Re: Discussing issues

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On Wed, 16 Apr 2003 11:48:21 +0200, Egbert Eich wrote:

> 
>  Can you give me an example when this happened?
>  I'm not talking about things that fell thru the cracks - which
>  is unfortunate but something that may happen everywhere.
> 
>  When has anybody rejected a reasonable code contribution?
> 
>  Of course, there may be objections as your contribution may have
>  side effects that you may have not realized. But as a contributor 
>  you should be prepared to solicite your changes enough to make
>  necessary adjustments.

Egbert,

The sad fact is that there doesn't have to be a real example. You're in
trouble when people *believe* that XFree86's development process isn't
scaling. Thats when they start supporting calls for wholesale change.

When a respected hacker like Alan Cox believes that XFree86 isn't
responsive then others will tend to echo that belief.

If it's not true, then you need to correct the perception by taking
steps to make the process more transparent. If it *is* true, then you
need to take steps to make the process more transparent. :)

You need to convey to the world that you're *doing* something about it.
Being *seen* to be doing something is as important as actually doing
something.

Otherwise people will naturally fall behind someone who seems to taking
action.

It's a dumb PR exercise -- but PR is important when you remember that
leading hackers is like herding cats.

- -- b

- -- 
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Biju 'botsie' Chacko                        biju_chacko at vsnl dot net
http://www.symonds.net/~botsie          Public Key available on request
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