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Re: Proposal: SystemD.pushers/forcers be physically beaten as revenge.



On Tue, Feb 11, 2014 at 02:46:13PM -0500, Maas Verri wrote:
> Proposal: SystemD pushers/forcers be physically beaten as revenge.

This is, of course, absolutely intolerable. Regardless of how strongly
you might feel about any technical issue within Debian, resorting to
threats of any kind of violence is unacceptable. In any sensible
jurisdiction it's not a question of good taste versus bad taste, or
freedom of speech versus censorship: threats of violence are
unambiguously illegal.

It is possible that "Maas Verri" is trolling, and does not intend the
threats to be taken seriously. It doesn't matter. They are just as
unacceptable.

Normally, I ignore trolls when I can, or attempt to deal with them by
getting listmasters involved, out of the public eye. Trolls crave
attention, and responding in public is giving them what they want.
However, sometimes the transgressions are too severe to be ignored,
and thus I'll climb on my soap box to declare that this is one of
those cases.

This is NOT OK. Anybody who thinks threats, or insults, or defamation,
is a good way to express their disappointment or disagreement is
wrong. They should step away from the computer until they have calmed
down enough to be courteous and constructive.

We have, in Debian, debated the question of what init system to use
for over two years now. When I describe it as a vigorous debate, I'm
attempting to use the under-statement that my current tea-loving
country of residence is famous for.

The debate has consumed a lot of time, energy, and goodwill. Emotions
are still running high, nerves are still raw and exposed, and this
means that a lot of people react more forcefully than they otherwise
would. Everyone needs to take this into account. Try hard not to annoy
others, and if you're annoyed, try hard to get past that before
responding to anyone about anything.

This is for all topics, not just the init system. It's clear to me
that we are, as a group, much more irritable about everything and less
trusting of each other than we were a year ago.

We've had the technical committee make a decision. It might still be
overturned by a General Resolution, but it's not too early to start
re-building the trust between Debian contributors. We have to trust
each other to have good intentions, even if we sometimes disagree with
each other about what are sensible goals to aim for, or the methods of
achieving the goals.

Once the decision is made, those who didn't like the chosen solution
need to deal with the fact that they lost the quarrel. Holding
grudges, keeping the fight alive, or otherwise not accepting the
decision is only making things worse. It'll make it harder to continue
to collaborate on Debian in the future. It'll make it harder to
achieve peace and emotional and mental balance. It'll make it harder
to have fun.

We, the Debian project, can't let that happen. Fun is serious business
for us: without it we can't get anything much done.

Some concrete things all of us can do to make this better:

* Stop discussing init systems. No, really. Everything's been said
  already, probably many, many times. Anything you say is likely to
  irritate or anger someone. There will be a time when init systems
  are a safe topic to discuss again, but it'll take a while.

* Go meet other Debian contributors in person, be it at Debconf 14, a
  Debian sprint, a user group, or an unrelated event where some of
  happen to be. If necessary, organise something. Have tea, beer, or
  food with them, or just chat about anything except init systems.
  Wear a t-shirt saying "I don't want to talk about Debian and init
  systems, but I'm interested in backups".

* Remember what made Debian fun for you, and do that for a while. Fix
  a bug. Upload a new version of a package. Write a missing manual
  page. Translate a web page. Design a new theme for a Debian desktop.
  Teach someone to make packages.

* Find your local Finnish community gathering and achieve a high-score
  in the https://wiki.debian.org/HugAFinn game. The person with the
  highest score between now and the time the last talk at Debconf 14
  wins.

(Some of the above suggestions are not entirely serious.)

-- 
http://www.cafepress.com/trunktees -- geeky funny T-shirts
http://gtdfh.branchable.com/ -- GTD for hackers


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