Re: Questions for candidates

[Jeff Waugh <jdub perkypants org>]

<quote who="Pat Costello">

> So, if the GNOME culture is genuinely multi-disciplinary in establishing
> future directions and strategy, then maybe the change that we need to make
> is how we present the multi-disciplinary nature of the culture. Also, if a
> respected speaker can make a presentation at the main annual GNOME event,
> which paints a picture around the above definition, and on the other hand
> respected members of the community can come forward and reassure me that
> this picture is not accurate, then there is a discontinuity in our shared
> values and community vision. 

Hmm, so, to balance things out a bit...

I think part of the apparent contradiction here is due to the shorthand we
employ as informed members of the Free Software development community. We
often say "whoever writes the code makes the rules", which is entirely true,
but within the context of GNOME is more accurately "whoever does the work
makes the rules". We sometimes say "software", "hackers", "developers" and
"code" when we mean "contributions". To me, John Fleck is a hacker, but that
might be confusing to someone less familiar with our loose definitions. I
think we choose to use these words sometimes to indicate our acceptance and
encouragement of all kinds of contributors. Everyone's a GNOME hacker. :-)

But no one has the final call quite like module maintainers do. They roll
the tarballs and announce the changes. They accept and reject the patches.
Hopefully, they are influenced and accepting of the culture around them (and
we've seen this work very well in the transition to 2.x), but ultimately,
it's their call. Of course, what goes into a GNOME release is ultimately the
release team's call. ;-)

So there are cheques and balances all over the place, and I'm confident that
most of the time, we get them right. We're working as a team, helping each
other fulfill project, team or module goals. It's a thriving bazaar! :-)

> Sorry for stirring the pot, but this is election time, 

This is great pot stirring, I wish foundation-list was like this more often!

Thanks Pat,

- Jeff

-- 
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             "Laughter is a force for democracy." - John Cleese