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List:       kmail-devel
Subject:    What I almost did.
From:       Don Sanders <sanders () kde ! org>
Date:       2002-09-10 12:10:36
[Download RAW message or body]

Hi All,

I want people to see a couple of messages I wrote and have had in my 
drafts folder for over a week. I was so close to sending these mails, 
so very close.

I don't intend to go through with the action lists in the intent to 
ban subscriber from list mail.

Instead I would just like to show people how very close I am came to 
retiring from KDE development because of what has happened.

Don.


["forwarded message" (message/rfc822)]

From: Don Sanders <sanders@kde.org>
X-KMail-Identity: 562112625
To: kmail@mail.kde.org
Subject: Re: Zero-copy parsing of messages achieved
Date: Mon, 9 Sep 2002 16:01:45 +1000
User-Agent: KMail/1.4.7
References: <200209011823.03240.sanders@kde.org> <200209062254.16411.sanders@kde.org> \
                <200209061321.35127.bastian@kde.org>
In-Reply-To: <200209061321.35127.bastian@kde.org>
X-KMail-Link-Message: 488898
X-KMail-Link-Type: reply
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Disposition: inline
Status: RO
X-Status: O
X-KMail-EncryptionState:  
X-KMail-SignatureState:  
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="iso-8859-15"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

On Saturday 07 September 2002 06:21, Waldo Bastian wrote:
> -----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE-----
> Hash: SHA1
> 
> On Friday 06 September 2002 05:54 am, Don Sanders wrote:
> > I didn't seek out Michael and ask him to replace me it was his
> > own choice to join me.
> > 
> > I have never renounced maintainership of KMail nor have I ever
> > abandoned the project. It was inappropriate of others to assume
> > that I had.
> 
> The About KMail boxs does not list you as a Maintainer. You did not
> object to that change for 9 months which, if you were indeed the
> Maintainer, you could/would. As far as I am concerned it is without
> question that Michael is the current Maintainer. Get over it.

I vehemently disagree.

I adopted this project during the difficult pre-KDE2 times when everyone else had abandoned it \
like they did KRN. I alone objected to it being removed from cvs when it was in trouble. I \
insisted on this mailing list being set up when told there was no point as there would be no \
traffic. I ignored the jeers and ridicule from people who said I was wasting my time and that \
KMail was dead. I cared for this project and worked on it alone every minute of my free time \
for months. I watched the header fields and It was during my most active development period  \
that KMail became the most popular mail client of choice amongst KDE users and even KDE \
developers.

That gives me right to maintainership of the project.

Yes I've had some hard months where I've found it difficult to contribute actively, and other \
months I haven't committed because I've been working on large disruptive changes but I never \
renounced my maintainership or abandoned the project. I always said I would contribute more \
actively again once I settled down in one place and got my non KDE obligations under control. I \
shouldn't have my maintainership stripped from me because I updated the about box to try to \
give credit to others where I think it was due. It wasn't right for my maintainership to be \
revoked by those squatting on the list while I was experiencing challenging times. I never gave \
permission for that and I do not condone it.

Maybe I was wrong not to have spoken up earlier about the latest about box changes. But I \
didn't believe complaining about it at that time was in the best interest of the project and \
I've always tried to act in the best interests of the project.

Now I realize why I think it is in the best interest of the project for me to speak up. 

I could live with the solitude of working by myself, I could live with users laughing at my \
work and saying it was crap. I could accept user criticism and respond to it, I think I've \
shown that by playing a key role in making KMail as popular as it has become. But I can't \
accept it when criticism is both wrong and when it becomes the accepted truth, and I'm thinking \
about code criticisms here, sures there's lots wrong but not everything is wrong.

I am not immune to criticism and when I see people on this list call me a liar when I say I \
worked on KMail alone for months, when I see that being as accepted as the truth on this \
mailing list then that hurts. It's not a lie and I can't accept it being accepted as a lie.

I would like to describe how I feel. It's taken me several days to understand how I feel. I \
feel grief, I feel like someone I love has died. But it's not a person that's died it's an \
idea, the idea of people working together on this list in harmony to create a great mail client \
for the whole world to use. I loved that idea that idea was my life. Spending time on this \
project was like visiting my dreams, but now it's like exhuming a corpse. What's that line from \
the sixth sense, 'I see dead people everywhere'. Well I see a dead dreams everywhere I look.

Don.


["forwarded message" (message/rfc822)]

From: Don Sanders <sanders@trolltech.com>
Organization: Trolltech
To: Sam Magnuson <sam@trolltech.com>
Subject: Intent to ban subscriber from list
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2002 21:16:03 +1000
User-Agent: KMail/1.4.7
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Disposition: inline
Message-Id: <200209071234.41899.sanders@trolltech.com>
Status: RO
X-Status: S
X-KMail-EncryptionState:  
X-KMail-SignatureState:  
X-KMail-Fcc: sent-mail
X-KMail-Identity: 392671901
Content-Type: text/plain;
  charset="us-ascii"
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit

Fulfilling my obligation as list adminstrator I intend to ban Don Sanders <sanders@kde.org> \
from the list in 72 hours.

His conduct has become unacceptable to the majority of 
subscribers on the list. His actions were also largely responsible for two commendable \
contributors Alex Zepeda and George Staikos becoming unable or unwilling to contribute to the \
KMail project and this is some justice for those actions.

It is clearly the belief of all the core developers except for Don that he is not the rightful \
maintainer of KMail and that if he cannot accept this then he should retire from KMail \
development or fork.

I would note this is the first time anyone has been banned from the list and obviously the last \
time that I will ban anyone from the list.

It would make sense for my administrator privileges to be removed and 
some other KMail developer to take up administration of the list now.

I am still deciding whether to resign from KDE development.

Don Sanders.
Former List Administrator
Former KMail Maintainer.


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