Well, I have been thinking quite long before actually posting this message, but it is evident that something has to be said. Let me just make one thing clear: This is solemnly my own view on things.

It seems that currently I’m the only developer/moderator left at this site who tries to be active. Despite the fact I tried to do as much as possible this has resulted in a lot of (automatic) spam comments, not only on the forums but at the blog as well. I made a start to clean everything up but it is so much. It is nearly impossible to do this by myself.

Today I saw some questions about the much expected new version of Pixelpost. And I know that you guys want to know the current status of it. Well, here it is. It started as a good project, with three developers spending time on it. It took some time (and a couple of complete rewrites) to get to a state we felt was like a solid base for a photoblog and a worthy replacement of the old Pixelpost code.

But then things took a turn for the worse, and suddenly all three developers didn’t had much time left to spend on the new version. Real life kept (and keeps) them occupied enough, making it hard to continue development. As I can only speak for myself I find it difficult to work on this version alone since I rely on input of the other developers a lot. Sometimes you have to toss an idea back and forth before it gets its actual shape.

A few years back I did the majority of the code that pushed the 1.5 to the 1.6 version and I actively helped with the current code base as well. I’ve spend countless hours not only writing code, but also spend numerous hours helping others with their problems. At times this has been very rewarding, but one thing I didn’t like was the lack of appreciation people tend to have about the hours I and others have put into this project.

This is probably the reason why it so difficult to find new people, skilled in both OOP and PHP, to help us finish the new version. Believe me if I say we tried to get these people, but we didn’t manage to find anyone. We posted some stuff on the forums a while back, but it is my idea most folks that are using these forums are just users. Although they might be skilled in some areas, they are just content in using the software.

Many people ask questions about the new version, either through the forums, twitter or by mail, and that proves there is still a solid base for specific photoblog software. However, the (sad) truth is that the way it is headed now, it is headed for disaster.

This site, with forum, blog and twitter, is to big to be maintained by only one person, the programming is to much for three (or less) developers. So unless someone can open either a can that provides us with more time while still able to support our families or a can with a few developers the project is on hold.

Let me emphasize that: the project is currently on hold and the way it is going it might be for quite some time.