Re: Release coordination - a clarification

[Jon Trowbridge <trow ximian com>]

On 23 Jun 2001 13:30:22 -0700, Seth Aaron Nickell wrote:
> Show of hands is a very 
> effective technique for trying to reach consensus in a group of live 
> people, and I think it would be worth exploring how we might reach a 
> similar effect using electronic means.

It may be effective for reaching consensus[1], but I'm not convinced that
it is a good way to make technical decisions.

Personally, I'd feel utterly unqualified to vote on this issue.  Havoc and
Michael Meeks[2] are both smart guys who I like and who I would normally
be perfectly happy to defer to on technical issues where I don't know
enough to have my own well-formed opinion.  I've never used gconf or
bonobo-config, and I've never really thought about all of the issues
involved in a configuration system.  For me (or anyone, IMHO) to cast a
vote under those circumstances would be intellectually dishonest.

So to me, excluding everyone except a small group of qualified people
from any vote makes perfect sense.  The right technical decision won't
always necessarily be the most popular decision.

-JT


[1] ...and yet I'm still not convinced.  Voting is a tool for making
    decisions when there is a lack of consensus.  It is not a means
    of reaching consensus.

[2] Here I use Michael as a placeholder for the pro-bonobo-config
    forces.