[ Community Update ] - Regarding David's Departure 2023-06-22

3 years ago by BrooklynMan to c/mlemapp

Hi, Mlem App Community.

As many of you have probably already seen, our founder David has left the project. We wanted to take a moment to address this news and any concerns it may cause within our community.

First and foremost, we want to make it unequivocally clear that we harbor no resentment or hard feelings towards David. We understand that he made this choice for his own well-being and support him for it. He was a joy to work with, and without his leadership or vision the Mlem app would not be what it is today or what it will be tomorrow. David, if you're reading this: we thank you, and wish you all the best.

Development of Mlem will continue. All of us still on the the team remain as engaged and passionate as we were yesterday and continue to work tirelessly to bring you the best Lemmy experience we can. It is no secret, however, that this news was as much of a surprise to us as it was to you all, and it has introduced a couple of hitches in the short term. The GitHub repository where we store our code has been passed to another member of the team, but the App Store app could not be transferred so easily. We will be rebranding our App Store name to "Mlem for Lemmy"; the app will still appear as "Mlem" on your homescreen. As David mentioned, the current TestFlight beta has ended, and we will provide a link to a new one ASAP. The timing of that depends on Apple more than anything, so we cannot provide a concrete timeframe just yet. We'll keep you posted with links here in this community.

We thank you for your patience, your understanding, and all of your support.

-- The Mlem App Team

ericbandrews 68 points 3 years ago

As a dev, I just want to express how much it warms my heart to see how kind and understanding the community's response to this news has been. You all are the best <3

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L3s 12 points 3 years ago

I'm not a Mlem user, but are you all worried about how much David contributed, and keeping up with it all? The UI looks the best out of all of the apps I've tested (Android user ;[), and seems to be more feature rich.

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ericbandrews 19 points 3 years ago

David contributed so much in part because he was working on the project as a personal thing for a long time before any of us came along. That's what let us get such a quick jump on the Reddit migration--he'd already done the hard work of getting a working product off the ground, and gave us a foundation to build on.

Keep in mind also that the GitHub contributions only track code that's been merged. We have a lot of great stuff in-flight or sitting in PRs right now.

In short: we aren't worried.

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BrooklynMan 15 points 3 years ago

as of the latest test build. this is in the 5 hours since you posted your comment. the project is in good hands, and we think you'll enjoy the next TestFlight build!

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slin 5 points 3 years ago

They are changing the UI according to some GitHub Pull Requests

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timmytbt 12 points 3 years ago

No. YOU’RE the best!

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biff 67 points 3 years ago

Best wishes and gratitude to David, and thank you for the update!

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Ghostalmedia 52 points 3 years ago

Thanks for the update and best of luck with sorting this out! Y’all are doing nice work!

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zalack 37 points 3 years ago

As much as I think he could have handled the transition a little more gracefully, it's good to see an open source maintainer recognizing when they are no longer making their life better by working on a project.

So many open source devs burn themselves out by continuing to work on projects that no longer spark joy out of a sense of obligation.

This also should be a reminder to the community NOT to harass devs if a project is making choices you don't agree with. The reason most maintainers contribute to open source is the hope that people will like and use their software. Getting messages that indicate people don't like their work and won't use their software is the quickest way to kill someone's enthusiasm for their little corner of FOSS.

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activepeople 18 points 3 years ago

not just that, but demand customer support for something that was supposed to be a hobby

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Codo 25 points 3 years ago

Also thank you to the Mlem team for such a prompt and clear message to the community. You guys rule.

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GilbertGarfield 24 points 3 years ago

Thanks for the hard work.

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Richie 23 points 3 years ago

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BrooklynMan 25 points 3 years ago

I was... so upset when I read that. just dismayed, really. I can assure you, unequivocally, that the app will continue being developed as a Lemmy app accessible to everyone, just as David first envisioned.

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princessnorah 5 points 3 years ago

I’m really glad to read this.

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ericbandrews 7 points 3 years ago

We'll have another update out soon about how we're moving forwards, but rest assured we have absolutely no intention of adjusting the vision.

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hyper 6 points 3 years ago

I would hope for the opposite tbh. I would love for Mlem to be a streamlined experience so new lemmy users don't feel overwhelmed. Apollo hit the sweet spot with that.

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nii236 5 points 3 years ago

What's the context here? What happened?

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Codo 21 points 3 years ago

Thanks for everything Dave! Wouldn’t have made the leap to Lemmy were it not for the app you’d been a part of.

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egrets 18 points 3 years ago

Since Mlem doesn't actually support text and images in a single post yet, here's a web link for those who can't read the post: https://lemmy.ml/post/1444736

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domage 17 points 3 years ago

Thank you very much for taking over, and I wish you all the best in making this app happen!

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darknavi 16 points 3 years ago

Working on Mlem has been a real joy. Glad to see so many love it as much as us.

Can't wait to get builds rolling out again!

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TheRaven 13 points 3 years ago

David, you’re a hero for creating such a great app, and you’re a hero for looking after your mental health. Thanks for bringing the app to where it is now.

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Tempiz 13 points 3 years ago

Could we get an introduction into who the new team lead is, what their experience is, and maybe some info on the rest of the team? The current repo owner has no information and has only ever worked on Mlem with this user account. Not exactly confidence inspiring from afar.

