow community member will be able help you, but of course you should not take their valuable help for granted. I do not take commissions, whether paid or unpaid.
You have found a general issue or have a feature request that will benefit a lot of users
For example, there is a reproducible issue or you have an idea for a new feature, like supporting a new protocol, or a cool new effect.
After checking that it does not already exist, feel free to open an issue! If an issue already overlaps with part of what you have in mind, comment on that instead. Don't be concerned if no one responds, I do see your feedback and account for it in planning further development. I might get to the issue immediately or never, it depends on how high of a priority I see it for the project. If something is wanted by a lot of users, I am more likely to regard it as useful even though I might personally think otherwise. Therefore, adding reactions to issues or feature requests you are also interested in helps a lot!
You want to help make WLED better by contributing code
For example, you managed to fix an issue in WLED, added a cool feature or optimized existing code, or you are planning to do so.
Pull requests are by far the most difficult aspect of your contributions for me to say no to, as I know how much heart, soul and of course time it takes to make yourself familiar with a project and improve upon it. Sometimes though, cleaning up, testing, and merging a PR takes more time than making the change itself, so it really depends on the type of contribution:
- The wiki is open and I always appreciate it if you choose to improve the available documentation!
- Usermod PRs are always welcome. As you are responsible for them and since they do not modify the WLED core, I can merge them without thorough review and testing.
- If you make a change primarily for yourself, but believe others would benefit too, feel free to open a PR! Just please don't be disappointed if the PR doesn't get merged or commented on for a long time, either it is not a good fit at the moment or it requires changes too substantial to merge immediately.
- If you want to make a change to make WLED better even though you personally wouldn't benefit from it - don't. If you are about to pour a significant investment into creating a PR, ask first in an issue whether it would be helping out. The thing I hate most is hard work going to waste, so I'd like to spare you from that.
- PRs are more difficult to review the more files are changed - if you want to make multiple changes, submit multiple PRs with only one feature added at a time. This ensures at least some of your work makes it in faster.
- Lastly, if I need help, I will ask for help :) Soon I will start labeling issues with the "help wanted" label, they are a great fit for PR fixes. I'd recommend a small note in the issue to let others know you are working on the feature - otherwise it could happen that two people work on the same thing.
Thank you so much for being a valuable part of our community!
nibblerrick
CMaxim77
sansillusion
jdavis7765
THATDONFC
fensoft
Operation760
kernowquack
otherguy
asknoone
teocreo
mghaff007
ragde22
blazoncek
Eddiiie
jmerc77
Hey there my dear WLED community,
lately I must admit that I became a bit overwhelmed with the project. That is not because I wouldn't like coding it any more, that is as awesome as always, but as you probably know, the userbase of WLED has grown about 5 times since a year ago, which I am truly happy about.
Naturally, more users means more people who are looking for help and submitting issues, posts and e-mails. I don't like writing this, but I feel like I have to in order to be fair to you. In the last few months, the quality of support I was able to offer each individual has declined dramatically and I reached the point where I feel bad for many, because I wasn't able to reply for days, weeks, or even months. The Github issue section is always at 250, even though there is an admittingly annoying bot that closes older issues automatically. I always have 150 e-mails in my inbox, be it direct, a Github notification, or Discord messages. As I reply to one, another one comes in.
I would have wished to stay away from this point, always wanted to be the dev that responds to every single question their community might have, but I need to say that I possibly can't help you anymore. The level of support from me you are used to is easily possible when your project has 100 users, but it becomes humanly impossible once your community grows to 4.000. When you write a message, please do not take it personal if you don't get a response, if yours was the only message, I'd spend two hours just to help you. I promise to still read everything, so your valuable feedback is not going to waste.
The time I can spend on WLED is very limited in my opinion. I still am a full time college student with other responsibilities. The progress I was able to make in WLED and in parts of my personal life were far below what I would have hoped for the past few months, which I mostly attribute to spending more time interacting with all of you than actually coding. Often I spend late nights getting the message backlog down a little, just to be too sleep deprived to do anything the next day. As much at it hurts to potentially let some of you down, I need to change that.
Don't get me wrong, I am eternally grateful for your bug reports, feature requests and of course code contributions, especially so to the members of my community who tirelessly offer their own time helping others!
It's just that my day only has 24 hours, like yours. I NEED to spend my limited time bringing WLED further and making it better, which everyone will benefit from. Chances are there's an update just around the corner that will alleviate the issue you are having as well. Please let me get to it.
Thank you so much for reading and for your understanding!
Christian