why hijacking is bad (and salvaging is good) Re: Orphaning php-codesniffer, then take it over by the PHP PEAR team

[Holger Levsen <holger@layer-acht.org>]

Hi,

On Freitag, 1. Juni 2012, Steve Langasek wrote:
[...]
> This is very different from what some people mean when they use the word
> hijack.  In part, I think we have a terminological problem here; I don't
> know if it's a matter of non-native speakers using the word differently,
> but the word "hijack" clearly refers to a /hostile act/.  By definition,
> anything that could legitimately be called a hijack should not be
> permitted; and anything that we believe should be permitted should not be
> referred to as "hijacking".  Otherwise, people will infer that all kinds
> of
> inappropriate and hostile behavior is ok when it shouldn't be.
> 
> And when people *do* engage in that kind of hostile behavior, yes, I think
> it should be referred to the TC and we should disapprove of it.  But when
> people are taking reasonable steps to confirm that a package is abandoned
> before taking it over - let's call this "salvage" - I have no problem with
> that; it should be encouraged and supported.

thanks for explaining, makes completly sense to me now! :-) 

(And I do think it's partly a language issue. For non-native speakers "hijack" 
is probably a bit more romantic and less obviously evil 8-)


cheers,
	Holger

(And for those poor people (should they exist...) just reading my mail and not 
Steve's and thus having no idea what is ment with "salvaging a package": go 
read Steve's mail.)