DelphiDabbler.com Lives On!

On 1st October I wrote a post on this blog that questioned whether or not DelphiDabbler.com should remain or be taken down.

I've been quite overwhelmed by the response and the support shown. Thanks to everyone who took the time to comment.

The bottom line is that I'm persuaded that the site should continue.

So what decided me?


I had been wondering if anyone found the site useful, and it seems the answer is yes!

The consensus seems to be that people would prefer the site to stay around, even in a dormant state. The response has been such that a couple weeks ago I had come to the conclusion that I should try keep the site going.

However, I was still concerned that I was having to finance the site in the face of a collapse in advertising and donation revenue. Some kind individuals had made donations since my blog post, but more was still needed. Then, two days ago a particularly generous donation arrived that should enable the site to keep going through to June 2019.

This means I'm able to keep the site with my current web host which simplifies things greatly. A couple of people made offers to take over the web hosting, but now I don't need to take them up. Thanks guys I appreciate the offers.

But, there's always a "but"


My desire to focus on my music making is unchanged, so I won't be spending a huge amount of time on the site or my programming. At present I'm still mulling over what I can realistically do, but this is what I'm thinking at the moment:
  • Most of the site's content will be frozen. This means:
    • No new articles
    • No new hints and tips
    • The online code snippets database and SWAG database apps may never get out of beta, and may even go away (but I'll ensure that the data remains available).
    • The program and code library pages will probably get simplified.
    • The content of the documentation "wiki" may get frozen, or even moved elsewhere. I don't like the wiki software much and it's a pain to maintain.
  • I'll probably push ahead with giving the site a much needed make-over to make it mobile friendly. It all depends how long it's likely to take.
  • I'll be limiting my programming quite severely. That means:
    • Many projects will be abandoned, which means no support, no bug fixes, nothing. They'll still be available though.
    • Several will become maintenance only - bugs may get fixed but no new features will be added.
    • A very few will continue to be developed. These will be the ones that interest me. And I'm not sure which they are yet!
  • I'll no longer be testing the code library or code snippets across multiple compilers. Everything will be compiled or tested with either Delphi XE or XE4.
  • I can't foresee a time when I'll upgrade beyond Delphi XE4.

Of course the plans will probably change, but I will strive to keep the site up for as long as it can be funded.

As ever your comments are appreciated.

Thanks everyone.

Comments

  1. Robsoft10:24 am

    Would you consider guest articles from time to time? I'm just thinking, you've just proved you clearly have an audience, maybe you could have the odd guest article now and then?

    ReplyDelete
  2. BillSTP2:57 pm

    It's great to hear that the Dabbler site will live on.

    And thanks for CodeSnip and the snippet database. It's a great tool, especially for barely organized people like myself.

    "No new hints and tips" <-- would this maybe fall in the same category as Robsoft's comment about the possibility of guest articles ?

    In any event, enjoy making music and thanks again :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Delphidabbler11:18 pm

    Thanks robsoft and billstp.

    I'm happy to consider guest articles / hints and tips. The main problem with the onne and only guest article and the numerous tips that have come from 3rd parties is the time it takes me to format them correctly for the site.

    Perhaps if contributors agree to stick to a basic sets of styles it would work. I'd just need to publish what they are!

    ReplyDelete
  4. John1579:10 pm

    I'm glad to see you're continuing the site. I haven't stopped by in a while, I've been learning python. And now I'm returning to Delphi 7 once again and your site will help me get back up to speed quickly.

    Everything about Delphi is just plain wrong. It's got a lightning fast compiler and produces lightning fast code. It's wordy. There's precious little support for it anymore. It isn't cutting edge. It isn't cool. You don't get to pull your hair out time and again when free libraries that your code depends on break because a library they depend on got updated. Code that worked yesterday still works today. Where's the excitement in that? I missed you Delphi.



    ReplyDelete
  5. Anonymous11:06 am

    how many views do your pages get per month?

    ReplyDelete
  6. Delphidabbler4:09 pm

    Dunno how many page views these days ... I've not checked the logs for a couple of years now. Doubt it's many now since the site hasn't been updated in a long time.

    ReplyDelete

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Comments are very welcome, but please don't comment here if:

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