Date: Thu, 11 Mar 1999 21:16:18 -0700 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org> Cc: Greg Lehey <grog@lemis.com>, "Jordan K. Hubbard" <jkh@zippy.cdrom.com>, Donald Wilde <dwilde1@thuntek.net>, freebsd-advocacy@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: Treading on toes (was: O'Reilly article: Whence theSource: Untangling the Open Source/Free Software Debate) Message-ID: <36E89512.C5C28863@softweyr.com> References: <4.1.19990311140839.00b25250@localhost> <Your <4.1.19990311093845.00989ee0@localhost> <4352.921186024@zippy.cdrom.com> <4.1.19990311140839.00b25250@localhost> <4.1.19990311204009.040aa890@localhost>
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Brett Glass wrote:
>
> 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.
To paraphrase an old joke, this "is strong, and contains that which
promotes growth." (In other words, it's a crock of shit and it stinks.)
The numerous times you've offended ME, every one of them, are when you've
jumped in here with both feet, kicking and screaming for someone to DO
SOMETHING FOR YOU RIGHT AWAY, AND DO IT MY WAY BECAUSE EVERY OTHER WAY
IS STUPID! I've rarely, if ever, seen you volunteer to DO anything until
long after everyone is already so pissed off they can't see straight.
> 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 certainly agree that is a problem; nobody here wants to turn away any
willing workers. I for one strongly regret the passing of Frank Pawlak
from this list shortly before the foundation of Daemon News, because I
think Frank would have contributed to it frequently and well.
Perhaps the next time you come across a problem you'd like to address,
you should start off by saying "I've noticed the ports for 2.2.8 aren't
being updated as frequently as -STABLE anymore, and I'd like to help.
I can serve as a coordinator for this project, and can handle the XXX
and YYY ports myself. Would anybody like to join me in assisting in
this, and does anyone have any suggestions of where I might troll for
more volunteers."
In contrast, your start to this thread this time sounded *to me* like:
"Hey! Nobody's maintaining the ports on 2.2.8! I *need* those ports,
dammit! You guys are a bunch of incompetent unprofessional bozos for
permitting this major oversite! Who's butt do I have to kick to get
MY ports updated this instant?!?!"
> Our advocates don't have to agree on everything; they merely have to agree
> to work together.
And your point is?
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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