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The atmosphere of XDA has changed

Don't get me wrong, I LOVE this forum. I respect the true developers that push out groundbreaking work and invest their time and talents into what they do, but I have noticed something that does make me a bit disappointed.
I first started coming to XDA early last year when I got me a G1... And while I am not a big contributor, I do adore reading through the wealth of knowledge and advice here. Early on it seems the feel of the board was so much more accepting and pleasant. It was one of the Biggest reasons I stuck with my G1 and felt it would be the big thing to come.
But it seems as of recent, the tone of some areas of this forum have went sour and south. I understand things happen, such as multiple posts about questions that have been answered or goofy comments. And these things get irritating. But they happen. When did the better than you, don't question us, and without warning "snaps" start happening.
I LOVE Android, and I am Very proud to be part of the Android wave since G1, but the bigger we get the more iPhone-fanatical and holier than thou the atmosphere is seemingly becoming.
Why should we treat new comers to the system with such venom or even older members. I have seen high post count members help in some posts and call new members "idiots" or the like, in others. I see threads getting squashed before the ink has dried regarding items of interest that - while a search could be beneficial - the problem may be slightly different or something completely different, if only the ones snapping off at the "member" would read them. I see people defending certain aspects with careless abandon of rationality. Same goes for new users that have a tech problem and get angry when the first response doesn't help. When did entitlement to instant answers come into the picture?
These are not highly common issues that are here - and all forums have such irritations - but they are still here and in much higher velocity the more expanded Android becomes.
I guess with great power comes great responsibility. And when the under dog becomes the big dog, he finds it necessary to bite all the other dogs in retribution.
I don't know, it just saddens me to see such actions here, and I guess I do kinda miss being the underdog a bit and enjoying the camaraderie that came with it.
EDIT: I want to stress that my intended meaning here is not that XDA has become some completely nasty, demented, angry beast. I love this forum. I am merely comparing today to the early days and how the recent breakout of Android and the aspect of being the top dog has changed some tones slightly.

Oh yes. The rudeness over in the Vibrant section is unacceptable.

We invite you to help us by reporting bad behavior, it´s impossible for us to look all the threads in all the sections, so we count a lot with the help of all members to make this more than 3 million great forum called XDA better.
Thanks,

I in no way meant this to mean it's the fault of the Moderators of XDA. Orb is absolutely correct. We readers and commenters are the front line to help remedy this. I am simply remarking on the state and tone of the masses, as we advance from small groups with pioneer devices to the majority of the mobile smart phone community.
Android is pure, its open... as well our arms and responses should be - in a respectful manner. To all questions big, small or redundant. To all comparisons and technological oppositions.
I say that as merely a comment of how we should hold our honor under this platform and as a community. Not as a indictment in any way. This should be the basis of Android and its adopters young and old in places like XDA that are one of the faces of our brand. It's what makes us great. All accepting and all helping. Coming from the small humble steps of Google slightly more than 10 years ago, to the pillars of might which they have now become, I guess this is what I initially meant to express....The original sight and humble nature should not be lost and above all negativity should be hindered.
And as Orb stated, we the readers are the best hope to help remedy such actions, and as such, we such be steadfast in keeping the tone positive and not condemning all things seemingly redundant or in opposition to Android.
Keep up the great work XDA. There are no villains here, merely a young and VERY inspired and dedicated community with a great future. Let's make sure that when the legend is written, that it's written with the proper feelings in place.

So very sorry to jump on a soap box.. I am just very proud to be a part of this community. And my pride spurs very much from the positive nature of this forum and the Android world in general. I never want to lose that rare gem.

They need to hire more Moderators

Proud to be XDA member!
Fantastic words!
recasper said:
All accepting and all helping
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Click to collapse
No need to be sorry, I can get your feeling and share it as well!!
Just adding: Not only Android...We have the father of all touch screen OS devices: Windows Mobile, also Windows Phone 7 and even iPhone all come together in XDA!! (and perhaps more to come in the future!)
recasper said:
So very sorry to jump on a soap box.. I am just very proud to be a part of this community. And my pride spurs very much from the positive nature of this forum and the Android world in general. I never want to lose that rare gem.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse

this is a very well put together comment. It sort of makes me feel bad of the few,very few times thay I had been rude. Not intentionally but just having a bad day and escaping to the forums for relaxation and ease then being rude in some of my comments. This certainly will make me be gratuous for such a great forum and for the help that I have gotten. I will definetly think twice of all my post from here on out.
Sent from my PC36100 using XDA App

