Trust Verification
Xenforo builds a community of customers, Delphi builds a community of well-liked individuals, scam-developers, stalkers, bait & switch and hording mentality.
Trust in a Trustless World
There is a trust deficit within the Delphi community - all stated above. Let me talk about Xenforo, an unrelated community. This community thrives, flourishes, and has better moderation.
Let’s go to an AI segway.
Missed AI deals?
I’ve been wondering if Embarcadero intentionally or not, missed out on lucrative AI deals, such as the deal done by Stack Overflow, and Reddit, IF they have kept their newsgroup archives instead of dropping it after 60 days.
The new dBase newsgroups keep archives from a decade ago, so why is Borland (now Embarcadero) complaining about costs needed to run a newsgroup?
Think about it… Peter, Rudy, James, Jeff … stalwarts of the Borland newsgroups, and Embarcadero would have been able to monetize their Q&A, rather than allow Stack Overflow to slurp-up the Delphi Q&A.
Back to your regular content.
Xenforo License Verification
At the bottom of Xenfor’s website, there is a small link “License Verification” which allows you to verify another person’s license.
Why would you want to do this?
This makes sure, you are getting a licensed independent contractor, not a huckster who posts some ads, and… has no proof of works (such as GitHub profile), anonymous shrill accounts, or somebody who doesn’t pay their dues.
You’re getting someone who pays into the Delphi community, not someone, who you have to buy licenses for them… and then goes… and upload it to pirate sites for likes.
XXXXX [the Delphi contractor] uses his own RAD Studio Delphi license. I would expect all contractors to have that available as a minimum or I can’t really see how they could be Delphi programmers.
To use a non technical analogy: it’s like us owning a restaurant and hiring a top chef: the chef generally brings his own knives and a bunch of recipes – these are Delphi and the routines and techniques the programmer has learned – but the chef doesn’t usually bring the vegetables and meat to make the meals but if he did you’d probably have to pay him for them – this is like the component sets we choose or need to use.
Sometimes the chef brings in herbs and some beans he grew in his own garden and adds them to the dish and says “I don’t want payment for them” even though he bought the seeds and nurtured them himself – this is like the programmer bringing along some component sets we don’t have but are shareable.
Ian Barker wrote about this issue - Should a contract developer pay for their own components?1
This makes sure, your customers are licensed users too. You don’t want to sell to unlicensed users. This will greatly reduce the number of customers - or in Xenforo’s case - creating a trustworthy environment where you know the other person doesn’t have a free copy - they have a Delphi Pro license.
Instead of the stock “Borland Tool Vendor”, Embarcadero Vendor, a third-party vendor could link to this site, it would show - their business name, a comment (this is to prove Vendor status).
Vendors could decide to reject non-verified customers; Customers could decide to reject non-verified vendors. Customers could decide to reject not-licensed contractors, Contractors could decide to reject non-licensed customers on the basis if they want the source-code, they probably are going have a Delphi pro license lying around.
When someone says they have Delphi Pro, they can’t do social-engineering - claim they have Delphi Pro, and don’t have it — Customer can ask contactor, can you provide a GUID, and it would show the contractor’s name. Scammers who prey on licensed customers for licensing information.
Generate License Verification
I’ve prototyped a Delphi License verification token dialog.
This would be a great incentive for Delphi developers to provide this, as this would mean the other party doesn’t have to buy Delphi for him.
When I go to UniGui forums - there is a difference between member and subscriber. So, why can’t I get info on the other person, who is asking for a job?
Stalking, Harassment
Why am I asking for this? For years, I have long suspected, that I am the license holder of DevExpress, TMS All-Access, UniGui (et al.) and every time I give a contractor a license, a new version of DevExpress.VCL, TMS, UniGui would pop-up on certain sites, and that contractor becomes well-liked.
And… when I stopped giving, no new leaks appeared.
I’d had enough of slander, libel posted about me, - all because of bad Delphi developers who wants a job, and unable to perform, and then post trash, and then TeamB or the MVPs would have to delete posts on the jobs newsgroups.
Fast forward 2024 - new laws in Australia, UK and EU against slanderous and defamatory speech is enacted. High-profile case such as Billy Mitchell v. Karl Jobst2 where the verified defamer is asked to pay hundreds of thousands in damages.
In Slack, Reddit, Discord - when a person is banned, all their slanderous talk is deleted from the group. That’s good.
It reflects poorly on the small Delphi community - whenever there are jobs posted, (on-site, remote) there are idiots who posts about supposed bad experiences, poor salary, and other nonsensical grievances.
Next, Delphi developers would go stalking, harassing the job posters.
I’m surprised Delphi developers would call personal phone number of HR lady asking if her real name was (…). When she didn’t give out her unlisted number to anyone, it becomes a mystery.
And… that person called again… I asked her to put her mobile handset on speakerphone and told that stalker that if he called an unlisted number again, the phone called would be reported to Crime stoppers/Stalking3.
There are certain Delphi developers who changed their names legally and still using their old names (as of today).
Incredibly, after changing their names, still use their old names for employment, posting misogyny, posting right-wing trash, claim others use aliases when they themselves are doing this.
Crime-stoppers allow third-party reporting. In the UK, stalking has reached new highs, that there’s a Netflix documentary on stalking.
So - £4,000 bi-weekly, a potential visa sponsorship, desktop faster than the AMD 5 5950 used to compile a billion lines4, licensed Delphi, licensed DevExpress, licensed TMS, licensed Nexus Quality Suite pre-installed (and AI-assisted) job — gets you a trash-talking, well-liked, misogynistic aliased Delphi developer.
If you visit C++ C#, Rust, Go jobs forums, this kind of stalking, slander, defaming, shaming, harassment is unheard of.
Certificates for Government Contracts
Every now and then, there’s a government contract in the UK, Eurozone and you’d have to show that you can take pre-existing code (presumably from another vendor that did business for the UK, Eurozone) and modernize it.
An example is - fine print - This project requires a QT certificate for 20 users. This project is estimated to last two years, with an option to renew (without tender bids) for another two years.
I wonder if Embarcadero could do similar…
License Verification
When the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, every year your author would get an email, signed from a certain Smith (look him up, you’ll find him).
Instead of giving out my username (and licenses details — which they could easily check as that’s Embarcadero), why not provide a feature which allows you to generate GUIDs which Embarcadero’s license compliance team can check?
Previously, a Deauth and Re-authorization page was suggested.
New feature suggestion: Deauth and Reauthorization Page
There is much talk about re-installing Delphi gripes. I’ve noticed several vendors have a self-service page to authorize and de-authorize their products… why doesn’t Embarcadero have a self-service page?
When a customer receives a license token, they can easily verify.
Here’s a combined license UI, if Embarcadero adds “Get-IT” to allow licenses purchases or allow third-party license usage-metering.
Would you want to work for a business that supports the Delphi community?
Would you hire a Delphi developer who already has the tools in his tool bag?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.