RE: The bake-off

> i came in late to the SIG but it appears that in the last two or three
> month discussion was non-existent. The original SIG-people seem
> to agree on Optik so i respectfully stay out of their way.

IMHO, I think what happened was Optik got refined based on some good
feedback and no other solution came out as significantly better so the
discussion kind of faded. In other words, we're all guilty of respectfully
staying out of the way.

> It's just a bit frustrating to see that the 'inner pythoneer circles'
> tend to ignore people willing to contribute :-(

I'm sure both the frustration and lack of attention you feel are real. I've
felt them myself. What I don't think is real is any intentional exclusion or
ill will on the part of the 'inner pythoneer circles'. In fact, I've seen
the same frustrations expressed by folks who would be considered part of
that 'inner circle'. Guido himself seems to get just as frustrated as the
rest of us.

I think that if you want to really play a role in the development of Python
itself then it helps to try not to take criticism too personally, don't
expect anyone to get excited by a good idea that hasn't been proven, and
don't be surprised that even a good proven idea doesn't motivate too many
people to go out of their way to help or support you.

> They may have good reasons but *complete* lack of communicating them
> is not very motivating (despite http://www.python.org/dev/why.html )

I find this last statement a bit hard to swallow. Let's just chalk it up to
frustration. But the fact is that a SIG was created, anyone can join it,
anyone can post to it, anyone can read the archives, all the posts that I
read seemed to get a fair response, alternative solutions were created and
posted in a public location (created through the time and effort of a single
individual trying to get a fair assessment of the alternatives), etc, etc.

Clearly this is not a complete lack of communication. But, you may have been
referring to the fact that the people willing to contribute were ignored.
And it does appear that the contributions on this SIG fizzled out and were
ignored. In a way, that's true. Guido seems to have recognized that and come
along to get the ball rolling again. So let's get the ball rolling. :-)

---
Patrick K. O'Brien
Orbtech