

Death to Javascript Rock Stars - riklomas
http://jquery.com/blog/2008/08/29/death-to-javascript-rock-stars/

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rglullis
To me, this is just to show how nerds are kind of hypocrites when it comes
about looks vs substance. They want to believe they are not affected by
marketing and focus on actual value, but it all goes down with a simple front
page that doesn't state what they want to hear. Or, as in this case, decided
to state something that didn't want to hear, because it would make them feel
less of part of a elite.

The whole "Ninja" and "Rockstar" thing has become annoying, but only because
_everyone_ started using that as a symbol to indicate "programming skills",
rendering the expression _meaningless_ in the process. Thing is, Resig and the
developers of jQuery _are_ skilled. They have code to show. They have
experience developing things with Javascript. Other people are using their
code successfully. Those are the only things that really matter.

I don't care if they want to associate their product with "Rockstars" or
"Squashed cockroaches stuffing a baked potato", as much as I don't care about
the label in my clothing. And if you actually think that what you consume does
not define what you are, you shouldn't either.

~~~
river_styx
I don't think you quite get it. Many people who would like to use jQuery have
to justify it to a client and/or manager first. That's not very easy to do if
the they go to jquery.com and see such a silly and puerile display.

As a developer, I don't give a shit. If they want to put a collection of the
world's smelliest cheeses on their front page, that's a-OK by me. But these
marketing artifacts absolutely _do_ matter to most of the business types
making decisions out there that I have to answer to.

~~~
KirinDave
Wait, wait, wait.

Who on earth has to justify a javascript framework to their boss? There's so
much competition and, unlike in the C++ or Java world, there's no agreement
about what's best. Even Microsoft and Google haven't hammered down "the
solution". Many projects use 2-3 frameworks.

I've worked at (and am now working at) some pretty big companies, and I've
never heard of such a practice moving over to web development. There is
usually just a license audit and that's it. And if you're a consultant
justifying your use of jquery to your client, you are doing it wrong. They
don't care what you use, they care about what licenses you use and how it
works when you're done.

I think the complaint itself is "puerile" and pretty darn shallow. The
illustration may have been ugly and as one of the original people to have an
official job title of "ruby on rails rock star" I'm kind of tired of the
metaphor. But I'm not about to throw a giant multi-venue tantrum and poop on
the jquery guy's fun.

~~~
dmose
I had to justify it to my boss and my fellow developers because everyone has
their preference. Some want to use YUI, some want to use prorotype. In the
end, the boss makes the decision and the availability of an MIT license comes
into play, so he's going to the homepage either way and the last thing I want
him to see is some cheesy rockstar shit for a framework that's going into a
massive line of business SaaS application.

~~~
KirinDave
> Some want to use YUI, some want to use prorotype.

Well, the nice thing about jQuery is that it is not exclusive. But I'm really
surprised that you haven't gone and talked to the other engineers on the
project and come up with a unified plan. If the majority of people want to use
prototype and you can't show them why they shouldn't, then you probably don't
have a good argument against them.

You have to justify jQuery to other engineers, and then your boss's opinion
becomes largely immaterial unless he's utterly terribly at his job.

> last thing I want him to see some cheesy rockstar shit for a framework
> that's going into a massive line of business SaaS application.

If you really do have to justify it to him...

The _first_ thing you want him to see is an unbiased assessment of the
library's features and capabilities (not the least of which is its ability to
play nicely with other libraries). The _second_ thing you want him to see is
other engineers agreeing to use it. That way when he saw the _last_ thing, the
rockstar, his mind would probably already be made up.

You make it sound like you have 0 influence over the course of the project
you're involved with. If a silly graphic has the power to derail your
framework choice, you didn't do your homework in the first place.

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jfarmer
I'm about 95% certain this was how they wanted it to play out. I'm sure
yesterday was their highest-traffic day in a long time, possibly ever.

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sofal
I used to work for a corporation whose only concern was with image. They were
much happier to pay thousands of dollars to terrible software vendors simply
because the vendors projected themselves as corporate-friendly "professionals"
with "enterprise-ready solutions". I had an extremely hard time justifying
using software written by Zed Shaw for obvious reasons. "It's all about the
image," said a co-worker to me, "how long have you worked here and you haven't
figured that out yet?"

I hope I never have to work at a place like that again.

The bigger problem lies in the artificial culture of "professionalism" that
permeates so many workplaces to the detriment of things with real substance to
them.

That being said, I think the jQuery people are wise to listen to the community
about things like this.

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swombat
Fantastic and healthy reaction. Glad to see this turnaround on a horrendous
initial decision :-)

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martythemaniak
I'm curious where this meme is heading. First it was ninja, then a rockstar,
then what? Be a Q Quarterback! Looking for ActionScript Astronauts and C
Cosmonauts! We need Ocaml Olympians and Tcl Titans!!!

I had a phone interview a few days ago where the other person used a line like
"we're looking for ninja developers". I mean, its silly when you see it
written, and its 100x more so when someone says it out loud.

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goodkarma
I can't believe they had to change this.

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ChaitanyaSai
Now all the whiners should be asked to wear three-piece suits and bow ties to
work because their stained jeans and t-shirts aren't liked by the bosses who
work three thousand miles away and will probably never even set eyes on them.

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maximilian
This is some terrible inside joke I'm totally not getting. I went to the site
yesterday, and it totally looks the same as it did today. What exactly was the
easter egg?

~~~
wayne
For the easter egg, go to the jQuery homepage and type in the Konami Code (up,
up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a). Pretty awesome... I love
easter eggs.

~~~
vnorby
That's actually a pretty solid idea. Skirt music copyrights by using YouTube
music videos for an online Guitar Hero clone...JamLegend, take note.

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anamax
What about Pirates?

------
hs
along with jquery.ui-1.6b

