Re: [gentoo-dev] devs on IRC (was :Regen2 ( was QA Overlay Layout support ))

[Thilo Bangert]

Donnie Berkholz <dberkholz@g.o> said:
> On 19:06 Wed 11 Mar     , Thilo Bangert wrote:
> > > > the presumption seems to be, that as a dev one has to be
> > > > available via IRC. it has long been my feeling that Gentoo as a
> > > > project could realize more of its potential by better integrating
> > > > people who dont do IRC.
>
> I think IRC helps to build a more tightly knit community and, because
> of this, is very important to Gentoo. The less close we are as a
> community, the more free we feel to be hostile because we don't see the
> folks on the other end of the big tube as real people. It's much like a
> technique that militaries use during wars to de-personalize the enemy,
> except with the Internet, we start that way and have to apply effort to
> grow closer.

so you say, that presumption is ok? i agree 100% with what you say, but it 
doesnt (at least directly) address my concern. i think IRC is an excellent 
medium - the problems i see, though, are related to the fact that IRC 
requires all stakeholders to be available at the time of discussion. for a 
multitude of reasons this can almost never be guaranteed. also, even if we 
did have IRC logs, the signal to noise ratio on IRC is devastating (at 
least in my experience).

for those reasons, i would like to see more bridge-building between the 
worlds. i didnt want to give examples, as i dont like pointing fingers, 
but here it is: relengs discussion to switch to weekly autobuilds. 
presumably there hast been one, but i cant find it in the list archives. 
not on gentoo-dev@g.o and not on gentoo-releng@g.o - where else should i 
look? IRC perhaps - well, where are the logs? interestingly, the 
announcement of the switch has a pointer to the releng project page, which 
does not even mention the IRC channel.

from looking at the releng mailing list one gets the impression that 
releng in gentoo is dead. its not - i know and am greatful for the hard 
work everybody in releng puts in - but it makes the releng project much 
less accessible. to follow, or contribute.

thanks for listening
kind regards
Thilo