Re: [gentoo-dev] Through the looking glass: Reflections on Gentoo

[Simon Stelling]

Hi,

Ivan Sakhalin wrote:
>     Now, our memories of the past are not always as thruthful as we
> would like
> them to be, selective memory is what makes some large things small and some
> small things large. So let us not idealize the past as if it had no
> problems,
> but let us try to keep a perspective on how things have changed, evolved
> maybe, into what they are now and what they may become.

Let us also not forget that a very vocal minority doesn't make a majority.

>     Many good people, having all attained the rank of full developer, have
> retired, with a noticeable increase in the last trimester or so. Some have
> retired to avoid all the political tomfoolery that kept them from enjoying
> their work, some left as they found something else to fill that special
> place
> in their heart. Some, sadly, did not feel they could contribute enough as
> real life took its toll - may they find some time in the future. And a very
> selected few, regrettably, were retired against their will.

Depends on your point of view. Some of these "regrettable" cases weren't 
that regrettable to me.

>     These removals even went outside the ranks of developers - the hostile
> takeover of some IRC channels has caused unneeded tension between groups
> that
> should cooperate. It is a sad day when the appearance of a gentoo developer
> may be the first sign that your channel will now be censored and people
> removed that have dissenting opinions.

I don't know what you're talking about here. Can you elaborate?

> a few people. But when people are denied an appeal and devrel unilaterally
> decides, ignoring policies and common sense, what is one supposed to think?

Same here.

> Everything that is not official (for certain undefined values of official -
> objectivity seems to be lost on many humans) is attacked, torn apart and

By the very vocal minority. Be reminded that the large majority of the 
devs doesn't give a damn, to be clear.

> insulted. A great example of that is the Sunrise Overlay, which has become
> quite a success, with a few of the community members becoming devs - at the
> same time I see with sadness that at least one dev has retired because of
> Sunrise. What madness there is when people leave such a great project
> because

One. It was his own choice, so I don't think that incident is too dramatic.

>     I ask you not to redo the errors of the past and remember the lessons
> learned - there is so much that needs to be done, but no single person has
> the strength to do them. Cooperate you must, my friends. Only when you
> leave
> the infighting and bureaucracy behind can you aspire to true greatness.

You're not the first one to figure this out. It looks quite simple, and 
everybody will agree with your statement above, because it is not 
practical at all. As soon as you get into implementation of above 
wisdom, things get complicated. So, if you seriously want to help 
Gentoo, do it in a concrete manner.

>        - Reduce the rules so that things can be done without a week of
> discussion for every small idea

This is a very interesting idea. Do you genuinely think that less rules 
will result in less discussion? Quite the contrary, my friend. If there 
is no rule for an action, there will be a discussion whether said action 
was good or not.

We don't need more or less rules, we need better rules.

>        - how can the environment be improved so that people can enjoy their
> work and not care about silly problems?

Shut up the people that cause silly problems. We've done it before, it 
works.

> So, with that being said, I hope that things change for the better.

I doubt so, to be honest.

-- 
Kind Regards,

Simon Stelling
Gentoo/AMD64 Developer
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