Re: long-standing bugs and tar pits
On 9/16/22 1:03 PM, Russ Allbery wrote:
> "G. Branden Robinson" <g.branden.robinson@gmail.com> writes:
>
> > That said, such people define "constructively" in an odd way, as can be
> > seen above; they assert that the only way they experience respect is to
> > be _obeyed_. They claim that they are treated as second-class citizens
> > because they are not deferred to like monarchs--or dictators. I advise
> > people to be watchful for this pattern because you can be sucked into an
> > energy-sapping dynamic that reduces your channel capacity as a volunteer
> > and dilutes your enjoyment of (what should be) a collaborative
> > environment.
>
> Yes, this.
>
> After my message clearly hit a nerve, I went back and reviewed the
> debian-user threads that started this out of curiosity, and I see that it
> had already reached the point of Chuck expressing his suspicions that
> we're maliciously sabotaging Debian for our employers by not fixing bugs
> (!!) [1]. I'm not seeing a glorious collaborative future here.
>
> It's okay, and even desirable, to give a chilly reception to people who
> approach free software projects with this level of persistent entitlement.
So Chuck Zmudzinski is on trial for hating Debian. What is
the penalty? He cannot be allowed to contribute to Debian.
That is the sentence you and some others are trying to impose
on me.
I suppose you can be allowed to have that opinion about me,
but you are not the BDFL of Debian. No one is. Yet, there
are people who could kick me off this list, but they have
not. I will make a note of the fact that I would not want
Russ Allbery to become the BDFL of Debian, because if
you were, you surely would have done it by now. And you
would be kicking off the list a person who thinks Debian
is amazing, both the software it produces and the people
who produce it.
Best regards,
Chuck
> These folks are usually negative effort: the amount of annoyance and
> disruption that they cause exceeds the value their technical contributions
> could add. The ones who are willing to learn and change their behavior
> will figure out why no one is willing to help them and try a different
> approach.
>
> Free software projects are uniquely vulnerable to people who attempt to
> manipulate you by making you feel like a failure for not having addressed
> their specific problem. Avoiding that emotional trap is an important part
> of healthy boundary setting and sustainability.
>
> Debian is something we build together, voluntarily and consensually. When
> someone needs a break, other people carry the load, or sometimes we put
> the whole thing down and rest for a bit. We don't berate each other for
> not working harder.
>
> [1] https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2022/09/msg00267.html
> https://lists.debian.org/debian-user/2022/09/msg00297.html
>
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