Fri, 06 Sep 2002 03:09:17 GMT

by Charles Miller on September 6, 2002

For a while, my mother had a job that involved helping writers. If you were a writer, she'd be able to tell you how to get in touch with publishers, how to get your manuscript assessed, what writing events were going on around the state, and so on. Regularly, she'd receive a phone-call that went something like this: “I've got this really good idea for a book. Do you know someone who could write it for me?”

If you want to see the same theory at work in programming, have a look at this gem on Sourceforge (all spelling and grammar atrocities are transcribed verbatim from the original):

An online life simulation game. You play againts many users for a life simulation game. Its like an online version of The Sims accepot better and multiplayer. It will be targeted to run on linux, using mysql as the database apache as the web server php

Looking down below the Development Status: 1 - Planning, but just above the section that shows the project has released no files, and has nothing in CVS, is a link: HELP WANTED: This project is looking for Developer(s). Follow that link, and you get the plaintive request...

start programming first step. We need the game planned up. Please give us ideas.

It would improve the site no end if sourceforge refused to make a project visible to other users until it posted some working code. Just one minor feature or prototype would do, just enough to show that the thing isn't just some flight of fantasy.

Previously: Wed, 04 Sep 2002 21:13:17 GMT

Next: Fri, 06 Sep 2002 03:33:47 GMT