No offence, Trust really, but this is the way I see it:
I feel cotonti slowly is grinding to a halt when it comes to new members joining your community. I visit this site on a daily basis (it's part of my 'internet round') and see so few newcomers.
On the other hand I see you guys being all geeky and design the shit out of cotonti (which is a compliment, and of-course a good thing). But on the other side the system gets more difficult to understand.
By being more open about the basics, you're most likely to attract more people that want to give Cotonti a go. Correct me if I'm wrong, but more people means more options for use made plugins, themes/skins, more contributions to the community itself, etc. and in the long run more money for you guys.
Gonna say it again, I love Cotonti, the way it works, and the neet little tricks you can do with it. Tried all the other, liked not of them. But nevertheless I feel there's more to get when it comes to community involvement. Oke, you now have a few really dedicated people walking around, but you have to realize that they may not always be around, for whatever reason.
I know that with my knowledge I'm not a real use for you guys, but that doesn't mean I can't help out. I've offered to do so in the past, but nobody ever asked me to do so.
If you need some-one to keep track of such a thing as a tags repository, just ask dude. You give me the (raw) data, I will maintain the list. It's as simple as that. All you have to do is ask. And Im sure there are more out there, with my level of (html/css) knowledge who want to help out, at least I hope so.
This tpl_debug feature is cool and all but it doesn't explain what is does, nor where it's applicable. And may even scare people away.
I talked to twiebie about you guys the other day.. In our eyes you guys are hardcore programmers (incl. the almost mandatory little quirks). And that's not a bad thing, but I (we) also feel that it prevents you in some way to set up a good community.. That's where others can help out.
I do hope that last sentense isn't regarded as an insult, coz it's not. It's just an objective assassment.
Just my 2 cents..
Have a good one this weekend!
