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List:       gentoo-dev
Subject:    Re: <DKIM> [gentoo-dev] Hello Everyone
From:       Rich Freeman <rich0 () gentoo ! org>
Date:       2015-02-23 20:01:50
Message-ID: CAGfcS_knQskO54DGxSmC-b0QqkydPq1RAeuPqN2jJ5AE_+UGsw () mail ! gmail ! com
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On Mon, Feb 23, 2015 at 8:25 AM, Peter Stuge <peter@stuge.se> wrote:
> Anthony G. Basile wrote:
>> On 02/22/15 12:08, Nicolas Sebrecht wrote:
>>> * Fun is lost for a long time.
>>
>> This is is extremely false.
>
> It's a very subjective matter. I don't doubt that Gentoo is fun for
> some or many or even all developers. I also have no doubt that the
> process of becoming a developer isn't fun for Nicolas.
>

I can't imagine that his post will make the process of becoming a
developer any more fun for him, if that is one of his goals.
Communications/relations is definitely one of the things recruiters
look at.  If we move to a more review-based workflow those skills
actually become even more important.

I think we should be able to have frank discussion of
issues/ideas/etc.  However, when the sarcasm/passive-aggressive level
starts rising to the point where somebody just asking for how they can
help out gets an ultra-cynical reply suggesting that Gentoo isn't
worth their time, then maybe the solution to some of our manpower
problems is to block certain individuals from posting to the lists.

Many of the statements in his post were outright false.  Others
suggest that nobody in the dev community cares about some of the
problems we do have, which is far from the truth.  The issues just
aren't trivial to solve.  A challenge here is that Gentoo means
different things to different people.  If there were only one binary
distro out there then they'd struggle with the same kinds of
divisions.  What really brings us together is that we have some kind
of problem/interest that is solved by the use of a source-based
distro.  If we were one of a hundred source-based distros we could be
the distro for hardened servers, or for desktops, or for embedded.  I
think our divisions actually in some sense reflect our success - we're
actually good at so many things that we're all over the map in terms
of our goals/culture/etc.

I think this is actually an exciting time to get involved with Gentoo.
We're in the midst of a lot of change, which of course brings
frustration for both those who want things to change faster and those
who perhaps would prefer less change.  However, this is a time where
one person who is determined can make a big difference.  If you try to
make an improvement and find some kind of roadblocks being thrown in
your path, speak up about it.  In almost every case of this that was
escalated to the Council in the last year, the Council has generally
supported the person who wants to get into something over those who
would prefer to keep them out.  The only thing we generally ask is
that everybody acts responsibly to prevent messes, and that you fix
the messes you make and not just dump them on others.

Bottom line is that in FOSS you get a lot further with a line of code
than a line of email.

-- 
Rich

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