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BrooklynMan 15 points 3 years ago

yes, there will be more updates to come. right now, since David turned over control of the project to the team, we're finally testing new internal builds and getting ready to release a new public TestFlight build ASAP. once we get that out, we all be posting more updates about what's going on with the app and with the team!

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darknavi 3 points 3 years ago

Test reply 2

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darknavi 2 points 3 years ago

Test reply 1

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WithaC 12 points 3 years ago

Thank you both to David for getting this project off the ground and filling a need in the community, as well as to the remaining team for their continuing development and support.

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meldrik 11 points 3 years ago

Keep up the good work and good luck to David and thank you for the amazing work you have done!

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BigHungryChicken 9 points 3 years ago

Only just got into Lemmy and I loved Apollo on Reddit so I can’t wait to see where this goes I wish you all the best

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Alchemy69 7 points 3 years ago

Shame he decided to go, this app has made the transition from Reddit far far easier. Glad to hear the remaining team remains determined and look forward to more updates. Thanks all!

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MrTHXcertified 6 points 3 years ago

More words of gratitude to David and the rest of the team for their work. <3

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timmytbt 6 points 3 years ago

Thank you David. I wouldn’t be here without you. And thank you to the rest of the devs. Really appreciate the open communication. Looking forward to the new beta and doing my little bit to continue making this great app better and better.

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Athena 6 points 3 years ago

Will new people be able to sign up to the TestFlight beta? Tried to get in on the previous one but I think it was full

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BrooklynMan 21 points 3 years ago

As a matter of fact, everyone will have to sign up for the new TestFlight beta, as the previous one no longer exists.

Keep an eye out for the post announcing the new TestFlight beta, which will also be a new build with several big updates that we're excited to bring to the community!

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vaguerant 2 points 3 years ago

I dunno about this, how new are these people? Babies are notoriously bad software testers.

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WFH 5 points 3 years ago

Toddlers are excellent at finding security flaws tho

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Ciari 2 points 3 years ago

You joined thirteen days ago 😭

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4am 5 points 3 years ago

We will be patient! Codebase handoffs are a messy process, we will watch this space for updates!

David, thank you for getting this project off the ground. Even though you found that for whatever reason taking this on was not for you, I think I can speak for the vast majority of the community when I say that you have still done something very important for us by getting it off the ground and we are grateful for it! We wish you well on your future endeavors!

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erezac 4 points 3 years ago

You should probably make a post people using your app can read 😅

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santa 4 points 3 years ago

Test

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santa 4 points 3 years ago

Sorry. Figuring out app. Is there a way to delete comments?

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danielton 3 points 3 years ago

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deadhead 3 points 3 years ago

Thanks for the update, I’ve loved my experience on here so far and can’t wait to see it get better!

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kwiksilver 3 points 3 years ago

Great work holding everything together. This app is a thing of beauty. It’s really coming together. I’m looking forward to seeing what’s next.

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slin 2 points 3 years ago

I saw the new comment style on GitHub and I personally dislike it as it is very busy. The current layout is minimalistic and easy on the eyes.

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TwilightGirl1992 2 points 3 years ago

This is so sad, but completely understandable. I look forward to seeing what happens next with Mlem.

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mlemapp

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Official community for Mlem, a free and open-source iOS Lemmy client.

Rules

Keep it civil.
This is a forum for discussion about Mlem. We welcome a degree of general chatter, but anything not related to Mlem may be removed at moderator discretion. This is not a forum for iPhone/Android debate. Posts and comments saying nothing but "iOS bad/I use Android" will be removed as off-topic.
We welcome constructive criticism, but ask that it be both precise and polite.

FAQ

When will insert feature here be implemented?
- Check our issue board--if there isn't an issue open for the feature you want, feel free to open an issue or make post! Just remember that devs are people too--we're doing this for free in our spare time, and building a quality app takes a lot of patient work.
Is Mlem available for Android?
- No. Mlem is written using SwiftUI, which is not currently supported on Android. If such support becomes available, we will look into bringing Mlem to our Android friends.
How do I join the beta?
- Click here to sign up
How do I join the dev team?
- Head over to our recruitment channel, or go straight to our GitHub and read CONTRIBUTING.md to get started.

Download Mlem for iOS

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mlemapp

@lemmy.ml

login for more options

Official community for Mlem, a free and open-source iOS Lemmy client.

Rules

Keep it civil.
This is a forum for discussion about Mlem. We welcome a degree of general chatter, but anything not related to Mlem may be removed at moderator discretion. This is not a forum for iPhone/Android debate. Posts and comments saying nothing but "iOS bad/I use Android" will be removed as off-topic.
We welcome constructive criticism, but ask that it be both precise and polite.

FAQ

When will insert feature here be implemented?
- Check our issue board--if there isn't an issue open for the feature you want, feel free to open an issue or make post! Just remember that devs are people too--we're doing this for free in our spare time, and building a quality app takes a lot of patient work.
Is Mlem available for Android?
- No. Mlem is written using SwiftUI, which is not currently supported on Android. If such support becomes available, we will look into bringing Mlem to our Android friends.
How do I join the beta?
- Click here to sign up
How do I join the dev team?
- Head over to our recruitment channel, or go straight to our GitHub and read CONTRIBUTING.md to get started.

Download Mlem for iOS

go to feed...