Re: A question to the Debian community ...
MJ Ray <mjr@phonecoop.coop> writes:
> Russ Allbery <rra@debian.org> wrote:
>> The difference in a professional workplace is that the people in
>> authority aren't shy to make decisions, make them much earlier and
>> faster, and enforce them in a considerably more draconian fashion than
>> Debian does.
> Professional is not a synonym of dictatorial.
No, in this case it's a synonym for "traditional workplace at a corporate
or large non-profit with a hierarchical management structure." I don't
consider such environments to be dictatorial (that's a rather strong
term), but this sort of problem would not have gone on as long as it has
and would have been ended far more definitively (and probably more
arbitrarily) in any workplace environment that I've been involved in.
That doesn't mean that's better! If you thought I was saying that, you're
reading too much into what I said. It's different. There are pluses and
minuses. That's why I don't agree that this is a fundamental flaw in
Debian. It's more of a side effect of our governance model, which partly
falls out of the volunteer nature of the project.
> I am glad never to have worked full-time in such a workplace and would
> like to remind the project that another world is possible. Instead of
> lusting after such hard-and-heavy rulings, which almost never happen in
> volunteer projects, we must try to find practical solutions.
Well, I don't agree that they almost never happen. I think Debian is
unusual in its forbearance. But in general I agree with your sentiment
when it comes to Debian.
--
Russ Allbery (rra@debian.org) <http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/>
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