I have an idea on how to encourage and incorporate the help of anyone that visits here, who has both a camera and an interest in CHDK.
There seems to be a small number of participants doing the bulk of the work, and I can suggest a possibility as to why.
-Everything is too advanced!
I don't understand much about programming, but I do have a camera that is in the development stages here for CHDK. I wish to help out, but the amount that needs to be learned first is simply too overwhelming for me to just "dive in" and know what I'm doing.
As a "Junior Participant" under the direction of someone who knows all about this stuff, I could perform simple, structured tests and present my results on a dedicated "Junior Participant's Page" in the Wikia.
I believe that breaking down testing and making it structured would encourage a larger group of participants with limited experience who otherwise shy away from the extreme dedication that seems necessary to participate. All of these little gold nuggets of information contributed by a much larger group could be compiled easily (I should think) by the more experienced persons. The tests would need to be very, very
basic. S-p-e-l-l it out, but don't be condescending!
There are people who know nothing of programming who are also very intelligent. There are also people who simply don't CARE about the programming part, and let's face it, -this is a programming enthusiast board more than it is a photography enthusiast board, no? If it offered more of the latter, perhaps there would be more persons willing to test.
Advanced members would need to moderate the "Junior Participant" section to post needed tests, put up polls to see result variations, and close threads when each particular test was completed. A dedicated page could be made for the results to be compiled, and again, a more experienced participant could analyze the data and make something of it.
This would also solve Barney Fifes justifiable grudge about info being scattered throughout the forum.
As a forum member with no experience who does wish to participate, I have no idea what I'm doing, and I could stumble upon something really significant and not realize it. I also end up asking questions about completely
insignificant things that demonstrate my ignorance of all of this and am met with rather cold shouldered responses as if I'm 'bothersome".
For all of the members who do work very hard on CHDK and seem extremely "bothered" by those who have "user" interests and not necessarily "programmer" interests, this new section offers a place they can send those members.
It's just a suggestion to help. I wish I could be of more help. As I told another member member, "I'm just a jeweler."