Community hostility to timed file.save

[carnish]

I see here and there requests for a timed file.save feature whereby the active document is saved every n minutes to its own file – rather than to a backup or to a recovery file.

These requests are met with various forms of hostility including, most often, suggestions that the request is stupid, that existing features are superior to what the user is requesting – and so on.

I have made a feature request that was met with the same diversions and denials.

This has been going on for years and I have yet to read a clear explanation why this cannot be done. Lots of info why this should not be done – none of which have any relevance to my workflow or to the others who are requesting it.

LO Writer has many indicators that it is designed by programmers not by writers.

I worked in IT for many years and am very familiar with the contempt that developers have for users. However in an application expecting acceptance by professionals we expect a much more professional tone from the support community.

[LeroyG]

carnish,

It would be better a comment in your previous question.

Most of us are not developers, but users. Here we are trying to help those like us who can not guess a way to do something.

The place to requests usability improvement is
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Development/Crazy_Ideas

[mikekaganski]

I see here and there requests…

These requests are met with various forms of hostility

it is designed by programmers not by writers

I worked in IT for many years and am very familiar with the contempt that developers have for users

But but but - here you are talking to users, and that’s users who answer these requests! How funny it is to read all those “I know that developers hate users” from people who “worked in IT for many years”… when in fact they fail to realize that the push back is not from developers, but from users! LOL.

Anything is doable. Just someone needs to do that. Grab the sources, and hack it. You would just need to tweak current auto-recovery timer code to optionally instead of writing recovery info, perform a save of documents. Come with a patch, and we will discuss it on gerrit.

[keme]

I see here and there requests for a timed file.save […] met with various forms of hostility …

Like, for instance … where? Also, what bearing does it have on this peer support forum?

I have made a feature request …

Again, where? A search for “carnish” in the bug list shows nothing. Possibly hidden from me because request has been rejected, or posted under a different name. Inform us!

LO Writer has many indicators that it is designed by programmers not by writers.

For instance … what?

in an application expecting acceptance by professionals we expect a much more professional tone from the support community.

Then get professional support as advised here (the “ecosystem partners”), instead of peer support.

I […] am very familiar with the contempt that developers have for users.

A statement which seems to reveal your own contempt.

[keme]

Your references to “here and there” , “various forms” and “for years” are not very explicit. If you can show us where your bad experience comes from, we may be able to rectify it. As long as you don’t, it will be taken as whining and moaning, which we generally don’t pay much attention to.

This is not meant to denigrate you or your needs, just to explain how your posting is taken.

If you need that special feature, you could take Mike Kaganski’s advice above. If you are not a coder yourself, one of the ecosystem partners will be able to satisfy your request. Expect to pay for it. If it later is incorporated in the suite, consider that your contribution to the community.

Also, when I studied towards my informatics degree, development centered, the focus was more on user needs than on technical solutions. While I have worked very little as a developer, I know some who have had that as their career for 30 years or so. They have no ill attitude towards users. They may be exceptional.

[erAck]

The place to requests usability improvement is […Crazy_Ideas wiki…]

No, it’s not, that’s for, well, crazy ideas as the page name tells. The place for feature and enhancement requests is the bug tracker.

[JohnHa]

If you are editing fred.odt and you update fred.odt itself each time how do you get back to the original fred.odt if you decide you don’t want the changes you made? Hence, AutoRecovery data is saved in a separate file so you can choose: keep all my changes or go back to the original.

Tools > Options > Load/Save > Save AutoRecovery information every n minutes.

Always create a backup copy …, is pretty useful.

So is File > Versions …, which saves multiple versions in the .odt file.