On Wednesday 05 April 2006 11:44, JC Helary wrote: > There is a huge confusion between being a developer and having > technical rights, and being a developer and having political rights. I seriously do wonder why translators, if they really want to get the developer status, don't get together and just apply for NM. That would force the project to develop a strategy to deal with it (if there really is something that needs to be dealt with). But no, what really happens is that every year or so, there is some mild flamewar - coincidentally (?) always around the time of a DPL election - about how "things should be better" and "why are we not allowed to vote". And then things are magically silent again for about 10 months. In the end my conclusion is that most translators are quite happy with their current status. They know their work is appreciated and in general they get the support and access rights they need through the huge efforts of the i18n coordinators. The same goes for documentation writers (although there is a distinct lack of those) and website maintainers (same; hi Jutta). How do I dare say this? Simple: I _did_ enter Debian as a translator / documentation writer only last year. My NM process was one of the shortest in recent history (6 months), partly because the T&S part was reduced, partly because I had a lot of support, but mostly through showing commitment and jumping in where help was needed. In short: if you want to be a Developer, stop pussyfooting around, find an Advocate, talk things over with him/her and apply! Write a mail to the Front Desk to make it clear that you do want to enter the project as a translator or documentation writer. The main thing is to show commitment to the project. What helps a lot is being willing to work (and having done work!) on other areas than "just" translating your own language. Be prepared to go into discussion with your Account Manager if you feel (s)he is setting too technical tasks. But also be prepared to answer quite a few questions about what "suites" are, how packages move from one to the other, how the BTS works, etc. After all, you are entering Debian, so you should know at least the basics of its infrastructure and how to use it (or at least, how not to abuse it). Debian is a distribution consisting of packages, so naturally its organizational focus is on people who create those packages. But if you want to get in on another basis, you can get in. If you don't think it's worth the effort, then just be happy with the contribution you already do make and know that it is very much appreciated. If you don't want to learn the basic technical infrastructure of the project, than maybe it is better that you are not a "Developer" but instead let the i18n coordinators take the responsibility for that.
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