In my rant I completely neglected to keep in mind that XDA is not only the developmental face of Android but so many others. I kind of fell into tunnel vision as I jumped upon my soap box. All other OS platforms should absolutely be acknowledged and thank you Orb for correcting me.
I guess I was focusing more on the Android section of this site due to its weight here and the fact I spend all my time in these sections. Seeing negativity in the areas where there is an assumed open and welcoming nature of Android and its community, tweaked me and inspired me to post this. After thinking about it, this is to say, my thoughts aren't 100% specifically toward the Android section and not to be dismissing the likes of Win7, WinMobile, iPhone and of course (and well stated, Orb) all others to come. I see myself as more of a member of the Android section than any other, but the general feel of my comments are to span all forum sections. Respect, thats what is important.
Thank you, caguirr4, and any following posters with such thoughts. That was my exact intention here. For us all to reanalyze our responses and comments, even when we have had a bad day or feel irritable for redundancy or what some may see as surface ignorance. And to understand that not all readers are developers or highly computer savvy. But merely wanting to get a foothold in this complex area and most are doing what they can. We should open our arms, as we do our code, and allow them safe passage. Especially without the fear of receiving a scathing reply to a post simply reaching for help or personal expression.
And above all thank you ALL for what you do in this incredibly innovative, inspiring and all around wonderful forum.
I shall now step down from this podium and stop wasting everyones time. haha

I know I've personally been rude a few times and I see your point. I was once just as lost with android as some of the new members coming here. Each thread should be treated as important and relevant and if something as simple as a search would suffice then a link to the topic with the answer could be provided and instead of "omg search n00b" a more friendly "Here is the link, please search a bit more carefully next time" could be placed. I know some would still take that as hostile even when it's not meant to be but it is less aggressive and if the person is new maybe even throw in a "and welcome to the forums". I don't really contribute that much in terms of development (I'm not sure you'd even really call my thread development or not) but I, like you, love this community and the amazing things that can be done when we join together. I know some of us just get a bit annoyed at seeing the same question a few hundred times over and there's always that one "straw that breaks the camel's back" and as we learn more ourselves some answers may seem obvious to us when they're not so obvious to others. Thank you for posting this and making us all think about not only our own posts in response to others, but what we really want this community to be and what its potential is.

Thank you OP for the feedback. We will certainly keep this in mind and try to get better.
Over the past few months we have grown enormously, we have added numerous non-hTC devices, plus we have openly started adding all android devices which come out compared to previously only Windows mobile OS devices. Which has lead to a huge influx of new members.
XDA is a convergence of numerous types of people some know it all, some are really knew, some understand english really well, and some not so well.. This is what leads to frustrations, and hence rude-ness over the forums. Eventually as people mature on XDA, they hopefully do learn the manners of posting on a board such as XDA.
And those who don't we moderators are always their to deal with them.
Thank you again for the feedback, it has been noted and we will surely try to make XDA a more welcoming and friendlier place.
Any issues/suggestions/comments feel free to contact me.

A big thanks!

Hello all,
I just wanted to extend a big thank you to every user on this site. I recently defected to Android after many years on iOS just to try it out. I was clueless about Android going in to this but in the past four months I have learned an absolute ton about these phones and their OS. I can say that after just a few months I'm already a resource for help from my friends who've had Android a lot longer than I have. Really I just want to say thank you to all the members here who provide such great help and have such a vast knowledge of these things. I love rooting, roms, kernels, and Android and I don't plan on going back to iOS, and that's all thanks to you guys! Thanks again!
Edit: I just realized this may not be worthy of its own thread so if it isn't feel free to delete/move it, I wont be offended

I am glad you will understand.
Thread closed

[Thank You] Thank you. You saved me.

Hello XDA!
I opened this account to say thank you.
Last week I bought a new Samsung Galaxy S4 (T-Mobile, m919) and began rooting it. The guides I read made no mention of the KNOX issue and I wound up with a soft-bricked phone.
I can't even begin to describe how I felt. I was literally sick to my stomach thinking I had just bricked a brand new phone.
Thanks to the guides and discussions found here on XDA (and a few on other forums, but mostly here) I was able to recover my system to stock and new phone is up and running again. This whole thing has been an emotional roller coaster, but also a learning experience. I feel much more informed now and confident that I have a place to find answers when I have a question.
I owe you all a big thanks.
I opened this account to thank you and be able to click the thank button from now on.
AND, I'll go out on a limb here and say thank you on behalf of thousands, if not millions of other lurkers who have gotten help here and just not taken the time to say thanks.
You guys ROCK. I don't even want to think about what would be happening to me right now had I not found this place.

