Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 20:48:04 -0700 From: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> To: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com> Cc: Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net>, Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Treading on toes (was: O'Reilly article: Whence the Source: Untangling the Open Source/Free Software Debate) Message-ID: <4.1.19990311204009.040aa890@localhost> In-Reply-To: <19990312124152.Y490@lemis.com> References: <4.1.19990311140839.00b25250@localhost> <Your <4.1.19990311093845.00989ee0@localhost> <4352.921186024@zippy.cdrom.com> <4.1.19990311140839.00b25250@localhost>
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At 12:41 PM 3/12/99 +1030, Greg Lehey wrote: >Well, step on people's toes once, and a reasonable person will forgive >you. Do it again, and they'll think you're clumsy. But when they go >to a lot of trouble to explain the situation, and you don't listen and >carry on stepping on their toes, they tend to avoid you. So far -- and this seems odd -- the only times I seem to have stepped upon toes is when I've OFFERED TO CONTRIBUTE TIME OR CODE. This suggests to me that people in the "inner circle" of the group are sufficiently territorial to feel slighted when you offer to work on something that they consider to be their "baby." However, I really do want to give back to the group, so I find it odd (and, in fact, a potentially serious issue) that I can't find a way to do so without offending someone! >> I didn't say that I wanted to be the spokesman -- just a coordinator >> and/or an active member/leader of one or more of the teams. I'd be glad >> to push toward the podium some spokesman other than me who seem to be >> able to turn away wrath more effectively. > >I think that there are enough people who are saying "Brett, stop >talking and do something" to make this a necessity. Well, what do we need to get going? We have this list. What else? A Web site? (Can I FTP pages onto www.freebsd.org?) >But remember that >word "team". You'd have to accept the fact that the goals of the team >wouldn't be your own personal goals (for example, I think that >attacking the GPL right now would be a Bad Thing). Well, perhaps the operative word here is "attack." I think that "educate" is a better way to put it. People need to know that the GPL is attacking THEM -- their livelihoods, their choice of available software products, their ability to go out there and build something good. I think that one of the best points of FreeBSD is that it's NOT that way, and at least some of our advocates should say so. If someone is really opposed to saying anything at all about the issue, so be it. But the view should be expressed. it was on the FreeBSD v. Linux v. NT sheet that was given away at LinuxWorld, and the point was actually well taken. Our advocates don't have to agree on everything; they merely have to agree to work together. --Brett To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-advocacy" in the body of the message
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