Re: [gentoo-dev] Re: ML changes

[Chris Gianelloni]

On Fri, 2007-07-13 at 08:34 +0200, Christian Faulhammer wrote:
> Mike Doty <kingtaco@g.o>:
>
> > We're voting on this next council meeting so if you have input, now
> > would be the time.
>
>  Really, I don't like the idea...the list has been calm for some time
> now, the discussions were lengthy sometimes but not aggressive.

So because there isn't a problem *right now* you'd rather do nothing?

Isn't that the same kind of thinking that constantly gets Gentoo into
these sorts of problems in the first place?

Rather than pull and ostrich and put our head in the sand every time
something happens in Gentoo land, I would much rather see us try to
actually do something to prevent it/resolve it.  We're volunteers.
Nobody expects us to be perfect, and if anyone does expect that, they
should prepare to be constantly disappointed.  We don't have to be
"right" all the time.  We can make mistakes.  However, sitting around
hoping every problem we ever have resolves itself or trying to form
committees to discuss every single little thing for days/months/years
doesn't improve Gentoo in any way.

I am so waiting for my term to end on the Council so I can procmail this
list to /dev/null and never have to deal with this sort of crap again.
Sure, I'll miss some important information, but the signal to noise is
so high (like this email and most of the emails proceeding it) that it
is damn near impossible to get any decent technical discussions going
on.

Here's another take on this "issue" that I'm sure lots of people will
take offense to, but I don't care.

What if your opinion doesn't really matter?

Think about that for a minute.  We're hearing tons of this "well, if
$blah happens, then..." argument form people.  No offense meant to any
of you personally, but leave.  If you're really that offended by this,
you might as well pack up now and save yourself a month of waiting.  It
is very likely that the Council is going to enact this.  It is fully
within the Council's rights to do so, even *without* getting anyone's
opinions but our own.  That is kinda the *point* of the Council, to be
able to make decisions like this where it is *obvious* that there are
going to be multiple sides and likely never a consensus on what to do.
So rather than sit around doing nothing and letting this linger for
months (waiting for the next Council?  Are you serious?) and months, we
would prefer to do something about it.  If that means voting and turning
it down, then so be it.  If it means approving it and enacting it, then
you have a simple course of action.  Don't vote for us again (not like
that will be a problem) and vote for nominees that think more like you
do on this particular issue.  Just remember, that no matter who you vote
for (unless you vote for yourself), there are going to be times when
that person's opinion differs from your own.  That's just the way things
are in a representative government.  If you really have a problem with
this, I suggest you move on to another distribution which governs itself
differently.  Remember, it was Gentoo's own developers, via a global
vote, that enacted the current "government" structure for Gentoo.  If
you don't like it, blame yourselves.  :P

-- 
Chris Gianelloni
Release Engineering Strategic Lead
Alpha/AMD64/x86 Architecture Teams
Games Developer/Soon to be former Council Member and glad/Foundation Trustee
Gentoo Foundation