Cool.
You can give back to the community by helping others who own that phone and run into similar issues in the Q&A forum. :good:

Your welcome
Always good to hear a happy outcome
Programming is a race between engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning.

i know the feeling, had the GS4 for 3 days before i soft bricked it.
had no idea that the update that recently came the day before locked the bootloader.
After searching threads here for a bit figured it out and was able to get to stock and "undo" my stupidity.
XDA , its devs and contributors are a priceless resource.

I new here

Hey everyone. I'm the new guy here. I'm not a programmer or anything. I've been reading xda for years. Finally decided to join in on all of the fun. Figured I might be able to help people and be helped myself. I currently live and am from Ohio. I've used android phones since the D1 and currently use the Blu studio 7.0 2nd version on the att network.
I run a blog, love working on cars and computers. I am 30 years old. Have 1 daughter 15 months old and have twins on the way, due April 3dd of next year. I read all of the rules, don't want to get in trouble lol. Hope to meet a lot of people on here that have the same interests as I do!
Nice to meet all of you!
Sent from my BLU STUDIO 7.0 II

Welcome to the site! :good:
We do have a thread for intros,
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=961655
So I'll close this one.
Cheers,
Darth
Forum Moderator

[WELCOME]Hello iPhone Users, Quick message for you fellow "old" XDA users

Hi there new user​This website isn't familiar with you, is it? Well let me introduce it to you my little fellow, this is xda-developpers.com, a forum where -previously android enthusiasts, now smartphone enthusiasts- share content, ask questions, give advices and answers, in order to customize our phone expirience. XDA has been a home for small project before they became very successful, one of the best examples is @zx2c4 's WireGuard, that has been integrated into the linux kernel now and will be available natively in Android 12 (source). zx2c4 has been developing this project in its early days for Android and ROM integration here at XDA. All of that to say, XDA is great, because of the community, and also the Moderation team that work their asses off to maintain XDA as spam free as possible. (am a mod now lol)
You know, I had the feeling that you'd come here first and start frenetically posting about how you feel, but there are some RULES (ta da) that you'll have to follow before posting about why you only buy product red iPhones in a 100 lines post. Here are some useful links to learn how to properly use and post on XDA.
Before reading them tho, finish this post first (there's a surprise down there),and go check out this one minute video to understand what xda is all about.
Read tha RuleS
You know the rules, and so do I
Welcome to XDA
you can use the report button, it's not snitching, it's asking for help
how to properly name and write a post
Your "career" as XDA forum user
The rest of the link are here​
Now that I got your attention with the surprise thing, keep reading. I perfectly know that you will click on the first link and read half of it, because those are really long reads, but trust me it's worth it in the end. I'll make a summary of what you absolutely need to know before doing anything:
1-Questions about iPhones belongs here, xda has to keep the forum organised, every sections has a title that needs to be respected, for example "Android Q'n'A" is for Q'n'A related to ANDROID, do not post pictures of di.. I mean dogs, or questions about iPhones or about your Roomba not working. This is the most common problem with newbies on XDA. If you post properly, you won't get bashed by experimented users.
2-Press that frickin thank button
each time someone helps you, it's very important (you can give 8 thanks per day)unlimited now
3-Don't discuss anything else than android, in android forums. This means NO POLITICAL DISCUTION
3bis-You can't sell anything on XDA, and for paid software, there are strict rules before promoting them on XDA. Read THIS
4-You need at least to read the rules, I know this isn't funny and stuff, but you have to. And follow the rules! Otherwise you'll feel how hard the ban hammer in the hands of a powerful user (@T.C.Stockdale, @coal686, @xanthrax, and much more fearless hammer wielders)
5-You can't change your username once you chose it, so choose wisely (also you can ask @MikeChannon through PMs to change it, so please stop asking)
6-Be nice, even if some users are kinda bashing you because you're a n00b, and don't worry, if you read this you won't be a n00b anymore, but a new user, and I'll have a talk with these users after that (it's the "Quick message for you fellow "old" XDA users" in the title)
7-Enjoy the forums, there's so much to learn here! Although it's android only for the moment, new developers from the iPhone community will come (hopefully) and share content with you, so you can enjoy
Here is the surprise: ?, you deserved it, now you're a little more aware of what you're doing
Now for experimented iPhone users, hello there !​You may know already everything I've said above because I guess you're coming from another forum to check if xda is just garbage or if it's great, and since you're experimented, you've had the curiosity to read all of this until there. Well let me tell you things that you'll be interested in. First XDA is kind of an old forum (if you want the full story: part 1, part 2). This interface isn't 2020, in fact it's has been designed and applied in 2015 (not so recently lol). And this forum uses vBulletin right now. So if you know what I'm talking about, it sounds like xda is outdated, but don't worry, it's now time for Xenforo and XDA 2020 interface (check this out). You're the core of the iPhone community, and you know it. As you make mods, find jailbreak exploits and other cool stuff, you allow other users to enjoy for free (most of the time lol) your content. XDA is all about sharing knowledge, content, etc... and has a huge community, so your work will be taken to a whole new dimension since you'll now be able to be directly in touch with a huge part of the community. I'm sure that you had your own favourite forum, but try out xda, it can only better the experience, because if YOU come, other developers will too, and make iPhone and Android Developers cooperate to make, who knows, one of the greatest piece of software ever created. I can't wait to see what is going to come out of this!
Now, a message to all fellow "before iPhone forums" XDA users:​If you're really old, you may remember this video, I got a flashback when seeing this forum opened lol.
This is crazy, I'd never have thought XDA would open iPhone forums, yet they did.
I use both Android and iOS, and to be honest, I've tried iOS, and it's way less "featureful" than Android, the design language is appealing, but having a phone with which you can't even access internal storage is kind of a joke to me.
But each of us have our own opinions, right ?
The thing that'll really change here is the community. I think that the Portal team and XDA admins thought this decision through for a long time. Because since XDA is well known around tech enthusiasts (Android or Apple), Apple enthusiasts will eventually popularize XDA among the more unexperimented iOS users seeking for a way to have [MOD INFINITE VBUCKS FORTNITE LEGIT 1000% WORKING read the description], and that's what I wanted to talk about.
More seriously, it'll bring some of the very experimented users that will eventually provide this forum with very useful guides and Mods, but it will also bring A LOT of newbies. XDA was also known in the past for n00b bashing Android beginners, and now it's the Apple ones...
I know that sometimes it's hard to hear the same questions over and over again and not being infuriated and upset, but I'll ask you, please, to don't bash the crap out of iPhone newbies, if they become developers who knows how they'll improve our experience with maybe cross-plateform development. I know what I say isn't something that you didn't heard before, but please be patient with them, I mean they're not so weak that they're scared by the first critic that hits them, but if we can keep this clean and have a good relationship with them, maybe our two communities will finally end this war that has lasted for eons before us.
Well thank you for reading this until the end, you're very brave. My teachers always said I couldn't be concise when saying something, well they were damn right. Hope you have a good day.
Edit #1: Typos, a lot of them !
Edit #2: Updating color for dark mode user of XDA 2021, the look changed, the rules are the same !
Edit #3: Removing cringy poll
Edit #4: Updating some link here and there

