I check in here quite often, but for now, I’m just focusing on clearing spam and keeping the instance alive. In January, I was working on the AP module, and there has been significant progress in the work, which hasn’t been publicly published yet. Unfortunately, at the beginning of the year, I developed a skin condition that worsened from week to week, reaching a point where I couldn’t even leave the house. In February, I spent my time visiting doctors and undergoing treatment with medications, which often had very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, I decided to hold off on any major updates to avoid causing even more chaos. Today, I’ve undergone one procedure, and I have another one scheduled for Thursday, which I hope will be the last.

Just because it’s not visible that something is happening doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything during this time. In fact, two really significant things have been successful, which I’ve been working on for a long time and which I intended to announce soon once I recover.

This weekend, I also plan to work on infrastructure with Piotr, and from next week onwards, I intend to resume committing, provided my health allows it. I understand if you’re exploring alternatives, but I hope I’ve exhausted my bad luck limit for this year, and the remaining time will be marked by gradual, steady progress, especially since new opportunities have emerged, about which I will hopefully write soon.

  • boolean@kbin.social
    25·
    8 months ago

    This is a good reminder to remember people are human and may have a life outside of the computer.

    Thanks Ernest. Hope you get your issue fixed up. Your health is more important that software.

  • Teon@kbin.social
    21·
    8 months ago

    Thank goodness you are alive. We thought you had been abducted by aliens!! :)
    Sorry to hear that your medical issues escalated.
    Hoping you have a painless and speedy recovery.

  • BolexForSoup@kbin.social
    21·
    8 months ago

    Thank you for the update Ernest, here’s hoping your treatments and recovery are respectively effective and swift!

  • zeluko@kbin.social
    13·
    8 months ago

    Good luck to you!
    But i think instead of waiting to announce planned things you should just show them, even in early stages.
    Then we can give feedback, check your code and contribute ourselves.
    You dont have to do everything, we really want to help.

    • sab@kbin.social
      17·
      8 months ago

      Sometimes showing that things are being done is more work and way more stressful than the act of doing them, so I can relate to that.

      But it would probably be a good idea to get more admins on board - sometimes one needs to take a break, and a one-person moderation team for a page with this many users cannot be sustainable in the long run. But I guess getting to a point where that is feasible, not to mention finding qualified people, might in itself be a fair share of work. :)

      And of course - get well soon, Ernest! It’s great to hear from you.

    • Pamasich@kbin.social
      14·
      8 months ago

      On the other hand, if people really wanted to contribute, there’s plenty of open issues on Codeberg that are unadressed. I agree that it would be better to announce plans in advance rather than surprise drop them, but I doubt there would be more contributions from the community.

  • ThatOneKirbyMain2568@kbin.social
    12·
    8 months ago

    Thanks a ton for the update Ernest! It’s great to hear from you, and I hope your health improves soon.

    That being said, I do have a few things I’d like to suggest.

    --

    In February, I spent my time visiting doctors and undergoing treatment with medications, which often had very unpleasant side effects. Therefore, I decided to hold off on any major updates to avoid causing even more chaos.

    If I’m interpreting this correctly (i.e., that you chose not to give any updates as to prevent people freaking out), I don’t think this was the best move. I understand where you were coming from, but (if you were able) some sort of small status update would’ve been preferable to a month-long silence (especially since you’d previously said that you’d be unavailable for only 2–4 days). A simple “Hey, I’m currently not doing well. I’ll get back to things as soon as I’m feeling better,” would’ve at least let us know that you were alive and that the project hadn’t been abandoned.

    --

    Just because it’s not visible that something is happening doesn’t mean I haven’t been doing anything during this time. In fact, two really significant things have been successful, which I’ve been working on for a long time and which I intended to announce soon once I recover.

    I don’t think this whole “holding off for a big announcement” thing is a great approach, at least not now. There are currently several issues that we’re waiting to see fixed, and we have no idea which ones (if any) are being worked on. If you must wait for a big reveal though, at least telling us, “I’m still working on stuff” would be better than nothing.

    --

    And finally, I really suggest getting some more admins for the instance. You’re absolutely correct to prioritize your health over Kbin; nevertheless, it’s far from ideal for your absence to mean that spam piles up, moderation requests lie unanswered, and accounts can’t be deleted. We’d all appreciate it if you could have at least one extra person on deck for whenever you’re ill or in need of a break.

    --

    Thanks again for all you do for Kbin, and I hope things get better!

    • ProdigalFrog@kbin.social
      3·
      8 months ago

      His reasoning is kind’ve… Like, off, isn’t it? How would a single paragraph message saying “Hey guys, I’m not dead.” cause… Chaos? Like what?

      And him saying he’s been working on stuff… So, he’s been around and watching, but chose to work exclusively on the code when Kbin was under assault with spam, some of it illegal?

      It’s so crazily clear that Kbin needs additional admins to fill in for Ernest, to add more mods, to combat spam, to delete communities and accounts that have been sitting around for months, and yet still, there is absolutely no move toward rectifying any of that.

      This isn’t sustainable. People are saying it in this post, people have been saying it for months, there’s no change. I don’t mean to come down on Ernest, the dude is putting out all this work and effort for free selflessly, but it’s becoming painfully clear that his personality traits (specifically the desire to do everything himself) is not only putting incredible stress onto Ernest himself, but it’s severely effecting Kbin itself negatively, to the point that people are leaving and Ernest’s response is… Basically business as usual.

      I don’t see a positive outcome here.

  • Oofnik@kbin.social
    7·
    8 months ago

    Ernest! So sorry to hear about the struggles. Happy you responded, I’ll stick around :)

    Do consider adding more devs to the team! Not good that you are feeling pressure from dorks like us just because you need some time for yourself (or are working on things less visibly)

    • ZILtoid1991@kbin.social
      1·
      8 months ago

      I’d volunteer, but I’m already burdened with personal projects and the horribly underpaid work in Hungary’s own “public work program” (pays half of minimum wage for an 8 hour job), so currently I cannot. That being said, if there ever were some paid opportunity (even part-time at minimum wage), I could finally say goodbye to my current job.