Re: abandoning the rules of discourse
> To the rest of the list: We've been seeing a fair amount of noise
> recently, whether of the kind quoted above, or miscellaneous user
> questions to debian-devel (of which we've had a couple recently), or
> whatever.
>
> I propose that if we get much more we close the debian-policy and
> debian-devel lists to postings from non-developers. If there is
> demand we can create a new list where non-developers can discuss
> things, but I think the project needs us to be able to talk to each
> other in (relative) peace and quiet.
I disagree strongly with this proposition. Since there is a good chance
you have all read my previous posts on closed lists, you probably alredy
know why, and I won't repeat myself unless someone is interested. Ok
mayby I will, in principal at least: the idae of closed lists run contrary
to the very nature of free, open software. If the source is accesable,
should not the discussion that went into it's creation be also? Closing
lists makes it harder for people to take initiative themselves and become
involved, which is what Debian and other free software projects depend on.
If there should ever be a conflict of interest between developers and
users (I havn't seen a clear example of this yet, and don't expect to, I'm
delighted with the work the devopers have done so far), it may allow the
situation to deteriorate significantly before reconcilliation can be
achieved. Closed lists fuel the fears of the last item in the paranoid
(or over-cautios).
Britton Kerin
>
> Ian.
>
>
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