Re: [gnome-love] About Me - Change Password dialog suggestions

[Shaun McCance <shaunm gnome org>]

On Thu, 2006-01-26 at 18:46 +0100, Claudio Saavedra wrote:
> Hi Johannes,
>
> On Thu, 2006-01-26 at 17:47 +0100, Johannes H. Jensen wrote:
> (snip) 
> > The Change Password dialog in About Me is, in my opinion,
> > unsatisfactory.
>
> Any mail that starts saying something like that, will be probably
> ignored, because it sounds too agressive.
>
> I would suggest you:
>
> - For each of the independient problems you see in the software, open an
>   independient bug in bugzilla (http://bugzilla.gnome.org). Of
>   course, before doing so, check if exists discussion about them, and
>   join them (browsing mailing lists would help, too).
>
> - Try to avoid to say that existent software *is bad, ugly, or it
>   makes your little sister scream*, but to directly say
>   what could be improved, why, and how. Mockups and/or patches would
>   improve the probability of your opinion to be considered.
>
> - If you want to provide mockups, don't do it in .glade format, but
>   screenshots. Only provide the .glade files if you have a patch that 
>   will actually need them.
>
> I hope you will find my suggestions useful and will find a more suitable
> way to start your contributions to GNOME. Remember, everyone's help is
> welcome, but being polite and doing it the right way is very important.

I don't particularly think Johannes was being very impolite.
I am a maintainer, and I wouldn't have been at all put off
by his email.  He addressed specific points and backed them
up extensively.

As for calling the Change Password dialog unsatisfactory,
what's the big deal?  He used an introductory paragraph to
indicate what the following paragraphs would discuss.  That's
just good writing style.  Would you have him start off saying
that the Change Password dialog is wonderful, and then list
a bunch of problems with it?  That would be silly.

Words like "unsatisfactory" or "suboptimal" shouldn't piss
anybody off.  They're very mild negative terms, suitable for
good constructive criticism.  Johannes never said the dialog
sucks, or made comments about little girls screaming.  You've
characterized his email as something that it distinctly was
not.  It was an even-toned and well-written email.

Regarding bugzilla, if I wanted to be a real ass, I could
demand about 90% of the traffic on this mailing list to go
through bugzilla.  Sometimes email discussions are better
for high-level design thinking, or for feeling out others'
thoughts on the matter before making a bugzilla request.

I know we're all jaded from the osnews trolls, and that can
make us all get defensive.  But please, let's not be overly
sensitive to healthy criticisms, lest we miss out on some
sorely-needed fresh love.

--
Shaun