[ Please leave me CC'ed ]
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> writes:
My original point was that people who do not actually exercise
their franchise are unlikely to be one of the active set -- and need
to be looked at to see if they are indeed inactive. Having inactive
members is not itself unhealthy, except it does inflate quorum a
trifle, which can be bad in supermajority votes.
That's fair enough.
Additionally, identifying inactive developers would help in
deciding which packages need attention; un maintained packages do
hurt the project.
This is not the place to discuss the rest of my position as
evidenced in the log; we can shift to -project for that.
You go beyond looking at non-voters to pissing on those who maintain
few packages - calling them a 'net loss' to the project. That's a
disheartening position from someone so active in Debian. There's a
big difference between saying, accurately, that the people who do a
lot are much more important to the project, and discounting those who,
for reasons unbeknownst to you may not be that active at any given
moment.
Debian acts as a 'stepping stone' for many people - it gives them a
way to get involved in the free software world without being an expert
hacker. *Everyone* here started with one package. We need to accept
that some people will never really contribute more, and that others
will grow into positions of greater contribution. Others, having
contributed a lot in the past, maybe decide to step back for a while.
I think that we should continue to support these people.
Furthermore, 'package count' is a bad metric in any case, as there are
people who are active in translation, or maybe maintain difficult
packages, so beyond negativity, your comments don't seem to point to
any way to actually improve the project, but just complain.
Manoj, I think that you really enjoy debate, but at times you go too
far, and end up pissing people off for no really good reason other
than your enjoyment of a good flamewar. Even if you are right about
something, being harsher than necessary is not helpful behavior.
Of course Manoj isn't the only one who is guilty of this. I think we
all do it at times, and we need to be mindful of it.