#support3rdparty - Why we temporarily shut down our sites.

[Lightspeed]

The Big Issue with this approach is that If Fdev responds in a positive way to this, then this then becomes a valid tactic for dealing with them. If they don't the community loses a valuable resource.

I guess it's like not negotiating with hostage takers

You make a good point. Personally, I hope FD responds quickly and responsibly, perhaps by saying (truthfully, please) that they are in private communication with the OP - it doesn't have to be in public for all to read here. If FD are genuninely, and understandably, tied up with other problems at the moment, give the OP the chance to come back and say he is communicating with FD and they will try to resolve the issues together.

That way, the "community" pressure is removed and FD are not seen to be caving in. Win-win is possible here, if FD act wisely and quickly.

 

[Henkka77]

Im with you guys.

Seriously Frontier, you cannot always use the old "we are in extreme hurry and short of staff blaablaablaa"- line, many of us are really tired of hearing that so i think you should do something about it, at least now when even players are going on strike.
For example, i have been waiting for Brett C´s answer to our minor faction problems for months now, and still no answer. Hes so busy that he even closed the player minor faction thread so people would stop bombing him there.

For christ sake Fdev, GET SOME MORE EMPLOYEES!!

 

[Clavis]

I fully support this!

Frontier Development, this will hardly cost you anything but ego!

Yes, I know - developera just hate, hate, hate published interfaces (when they have to provide them - they love them when they use them). This is because they all live in this fantasy land where they have have this great idea of the century when they sit on the crapper at night, then go to their computer, quickly throw out half of their database code, rework everything that was outside-in-leftwards into inside-out-rightwards and then half-assedly reconnect it to the rest of the code, while improving performance 2.3%, or enabling a grandiose new feature (like, say, ships coughing green while fighting). And published APIs tend to get in the way of that all the time.

Just get over it. This fantasy doesn't exist anyway.

Suppport your third party developers, by providing decent API stability and a contact person.

 

[NordicLion]

I wholeheartedly support this petition. I use several of these sites just about every time I play Elite Dangerous, and the impact of them closing for some days just underlines their importance for the community - which is even more clear seeing that even those who don't support this action come here to complain that they can't use their favorite 3rd party apps.
I would have stopped playing the game a long time ago had it not been for the apps and the people I met through the Inara wings.
Giving these guys what they need to support the community should be a top priority to FDev.

 

[Molgan Kiaqol]

While I don't think this is the correct way to go about it, having a API with public documentation for 3rd party dev's is a crucial idea if FDev does not wish to implement these sorts of functions in the game. It'd be better for the people supporting it to not log in for the duration as a show.

 

[ben2311]

Just sort this out, as other's have said this game would be nearly impossible to play without the efforts of third party developers.

 

[SH4R Qi]

Good Luck CMDRS!! I hope Frontier will listen to this emergency call... o7

 

[Connolly91]

Elite is a worse game without the third party apps. Support.

 

[NULUSIOS]

My +1 to the 3rd party devs.
FD help the guys, don't make the same mistakes Bethesda makes with the modders (that Bethesda NEEDS them but won't help them).

I actually don't like going around several sites to gather information that should be in the game.
Help 3rd party devs INTEGRATE with your game with a proper plug-in interface (and API).

 

[Martind Forlon]

Well .. ED is great game, but without these supporting sites/tools it's simply "no go". Taking vacations from ED till are in OP mentioned sites again functional.

 

[GreyAreaUK]

You make a good point. Personally, I hope FD responds quickly and responsibly, perhaps by saying (truthfully, please) that they are in private communication with the OP - it doesn't have to be in public for all to read here. If FD are genuninely, and understandably, tied up with other problems at the moment, give the OP the chance to come back and say he is communicating with FD and they will try to resolve the issues together.

That way, the "community" pressure is removed and FD are not seen to be caving in. Win-win is possible here, if FD act wisely and quickly.

I think given that FDev are fighting 2.3 fires at the moment, they may have their hands full.

I support the use of third-party tools, but this doesn't feel like the right way to go about getting cooperation from FDev.

 

[Rob At Work]

Vive La REVOLUTION!....

 

[azdour]

I think given that FDev are fighting 2.3 fires at the moment, they may have their hands full.

I support the use of third-party tools, but this doesn't feel like the right way to go about getting cooperation from FDev.

While the developers probably have their hands full there is a community manager, unless they have pulled him also to fix bugs

 

[{SAS}Stalker]

I'm just going to say that the timing of this is obvious, and to be honest, very childish. It is, at best, wasting the time and effort of the playerbase in the event. FDev didnt have to do anything for 3rd party developers at all.

As one of the Admirals coordinating the defense, you've now made my life a living hell, and I will not support 3rd party developers from this point forward.

With me, all this has accomplished is a personal boycott of sites that I once considered useful.

Had you done so at a time where it was less vital to Drew Wagar and more respectful to the amount of time and effort that people who aren't getting paid at all (like myself and literally more than a thousand others) I would be more supportive.

You are angry at the wrong corner mate, think it through. 3rd party assistance is offered free and can be pulled when ever they deem fit. You have no right to them and they exist solely because the game lacks the very basics of required in-game tools and instead of nurturing these guys and helping them to make the game better they treat them with utter contempt.

Good luck using the in-game alternatives.

 

[Pville_Piper]

WOW!

10 pages in just under an hour without mentioning griefers of PvP vs PvE!!!

I support this as well and I won't play ED until May the first in support and won't buy anything from the store.

 

[pipo zelvelder]

Frontier, wake up! Without 3rd party tools, I would have given up long time ago...

 

[Jedirogue]

While the shutting down of a site like INARA is incredibly disruptive to the wing I am a member of, I completely understand and support the action of the 3rd party developers. FD have consistently made it as difficult as possible for 3rd party developers, which I could understand if FD provided appropriate tools themselves, but FD don't. It is high time that FD recognised the fundamental importance of the 3rd party community and the positive impact they have on their consumers and support these developers appropriately.

 

[Miggi]

I am in full support of this. I am sure Frontier will respond in time and all parties can move forward with this in a productive way.
For those of you hating on these Dev's please remember these people love the game too or they wouldn't have developed these tools in the first place. Alternatively feel free to never visit the sites again and go back to pen and paper.

 

[Javert]

I use many of the sites listed in the OP regularly and I have nothing but admiration for all the folk who put a huge amount of free time into developing these tools for the community.

I do have a few questions though:

1) Did you warn FD that you were going to do this and give them a chance to respond first?

2) Why are you taking action this drastic without warning? In other words why not threaten to do this first rather than actually doing it? It kind of feels like you are launching a coordinated strategic nuclear strike without trying to seek a diplomatic settlement (or even stating the severity of your frustrations) first.

3) Has this been timed deliberately to coincide with this weekend's event (which as I understand it is not an FD sponsored or organized thing)?

4) Did you take into account that 2.3 has just been released and FD are clearly struggling with some significant bugs and trying to stablize the release at the moment?

I guess I understand the frustration and the problems, but I'm not really sure whether this approach is going to work to solve them.

 

[biot]

Being without these sites/tools is going to be a PITA. But given the circumstances under which these volunteers have to maintain them I completely understand why this has been done. Everybody has a finite amount of good will and patience.

In fact, I think FD, just like a lot of us, have become dependent on the existence of these tools too. It takes the pressure off of them to supply this sort of thing in-game. So it really is in their interest to engage with the 3rd party community. It would take a lot less effort on their part than having to put all this stuff in the game itself.