Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: Upcoming posting restrictions on the gentoo-dev mailing list

[Lars Wendler]

Hi Gordon,

On Wed, 10 Jan 2018 23:37:39 -0600 Gordon Pettey wrote:

>On Wed, Jan 10, 2018 at 10:22 PM, Duncan <1i5t5.duncan@×××.net> wrote:
>> Andreas K. Huettel posted on Thu, 11 Jan 2018 02:12:47 +0100 as
>> excerpted:
>>> Am Mittwoch, 10. Januar 2018, 18:16:33 CET schrieb Vincent-Xavier
>>> JUMEL:
>>>> Le 2018-01-10 10:53, Michał Górny a écrit :
>>>> > Last I checked, Gentoo was a Linux distribution. However, some
>>>> > people prefer to turn it into open discussion forum that has
>>>> > nothing to do with making a distribution.
>>>>
>>>> No it has. Giving power to a subset of users, denying interaction
>>>> with future contributors unless they enroll is the eaxct way to
>>>> kill Gentoo as a community !
>>>
>>> We wouldn't have needed to go this far if not for a few outside
>>> trolls who
>>> * keep pushing their personal agenda in endless threads,
>>> * confuse their own inability to contribute with being a mistreated
>>> underdog,
>>> * and keep commenting opinionated on technical things they
>>> plainly have no clue about (while whining when are told they sprout
>>> bulls##t).
>>>
>>> We do not have a problem with "future contributors". I wager those
>>> will rather increase in numbers once the list spam is gone.
>>
>>
>> This has been my biggest concern about the whole thing:
>>
>> Are we going to be nipping future devs in the bud because there's
>> now too many hoops to jump thru too early, and it's simply not worth
>> the trouble when they can (and will) go elsewhere where it's easier,
>>
>> OR
>>
>> Are we going to be lowering the unwelcoming noise, confusion and
>> name- calling threshold and making the community more welcoming for
>> those who have a serious interest, clearing out some of the stuff
>> that could otherwise discourage them.
>>
>>
>> It's pretty clear that council believes it's the latter, at least to
>> the degree that they're willing to try it for a time, effectively a
>> wager of sorts, but I don't believe anyone can honestly say what the
>> real effect one way or the other will be until it /is/ tried.
>>
>>
>> Personally, my viewpoint is that while over the last year or so there
>> were some 1-2 level frustrating posters on a 5-point scale, it's
>> nothing compared to the level-4 (direct name calling, just short of
>> physical threats that justify getting the law involved) stuff that
>> I've seen on this list in the some-years-distant past.  In my mind,
>> unquestionably that level-4 stuff required action, and it was taken.
>>
>> The recent stuff seems so much milder in comparison that IMO it's
>> hard to see what the hubbub is all about, but there's certainly an
>> argument to be made that the previous experience simply desensitized
>> our detection meters, and that were it not for that, the recent
>> stuff would seem rather more shocking and horrible than it does, and
>> that even if it's /less/ horrible, it's horrible /enough/ that it
>> remains unacceptable in a civilized society, and if we /do/ accept
>> it, we're effectively pushing others that won't, out.
>
>Given the quantity of relevant problem-mail that came from
>@gentoo.org, maybe the glass house dwellers should be careful where
>they aim their stones. I considered taking the dev quiz and everything
>instead of just posting a few ebuilds on bugzilla years ago, but the
>elitist, as Alex labelled it, voices from @gentoo.org are what made me
>decide not to, and my decision keeps getting reinforced. That
>impression has been there for years, and it's not getting better by
>this.
>

very sad you got that impression. And unfortunately, I cannot even
wholeheartedly deny that this is true.
Given the fact that we are severely understaffed when it comes to
active developers, I hope you will reconsider your decision at some
point and start doing the quizzes.

Kind regards

-- 
Lars Wendler
Gentoo package maintainer
GPG: 21CC CF02 4586 0A07 ED93  9F68 498F E765 960E 9B39