Product creation usually begins with a question.

In the case of the WF Thread Downloader it was a simple question my friend and JV partner, Tom, asked on an onging Skype chat in which we both participate. Tom asked, “anyone know how to get all posts in a Warrior Forum thread to display in the printer friendly view? I don’t want to have to create 19 pdfs to get one thread!”

His question was answered with resounding silence.

On the ongoing Tom/Elmer Skype chat I offered a possible in place solution–without first checking it–that proved not to work. (Once again I’ve learned the definition of assume.)
Over the next couple hours or so Tom and I chatted back and forth about the benefits and necessary features of a forum thread download utility. All the while he was diligently coding. He would code, test and send me the output to compare with the original work. Before long the “proof of concept” product was up and running.

Less than two and a half hours after posing his question Tom made this post in the group chat: “to answer my own question, I didn’t find any way to get all posts in a thread, so I wrote a program to download all pages in a thread … problem solved”

Over the next few hours, as group members had the chance to drop in, the comments–all positive–began arriving.

Three or four of our non-Mac using friends offered to test the WF Thread Downloader for us.

Now the work begins in earnest…

If there is one takeaway (so far) from this little tale, it’s this: (And it has nothing to do with programming skills or ability.)

When faced with a question that doesn’t seem to have an easy answer keep searching. Tenacity pays!