Re: Thanks, and a Brief Survey

["Lefty (石鏡 )" <lefty shugendo org>]

On 1/15/10 1:58 PM, "Dave Neary" <dneary gnome org> wrote:
> 
> So proposing that GNOME as a project adopt one or the other amounts to a
> troll, in that it will create an endless discussion with no result.

Well, I'll be sure not to propose that, then.

Again, my impression has been that there are unquestioned and unexamined
beliefs about the attitudes and views of the FLOSS community at large; I
happen not to think that those beliefs are true. I'm attempting to test that
hypothesis, and I went to some pains to try to do so even-handedly.
 
>> If you're suggesting that _this_ survey is somehow biased, as your example
>> question would appear to, I'd appreciate more specific information.
> 
> Not at all. I even voted in it. I'm merely pointing out the absurdity of
> Phillip's suggestion that the only way to "respect" a survey is to
> implement whatever results from it.

Okay, that was unclear to me. I personally haven't asked anyone to implement
anything. I've limited myself to saying (I believe, correct me if I'm wrong)
that I found the results interesting and worth thinking about.

As I said to Owen, there's no way to single out "GNOME respondents" from any
other respondents in this particular survey. Thus, I'd personally hesitate
to say that any particular results were indicative of anything have to do
specifically with GNOME: without a relevant cross-tabulation, the data won't
support that.

If we _want_ to survey GNOME members, we certainly can. But let's be clear
that this isn't what I'm doing here, not to the exclusion of KDE members,
NetBSD advocates, Microsoft employees or Bronx zookeepers (should any
members of the latter two groups choose to participate: they're more than
welcome to).

>> I'm most certainly not proposing that the Board necessarily do or not do
>> anything based on the results. I do, however, think they're worthy of
>> consideration. Note that I have not suggested that anyone "respect" the
>> results. I do think that people should consider them, but that's entirely up
>> to them.
> 
> Absolutely - the results are a useful data point. If nothing gets done
> with the results, because our leaders adopt a stance on behalf of the
> project, I hope that the people who voted don't feel disrespected.

I certainly hope not, especially since the survey was never intended by me
to lead to any specific action on the part of anyone in particular. I
certainly haven't represented it as having that intention.