About the argument with the speed, yeah sure you should not use it that way in an productive environment but for local testing I think it’s reasonable as you get a lot of benefits from it.

For the productive environment you need to create one file out of all this files, but this can also be taken care of by the Repository.

I now explain my ideas in far more detail on the thread, please take another look.
http://is.gd/gP2G

New users will feel more comfortable picking the framework if there is a plugins section on the main homepage. It acts as a quick reference to the size of the community, inspires confidence that plugins will be easy to find, and provides examples on how mootools works.

Id rather look at some popular plugins when being introduced to a language then read through documentation.

My thoughts:

@dave, your theory that we are all introverts I think is probably not the case. Any community is a mix of people, some who are not likely to ever share their thoughts or work, but others who are. The key, I think, is that we – the developers of MooTools – need to encourage this, even if the outcome of other people’s work is something we would never write or use. Just seeing other people write stuff and post about it should be a cause for accolades.

@chris, I fixed the comment area! I’ll also add a simple editor to it.

@thomas, I too am focused less on the core than I used to be. It does it’s job and I focus my time on extending and adding plugins.

@tim, the value of having Clientcide be it’s own thing is that I can both speak more freely about my work and about MooTools from my perspective as well as share code that maybe isn’t up to the standards that everyone expects from MooTools. I can be a little more reckless here.

@thomas, you have some nice features in your plugin support and I like them, though I’m not sure your approach makes the most sense for an official repository. The repository requires things like integration with SVN/Git/CVS so that users can acquire the latest code as well as a download builder. Your method of importing scripts is convenient to use as a programmer but ultimately means much slower pages for users of such sites.

@Tim, I don’t see MooTools focusing on outreach to the extent you suggest any time soon. I’m by far the most outward facing person on the team (indeed, my main contribution is outreach, at this point). The fact is, we just aren’t the kind of people who seek the limelight. Resig talks all over the world about jQuery, which in many ways is an extension of himself. That’s awesome and I’m sure he enjoys it. But if that’s not something you want to spend your time doing, it could be hell to put yourself through it. I’m quite content to blog about my thoughts and leave it at that.

1) I completely agree that MooTools needs a plugin repository, and am really really happy to hear that it is in the works. While I myself would probably not use it much I think it generates a lot of good attention. One of the greatest aspects of jQuery, and one reason why so many people go that route, is that it has a thriving plugin repository. This needs to be integrated into the MooTools site and, if all goes well, needs to host some decent plugins worth attention.

2) It would be nice to have some feedback from core developers, and one way this could happen is the make it a point for weekly or bi-weekly updates on MooTool’s blog. The core developers could take turns writing posts concerning updates, patches, plugins etc. This means that the time spent writing posts would be shared and would not be much of a burden for each individual.

I think one of the real obstacles is voicing the strengths of MooTools across the Internet. The real problem with the MooTools community is that it seems isolated. I watch the jQuery community spread as more and more blogs are posting the “30 Best jQuery Scripts” or “Improving Your jQuery Skills.” This isn’t happening by chance. And there is no one reason.

John Resig is very vocal about jQuery. He posts comments on a large number of jQuery related blog articles. Corporate types are becoming more familiar with it as opposed to MooTools, Prototype or other frameworks (partially due to Resig). This causes them to push the framework onto their developers. And, as the web of supporters grows larger it gains momentum and begins to catapult itself. MooTools needs some sort of spark to get a “movement” of sorts going. I’m not really sure how this would happen, and how to go about it. Maybe it is out of anyone’s control. But I know that this framework has the capability of branching out much much further than it currently does. I think it really comes down to people voicing its strengths. Not just the core developers, but any fan at all.

I have an idea about an easy Plugin Repository, it’s not about a forge it’s about easy use of Plugins and centralizing it [something like that could be included into a forge, or built on it's own]

I created a screencast about it – just take a look: http://is.gd/gP4D
and discuss about it on mooforum: http://is.gd/gP2G

The only thing I’m missing is the forum. I’ve never been fond of mailinglists, IRC, groups or anything other than forums for community interaction.

I think Debian GNU/Linux is a great example here. It boasts a huge community, yet documentation and examples can be hard to find because it’s located on dusty old mailinglists and blogs scattered around the net. When I first saw the Gentoo distribution, it had a official forum, and even though gentoo is more complicated to manage than Debian, it was always possible to find a fix for it on the forum. I think forums are more user friendly and is more prone to people chipping in because of this.

I read your blog where you explained why the forum got closed and I understand that, yet I still think mootools should have an official forum for it’s users to share it’s experience. I’m not saying the core team should be the forums front figures there, I think the community will eventually become that.

Another thing I could use is a combination of mootools.net and clientcide.com, that is, frequent blogging, plugin repository, wiki and tutorials.