[gentoo-dev] Re: My turn to wear the cursed medalion of retirement

[Steve Long]

Alexandre Buisse wrote:
> I think the time has come for me to retire as a gentoo dev. There are
> multiple reasons to that, but mainly, it has stopped being fun a good
> while ago, and I don't like where I see the project heading.
>
Man well if it stopped being fun, fair enuff. I hope you'll continue to use
gentoo and contribute without the grief.

> I'm also worried of how more and more things get done secretly, be it
> because "we don't want bad PR" or because "feedback at this stage would
> only slow things down". We shouldn't consider users as idiots or people
> from whom we need to hide. This is free software, remember?
>
I didn't realise things were done secretly (of course ;) There's always
going to be people discussing stuff in private, but at least the council
meetings are in public.

++ to your sentiments about usrs. From what I can see, too many devs look
down on them (despite having started off as usrs.) For that reason alone, I
am really sad to see you go.

Sorry I missed in the other post about that you were leaving. Especially as
I use tex for my academic work..

> Another thing that I dislike are the rules that get added everywhere.
> There is a growing layer of bureaucracy, and I really don't think we
> want to go in this direction. It restricts freedom, it takes time and
> energy and it encourages playing "by the rule book" which I thought was
> opposed to the very spirit of free software. More rules won't help us
> solving whatever problems we may have, but it will certainly make the
> project less fun to work on.
>
TBH I think all that was needed was saying that the pre-existing rules apply
to all on the dev m-l, and actually *enforcing* those rules for devs.
Devrel is clearly not set up for that, so I support the new dev-mods (sorry
proctors is a silly name imnsho as only Americans get it. I understand from
a US buddy that a proctor is someone who gives you an aural examination cf
viva. I /really/ dislike that connotation.)
 
> I see a general trend, sometimes wished for, of becoming a business-like
> environment. Including a proper hierarchy and a "rule enforcement"
> department. Well, I'll tell you what: I don't want a boss, especially on
> a voluntary project. And, though I perfectly understand that this is not
> shared by everyone else, I couldn't care less about being a business or
> not.
>
Amen to that; I don't think working on a Free project precludes standards of
behaviour tho. And like it or not, someone has to enforce them.

> To end my list of griefs, I really dislike the fact that people with a
> gentoo.org address think of themselves as somehow better than users (I
> don't throw the stone to anyone, I certainly did indulge in this as
> well). I feel that gentoo is not enough about users, and that they don't
> get even the respect everyone deserves. Unfortunately, projects like
> userrel can only do so much when the real problem is in everyone's
> mindset. And I don't really see a solution to this problem being found
> anytime soon, since the said problem isn't even acknowledged.
>
Well at least a *dev* has said it now ;)

> I'm aware that in a perfect world, I would stay on board and try to
> steer the project in a direction that I would like. I tried that for a
> bit and it was quite obvious that I wouldn't be supported by a
> significant part of the community. And I don't have the time nor energy
> to lobby this properly. I had some ideas for a metastructure proposal
> that would perhaps have helped some of the issues I talked about, but I
> honestly don't think it would have stood any chance of being accepted,
> especially since it would have meant suppressing the council power *and*
> would have needed to be voted by the same council.
>
I think you're underestimating the *current* council. But meh, you've left
now.

<snip> 
> As a final word (sorry, this got a bit longer than planned), let me say
> that if I sounded bitter in the beginning of this email, it's only
> because I care a lot about gentoo, and I hope that this email, in its
> modest way, will help making it a little bit better.
>
Thanks for your clear reasoning. I'm really sorry that gentoo has lost yet
another dev, and that you've had such a bad experience recently. My
apologies to you for any part I have played in that.

Good luck, mate!


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