A shopowner walks into a bar...

[burt]

The bartender looks up and says, "Back again? Let me guess - you’re here for help, then disappearing until the next time?". The shopowner nods. "Exactly. That’s how I roll."

Sound familiar? That’s exactly what happens on this forum.

Phoenix Cart is not a hobby tool for most of you.

It runs your store.
It processes your payments.
It generates your revenue.

When something breaks, you’re here immediately.
When you need guidance, you ask.
When you receive help, you return to business - and the forum goes quiet again.

Meanwhile, the work continues:

• PHP compatibility
• Security fixes
• Bug investigations
• Testing
• Updates
• Documentation
• Supporting other shopowners

That work is not automatic. It is done by people.

If you operate a commercial store on Phoenix and contribute neither financially nor through active participation, you are depending on others to maintain the infrastructure your income relies on.

That is not neutral. That is choosing to let someone else carry the load.

Open source does not survive because it is used.
It survives because it is supported.

Contribution means one of two things:

• Support the project financially, or
• Contribute your expertise to the community - answer questions, share solutions, test releases, improve documentation, start conversations, get other shopowners thinking.

Silence shifts the burden. Over time, that burden becomes unsustainable.

Projects without contributors stagnate.
Stagnation leads to decline.
Decline is how open source dies.

If Phoenix generates revenue for your business, you have a responsibility to sustain it - financially or practically.

To those who already contribute - financially or through consistent participation - your effort does not go unnoticed.
You are the reason Phoenix continues to move forward.
Thank you.

If you rely on it, stand behind it.

[burt]

YOU.png

[burt]

coop-3846597_640.png

Phoenix needs YOU. Not watching. Not waiting. Contributing.

If Phoenix is part of how you earn your living, then helping it grow isn’t optional - it's smart business.

Share your experience. Answer a question. Suggest an improvement. Test something new.

Phoenix is strongest when shopowners help shopowners. Step off the sidelines and become part of the network that makes all of us better. Let’s build it together.

[madruga]

I know you won't like this post and will delete it as this forum is not transparent. This write-up seems like a hard sell to get people to support this forum financially. Why don't you let people decide to support you voluntarily than try to coerce, cajole, and arm twist them? A shopowner walks into a bar...

Personally, I'd support the forum but getting the "help" you took quite a lot of time to emphasise is not very easy. And getting developers to do work for you is like taking on a new mortgage. Imagine someone charging you hundreds of pounds to do small changes for you, and phoenix is supposed to be free? I'm not saying they should do work for free but their charges are exorbitant!

This is a serious turn off and I've since resorted to gradually phasing out my phoenix store and moving to WooCommerce. So by all means delete this post, the truth hurts but it's still the truth! You can't delete posts about this on social media where I've seen many store owners make same complaints.

A shopowner walks into a bar... Who walks into a bar for help? Ridiculous!

[burt]

...

I love this post, thank you. It shows that you care enough to come to the forum and let us know we're not doing things as you'd like to see them done. We can only try harder.

Contribute your expertise to the community - answer questions, share solutions, test releases, improve documentation, start conversations, get other shopowners thinking.

You have done exactly what makes the community strong. Get other shopowners thinking.

For those finding developer costs high: this forum has other shopowners giving their time for free. Yes, you might wait for an answer - that's the trade-off. If you get an answer, pay it forward and answer someone else's question when you can. Even a brand new Phoenix user may already know the answer to somebody else's business question.

[burt]

This thread keeps coming back to me, especially after something a long-time community member posted elsewhere recently, some of the words he said was extremely disappointing. It made me realise that some people see me - and the rest of the Core Team - almost as employees. Here to serve, deliver, fix, and keep the lights on.

That was never the deal.

I'm not here to build for you. I'm here to build with you.

I've been posting similar threads in a few different places lately, here in this forum and elsewhere.

- In one place, people question, improve, test and build on the ideas. Before long, the work belongs to everyone.
- In another place, people read, like, agree and move on.
- in another, there's almost nothing. Maybe a like, if I'm lucky.

That's the difference.

The door is open. If you want to test something, give feedback, answer a question, challenge an idea or simply share your experience, join in.

Let's build something together. We CAN do it.

[tessthepup]

...

Let's build something together.

I totally agree with this statement and I wish everyone shared this mantra but unfortunately the world is full of entitled people who expect everything given to them on a plate.

I for one can not praise enough yourself and the the rest of the core team not for just the amazing software you have produced but for your undying loyalty to the users.

I sometimes think that people forget you also need to make a living and not just a nerd in your moms basement (unless you are and thats fine with me )