Should there be a Warning Banner?
Yes, everywhere on the site!
 87%  [ 27 ]
Yes, but only in the downloads section.
 3%  [ 1 ]
No, there should not be any banner anywhere.
 9%  [ 3 ]
Total Votes : 31

At last, thank you very much. Smile
Wow, this thread has gotten way out of hand. If I may however:

1. Why did TI put up a notice before Cemetech? How about the fact that the write the OS Software and would have known about the decision to remove Assembly long before Cemetech could have known. This would give the PR team for TI time to write up the proper notice and have it setup correctly before things go sounds.

2. The code to put up a banner is simple, why take so long? While it may look Simple, the Cemetech forum software is a complex piece of code that isn't just thrown together. To put up something, you have to make sure other things don't break. This is why things like Change Control and testing is done.

There is a reason it is a meme to fix one bug in code and have 3 new ones appear at the same time. When code runs in a silo, it is easy to think that way, but when it runs as part of a stack and has integration with other pieces of code, careful consideration must be taken.

Even if nothing on the functionality side breaks, does it introduce a security exploit in the system? Cemetech has a responsibility to make sure the information stored on the server does not end up in the wrong hands, is destroyed, or manipulated by unauthorized third parties.

Additionally, most of the administration team likely have full time jobs that must come first. Sometimes these responsibilities bleed into off hours as well.

3. Is a warning here visible enough? I am an IT Technician by trade. The first places I look when installing updates for systems I manage are the official channels to see what issues they have identified or the patch management platform I am using to push out said patches. If I come across other sources that cite issues with updates, I take them under advisement, but not a place to start.

Even when there are updates like that, it is rare, if ever, to see banners all over a site about it. This will even include technology blogs and forums that looks at admins. A news article or a pinned topic is usually created and after a short time, moves down the line.

---

We all have to remember that while this may seem like the end of the world for some people, for many others, it is a fleeting thought, if it even comes that far. You can cry foul all you want, but at the end of the day, you wont win over everyone. If you need to persuade someone to your opinion, the first thing to look at their priories (which will almost always be different than yours) and see how the decision affects that. Even then, you may have to write off the argument and move on, even when you may be in the right, it just is not worth the fight.
rivereye wrote:
1. Why did TI put up a notice before Cemetech? How about the fact that the write the OS Software and would have known about the decision to remove Assembly long before Cemetech could have known. This would give the PR team for TI time to write up the proper notice and have it setup correctly before things go sounds.

Well, that's where you're wrong.
TI in fact gave us (us being a few community websites' admins, notably Cemetech's and TI-Planet's) a warning about the future removal, in private, a LONG time ago. Specifically to be able to be able to help with PR.

rivereye wrote:
2. The code to put up a banner is simple, why take so long? While it may look Simple, the Cemetech forum software is a complex piece of code that isn't just thrown together. To put up something, you have to make sure other things don't break. This is why things like Change Control and testing is done.

Lol, at this point this is just laughable. This is not a deep backend change, more like a simple front-end one. Even with added hiding-related preferences, it can all be front-end and takes only a few lines. I should know, I have done exactly that on TI-Planet myself, the day TI released the OS. That is on May 20th, 2020. This is THREE MONTHS AGO.

rivereye wrote:
There is a reason it is a meme to fix one bug in code and have 3 new ones appear at the same time. When code runs in a silo, it is easy to think that way, but when it runs as part of a stack and has integration with other pieces of code, careful consideration must be taken.

Even if nothing on the functionality side breaks, does it introduce a security exploit in the system? Cemetech has a responsibility to make sure the information stored on the server does not end up in the wrong hands, is destroyed, or manipulated by unauthorized third parties.

Yes, that's all good and true, but not for a simple HTML front-end only thing, which is what we're talking about here. Adding extra functionality (for instance, saving the hiding preference in a cookie, checking that in the backend (or in JS on the front-end) can be done later, that's not urgent.)

rivereye wrote:
Additionally, most of the administration team likely have full time jobs that must come first. Sometimes these responsibilities bleed into off hours as well.

We know, it's the same for us admins of other community websites. But once again, the OS update was over 3 months ago, and several of us knew about it before that, even. Ample time to prepare a front-end warning for day 1 of the release, which is what was done on TI-Planet for instance, quickly followed by CodeWalrus for instance.

rivereye wrote:
Even when there are updates like that, it is rare, if ever, to see banners all over a site about it. This will even include technology blogs and forums that looks at admins. A news article or a pinned topic is usually created and after a short time, moves down the line.

Yes, although we're not talking about "banners all over", rather a warning block at the top and/or a sidebar item.

rivereye wrote:
We all have to remember that while this may seem like the end of the world for some people, for many others, it is a fleeting thought, if it even comes that far. You can cry foul all you want, but at the end of the day, you wont win over everyone. If you need to persuade someone to your opinion, the first thing to look at their priories (which will almost always be different than yours) and see how the decision affects that. Even then, you may have to write off the argument and move on, even when you may be in the right, it just is not worth the fight.

This is also just your opinion - as explained, our duty as graphing calculator community websites is to best inform users and visitors about an OS update that will kill what they are mostly here for (ASM programs/games). We're talking about hundreds of thousands of downloads for some programs, some reaching a million. This isn't affective just a few people here and there.
I do not consider this to be a stop-everything-and-spread-the-word concern. Giving notice is at best an action that may slow the rate at which crippled devices enter the population.
  
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