Raiz said:
4-You need at least to read the rules, I know this isn't funny and stuff, but you have to. And follow the rules! Otherwise you'll feel how hard the ban hammer in the hands of a powerful user (@T.C.Stockdale, @coal686, @xanthrax, and much more fearless hammer wielders)
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Thank you for mentioning me with these other two great guys. I prefer not to use the ban hammer; the carrot is better than the stick.
Welcome iPhone users! We hope we can get some good iPhone discussion and development going on here. :good:

On behalf of the portal team and the wider leadership team behind XDA as a whole, thanks for this message! It sums up everything really well and we're excited to see how these iPhone forums go.
If anyone has questions about the iPhone 12, feel free to ask (I am using one right now)!

I am now using the iPhone 12 pro max as my main phone and something said go check out xda. Glad to know there’s somewhat of an iphone section. I’m sure I’m not the only one that realized there’s an iPhone developers site but it’s dead.

aarongotgame said:
I am now using the iPhone 12 pro max as my main phone and something said go check out xda. Glad to know there’s somewhat of an iphone section. I’m sure I’m not the only one that realized there’s an iPhone developers site but it’s dead.
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Are you talking about that oooold website ?
http://iphone-developers.com/
It was the first attempt to make an iPhone forum.
* Nostalgic music playing in the background*
There are still some relevant pieces of infos there.
Check out this section for basic "what is jailbreak" guides http://iphone-developers.com/page/iphone-jailbreak-guides-resources/
And this one for instant nostalgia:
http://iphone-developers.com/index.php/app-reviews/

Raiz said:
Are you talking about that oooold website ?
http://iphone-developers.com/
It was the first attempt to make an iPhone forum.
* Nostalgic music playing in the background*
There are still some relevant pieces of infos there.
Check out this section for basic "what is jailbreak" guides http://iphone-developers.com/page/iphone-jailbreak-guides-resources/
And this one for instant nostalgia:
http://iphone-developers.com/index.php/app-reviews/
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Yes lol I was like Wow. I went to the jailbreak wizard. That was nice that an attempt was made to even start a full independent developers site.

@Raiz Rules link in op is old
old: https://forum.xda-developers.com/announcement.php?a=81
new: https://forum.xda-developers.com/t/xda-developers-forum-rules.4200559/