On 8 Aug 2012 07:24, "Jay Smith" <jay jaysmith com> wrote:
>
> In summary, IF nearly every one of the developers responses included some version of the following statement, nearly half of your "long threads" would vanish and life would be good:
>
>
> "We understand _____ presents a difficult situation for some
> users and we regret the impact that this has had on you.
> Unfortunately, we had to make difficult choices in the subject
> of _______ and the result is that the program will no longer
> fit the workflow of some users. We feel that the changes we
> have made will be to the benefit of the majority of the user
> community and we are dedicated to continuing the improvement
> of Gimp for the target user community. We appreciate your
> loyalty to Gimp and hope that you will find a way to adjust
> your workflows so that Gimp's new behavior will work well
> for you. Thank you for expressing your concern. Please know
> that we have heard you, even if the changes we have had to make
> are not favorable for you, and that we will continue to work
> on improving the program to be the best that it can be for
> the target user community."
>
> You may think that you have said this thousands of times, but I have not seen it. Bits and pieces of it had been said, but until you respond to the FEELINGS people are having, every time, you won't get any change in their behavior. Responding to the people with a repetition of the facts without expressing any empathy for what they are going through will get you nowhere.
>
> I've got nothing more to contribute to this subject. Please don't feel the need to reply, especially not if it is like the last reply.
>
> Jay
Don't think that's going to help, everyone thinks they're representative of "the majority of the community". I'm not sure how being a user of open source software brings with it such a sense of entitlement. Gimp works like the kernel, like gnome, like KDE. Summary - the developers decide. Open source is very rarely a democracy like most of the detractors seem to think. None of the developers gain anything if you use their software, nor do they lose anything if you don't.