Re: GDP GNOME 2 release team minutes

[Nicholas Curran <quasar austar net au>]

On Tue, 2002-01-22 at 11:11, Kevin Conder wrote: 
> On Mon, 21 Jan 2002 gnome-doc-list-request gnome org wrote:
> 
> > From: John Fleck <jfleck inkstain net>
> > 
> > Minutes of the GDP GNOME 2 Release Team, Jan. 19, 02
> 
> 	What is this team? How does one get on this team? Who are these
> people? What companies do they work for? Which tasks are they each
> responsible for?

Of course you would not know the answers to these questions.  Neither do
I.  We are not part of this little club that suddenly sprang up.  After
all, according to Mr Kirillov, we are not part of the "group of people
who are actively involved in writing and updating GNOME docs".  It
doesn't matter that we may be actively involved in writing and updating
docs for GNOME applications that are external to the core GNOME
packages.  We simply do not belong to the 'GDP GNOME 2 Release Team'. 

> 	Where did this meeting take place? Was this a face-to-face meeting
> or did it happen on the #docs IRC channel? How come no information (that I
> was aware of) about it was posted on developer.gnome.org?

On #docs, of course!  You know, that channel which you connect to, and
because it is so quiet, all you get to see are people entering or
exiting.  It is heaps of fun to ask a question, and then wait forever
because everyone is either watching other channels or asleep. 

As for posting information on developer.gnome.org, why bother?  We don't
want to make it easier for people to contribute if they are not going to
do docs 24/7, or read the minds of the 'GDP GNOME 2 Release Team'. 

> > * Status of docs build and conversion to XML for the various packages
> > 
> >   - We're mostly nowhere here. gnome-utils has been converted,
> >     gnome-core is underway. Trevor said gnome-applets is under control
> >     and will be ready in time. No one has stepped forward to take
> >     charge of gnome-games.
> 
> 	How can we [people not at the meeting] know the current status of
> this conversion? CVS diffs? Or do you just communicate these matters to
> each other in clandestine meetings by word of mouth? 

Telepathy, stupid! 

> 	Why don't you keep DocTable updated? Why don't you post status
> reports to developer.gnome.org more frequently? To someone not in your 
> clique, it's hard to understand what's going on. (Much less figure how to
> get involved.)
> 

Why bother telling anybody else?  If Mr Kirillov and Mr Fleck are any
indication, the 'GDP GNOME 2 Release Team' doesn't need you, me or
anyone else.  These are the elite doc writers.  If Mr Kirillov and Mr
Fleck sincerely wanted your assistance, they would have been polite
instead of patronising. 

But instead, Mr Kirillov is going to ignore you, and expects other
people to do the same.  Hmmph.  Maybe WE should be setting our email
accounts to ignore HIM. 

Meanwhile, Mr Fleck is dedicated to dividing this *volunteer* project
into two.  On one side, we have the elite 'GDP GNOME 2 Release Team',
who apparently do everything, while the lowly rest of us just do nothing
but bludge.  It doesn't matter some of us are busy with our own docs and
lives.  We should all do core GNOME docs, 24/7! 

Mr Kirillov:  I never noticed Kevin writing like a 14 year old.  He did
seem annoyed, but that doesn't give you reason to bite his head off and
throw a tantrum. 
Mr Fleck:  Repeat after me:  "Hey, people have other things in life but
write docs for the core of GNOME.  But maybe if I am polite, and we make
it *very* easy for people to join, maybe more people will help with the
little bit of time they have spare." 

I haven't done nearly as much work as Kirillov and Fleck have towards
GNOME as a whole, and I freely admit that.  But I am not going to sit
back while concerns that seem valid to me are crushed by "if you're not
one of us, go away" mentality. 

Finally, I suppose I should put my actions where my mouth is with regard
to making things easier for people to join.  What is involved in keeping
the DocTable up-to-date?  If it is not too much, I may be able to help
in this regard.

Nicholas Curran 
<quasar austar net au> 

"We're a pretty friendly bunch." -- John Fleck 
...When we're not being patronising, insulting and all round nasty
maybe.