[gentoo-dev] Re: Nominations open for the Gentoo Council 2007/08

[Duncan]

Chris Gianelloni <wolf31o2@g.o> posted
1183673856.8491.42.camel@××××××××××××××××.org, excerpted below, on  Thu,
05 Jul 2007 15:17:36 -0700:

> On Mon, 2007-07-02 at 21:10 +0200, Torsten Veller wrote:
>> Chris Gianelloni 	   wolf31o2
>
> While I thank you for the nomination for next year's Gentoo Council, I
> have decided that I no longer wish to be associated with the Gentoo
> Council or any other form of "management" or "leadership" within Gentoo.
> It is simply too stressful[. [Note] that of the original elected
> Council, two have retired (both due to being tired of having the shit
> roll downhill to them) from Gentoo completely, and three of the
> remaining aren't running for re-election.
>
> Being a Council member is the worst job in Gentoo.  Be sure you're ready
> to be treated like complete shit from your fellow developers all the
> while having your integrity questioned daily before accepting your
> nominations.  I know that I wouldn't accept a position on the Gentoo
> Council even if it was a paying job.
>
> I've also come to realize that trying to give a single direction to
> something like Gentoo is an extremely foolish endeavor.  The better
> solution is smaller projects and tasks that have defined goals and can
> actually be accomplished[.  T]he Council is definitely needed[, but]
> their focus should be on attainable and measurable goals, not lofty
> dreamy-eyed goals with no real way to measure whether we're moving in
> the right direction.

The following is JMHO...

So it sounds like you've come out of the year as a council member more 
cynical, more reality-eyed as compared to starry-eyed, in a word, more 
/mature/.

Too bad you are /not/ running again, as arguably, that sort of wisdom, 
experience and maturity, an appreciation of how reality actually works as 
opposed to theory, is just the sort of thing that Gentoo /needs/ on the 
council.

FWIW, nobody's perfect, but IMO, the outgoing council did reasonably well 
given what it ran on, where it started, and the events that happened on 
their watch that they had to deal with.  Many councilors ran saying 
Gentoo needed to shake things up, and the council going in vowed to be an 
activist council.  I was a bit concerned at that, but whatever.  They 
WERE an activist council, changing a number of things, driving Gentoo 
forward in a number of areas, often in spite of opposition.  In other 
areas, they tried things and those things failed, but they tried.  They 
may not have accomplished everything they wanted, but who does?  They 
certainly were activist, however, and proved both some things that work 
and some things that don't.  That's more than we knew before, and no way 
to know without trying.  Hopefully, those lessons will be taken to heart 
by the next council, whoever they end up being.

And no, I can't say I blame you for not taking the renomination.  It's 
still a shame, tho.  Maybe with a year off...  

Regardless of where you go in relation to Gentoo, I believe a decade from 
now looking back, you'll find the experience a turning point in your 
life, something you'll ultimately say you wouldn't change and that 
changed you for the better, regardless of how hard it was while you were 
going thru it.

So anyway, thanks to you and the entire council for serving.  Someone has 
to, and I can't see how it could have turned out better with anyone else.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman

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