Thanks! 8) And it is. And I do try to be diplomatic - but I'm simply not cut out for it. And my strength is telling it as it is. Not good for PR. But it gets harder when it's the exact same questions about non dialogue over and over. And when the help file AND first post both point to an insanely long database that was largely constructed to STOP those questions. People come in and they start with "Love your mod...." and it turns to "But I want A B C D E F G changing, because I don't like the change." The above person was pleasant enough, but they said they'd discuss their problems with reason - then proceeded to show they hadn't read the database or help file or any of this thread - and had just dreamt up that we change things because we like to. When that's totally not the case. I mean, the example of Aqua Breath is a total face palm. I know I'm coming across harsh and direct... but that's who I am - and those kinds of "feedback" from people do not make me any more diplomatic or "nice". hahaha!
And I also got blamed for their save menu loading longer. :evil:
I just stopped responding to most of them. The big thing for me was how many hours, days, weeks and months I've spent to try and create an easier process for everyone. That largely included all the Q&A and FAQ I created after releases. But it went largely ignored by new users who come to the forums looking for personal help on matters that are already posted countless times. Not true for everyone of course, but unfortunately I've grown so tired that they get lumped into one group that I just ignore.
I really enjoy helping others, but everyone has their limits
"Telling it like it is" - unfortunately different perspectives sometimes see things differently. Having said that, I do want to say that I've NEVER seen you (DLPB) "Tell it like it is" from your perspective without first doing EXTENSIVE and sometimes completely exhausting research to ensure that your perspective has serious thought, consideration, and is as thorough as possible. Your attention to detail has been incredibly inspiring to the creation/distribution of my own mods, and led me to include readme's, install instructions, etc. to try and have a place where resolutions to problems are easily and readily available.
Your attention to detail also gives you a lot less tolerance for those people who don't, which is completely understandable, but most 'users' are not detail oriented at all. How to solve this? I have a few ideas, but there's always the people that come back with the same questions over and over, whom don't bother to read the information that's readily available. This is why customer service exists. I've done a lot of customer service work in my life, and the one thing that I keep coming back to over and over again is that people will avoid inconvenience at all possible costs. This means that if they have to open a readme, and then have to read more than a sentence or two of it in order to follow a link or a process that leads them to another location (git/wiki/externaldocs) that they will most likely never bother to read it... even experienced users will avoid these hurdles. Not only that, you can actually reduce crime/theft dramatically by merely placing inconveniences in the way of the criminals. As soon as extra in-depth thought has to enter the path of 'gimme', people will sometimes inconvenience -themselves- in weird ways rather than let them be inconvenienced by others.
I try to solve this by having detailed instructions on every download page, readme/instruction files in the download, extensive forum disucussions (people don't like sifting through forums... even though all of their answers are there/here), and also having a 'Troubleshooting' section on my Steam Guide, since I'm pretty sure people never even read the forum threads of the downloads and most just click download links and THEN try to figure out how to install since it's not always self-explanatory. There is even a whole aspect of sociology that focuses on this concept of the 'norman door'.
I have my limits, too. If someone isn't willing to help themselves, I will not bother to do more than direct them to the forums/faq/troubleshooting. Other people, I do my best to assist - but I don't have time in my day for most of these kinds of issues. A lot of them could be solved by a not-so-extensive google search, but that's the world of human interaction. Many many people in this world don't know how to solve their own problems... especially when technology is involved. I don't know if there's a real solution - I just try to make the information as easy to access as possible.
Thank you for all of your dedication and hard work -- The Reunion really is a work of art.
Also - thank you BOTH for all of the inspiration. Without it, my FF8 mods wouldn't be the quality that they are (not that they don't still need work lol).
(No pressure though, believe me--I get having to push release dates back further...)