Re: problems with the concept of unstable -> testing
On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 08:30:22PM +0100, Thomas Viehmann wrote:
> But while you bring it up: I want a Debian where every Developer can cough up
> a minimal commitment to help with releasing. That is what "Have you fixed an
> RC bug today is about?". If all developers had fixed one RC bug in the months
> that we have been frozen, we would have run out.
Regardless of your wishes, the attitude you displayed in your previous email is
actually detrimental to Debian and the community that other people work so hard
to foster. I cannot see how you would think one justifies the other.
> The other way round works, too: Removing people who don't have that minimal
> commitment from the project and their packages from the archive would also
> allow us to release (a lot less) in a timely fashion.
I think you need to read some of the stuff by Clay Shirky. He demonstrates that
the power of new media and Internet based organisations such as the Linux
developers, Debian, Flickr, Digg, and Wikipedia actually gain their massive
organisational power by having close to zero barrier to entry for contributions
from occasional users. When you look at the statistics for these groups you see
majority overwhelming amount of work consists of one-time contributions, and the
frequency of contribution increases in ever smaller amounts.
By trying to artificially raise the barrier to entry for contributions to
Debian, you would be inadvertently crippling one of the most crucial parts to
its continued success.
> Bastian's contributions have a theme of telling other people how to do work
> that he does not want to do: What information they should want in their bug
> reports, how to release, how negligent the assistant secretary is and why he
> is even doing the secretary's, and now what to do with unstable in the
> meantime (as other's have pointed out, not a new idea, so the contribution is
> rehasing of the idea). To be honest, I'd prefer if Bastian applied his skills
> to helping a project I'm not a member of.
I am not going to comment on his behaviour, your comments may very well be
justified. But I do think it would do the project some good if we all learnt to
embrace each others commitment levels, attitudes and opinions -- without
resorting to rudeness, unkindness, or personal attacks.
--
Noah Slater, http://tumbolia.org/nslater
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