Re: NM frustrations...
On Thu, 22 Feb 2001, Nils Lohner wrote:
> >>It means that the DAM is anything but objective, and will arbitrarily
> >>delay your approval if annoyed.
> >
> >Too bad. This does badly damage the project's reputation.
>
> Debian is made up of only volunteers. They donate time and effort. If
> people annoy them, what reason do they have to continue to work?
This is skirting the issue. This excuse is pulled out of the hat far too
many times to be taken seriously anymore. I'm not speaking just of
Debian, but the Free Software community in general.
> Most people do volunteer work because they enjoy it, and if the work
> environment ceases to be enjoyable, they (obviously) have less
> initiative to work and may think about stopping etc.
As is their right, of course.
> As far as Debian's reputation goes, I'd like to see some more detailed
> information on the 'badly damaged' reputation. Among whom? The 'want
> to be new maintainer' crowd? I don't see this as affecting more than
> that.
It's damaged its reputation in my eyes, and I am just a regular
joe-user. Honestly, I'd rather be dependent on a new maintainer who's
critical of having to wait in the queue for a long time than the
unpredictable and unreliable whims of an old one who gets annoyed with
legitimate questions and frustrations.
If I'm a user and have problems with the distribution, I want to be
assured that my concerns will be addressed and not blown off as an
annoyance. There's a very practical reason that we want New Maintainers
to be treated well. If something is broken in the NM process, address
the problem and keep the New Maintainers informed. Lead by example.
> Debian's purpose is to put out a high quality Linux distro. And
> despite all the flaws that Debian may have, we seem to accomplish it.
Agreed. IMHO Debian tops all other distributions.
> If that's what you're interested in helping with, and there's an
> unresponsive DAM in the way, then IMO you're not trying very hard.
You're blaming the victim. The new maintainer _is_ trying hard. He got
rebuked for his efforts.
> There are many ways to help. Hop on IRC and ask what you can work on,
> and I think you'll get more responses than you know what to do with.
He _has_ asked to help. That's why he's in the NM queue!
-Dave
--
"Some little people have music in them, but Fats, he was all music,
and you know how big he was." -- James P. Johnson
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