Re: GitHub “pull request” is useful and can be easily integrated'’
On 20 April 2015 at 02:18, Ben Finney <ben+debian@benfinney.id.au> wrote:
> Robert Collins <robertc@robertcollins.net> writes:
>
>> Have you used github? If not you should: the best position to critique
>> a system from is one of familiarity.
>
> If I were to critique only the effects GitHub has for the individual who
> uses it, that would be a valid point. As it is, I'm criticising the
> effects GitHub has on a community *including people who don't use it*.
Sure, but...
> I object to implications that criticism of GitHub's effects, on
> collaboration with peers who don't use GitHub, can be dismissed
> precisely because that person doesn't use GitHub.
For clarity, I made no such suggestion. However your critique has a
number of 'how does X work' questions which most users of Github could
answer. That makes your debate about Github seem uninformed, and
detracts from whatever your actual point is. (Simple by reducing the
signal:noise ratio of the debate).
> If a case were to be formed to argue GitHub is a monoculture pressuring
> outsiders to conform, that's a good way to do it.
If anyone had done that [discarded arguments because the person making
them isn't well informed], which they hadn't.
As to your point about community effects, I believe I addressed that
in the other thread when I pointed out that there is TTBOMK -no-
distributed solution that is working well for any community for peer
review - which is the specific feature {PR's} of Github that is under
debate.
If PR's are lock-in, so is the BTS (for Debian), Gerrit (for Gerrit
users), etc etc etc.
The challenge is social, not technical, and assessing it on technical
grounds misses the entire point. Communities have spaces to discuss
things in, and those spaces naturally end up restrictive - at least so
far - in that if you're working outside the space, even with the same
tools, you are not visible and become less relevant.
-Rob
--
Robert Collins <rbtcollins@hp.com>
Distinguished Technologist
HP Converged Cloud
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