Post #2232219

@jk@mastodon.social The developer did explain that he could try to make a version of backwards seek that works with some video formats and not for others and that this idea was incompatible with his philosophy for the application, which is that it would work the same with all formats that it accepts. There is a plugin for VLC that enables the "close enough" backwards seek that a user suggested the developer include with the base VLC. & given that it is FOSS someone could fork it and implement that. I think the most instructive thing is the social dynamic at play here between a put-upon & perhaps a little snobby developer and a user base that doesn't want to understand the philosophical difference. It's the same social dynamic between people who won't switch away from Twitter use Mastodon because they believe it's too difficult to use, and the people who deride others for feeling that way. The user doesn't know about algorithmic complexity or the limitations of why it's hard to implement and they should not be expected to be. The developer needed to step back and issue a statement about it and invite others to contribute to the code base if they can, rather than debating them and getting all mad that users were telling him he came off snobby. The result was him refusing to work on the problem at all, which is probably the worst result possible.