Mailinglist Archive: opensuse-project (280 mails)

[Jim Henderson <hendersj@xxxxxxxxx>]

On Fri, 11 Feb 2011 18:37:30 -0600, Bryen M. Yunashko wrote:

> > But I could certainly see that happening here if the community doesn't
> > come together to provide that (ideally) single place to go for
> > information and interaction.
>
> It is certainly a concern and opens up to great confusions.  The
> Marketing Team, for example, has been taking great efforts to bring in
> communities from regions that were previously disenfranchised.  And
> already we're seeing great results as a consequence of broadening our
> community.  We're seeing some truly great things happening.  And then at
> the same time, we see the #1 region (Germany) being split off.
> Segregated.  Living in an entirely different ecosystem.  All this can
> possibly do is diminish Germany's role in openSUSE Project, and I fail
> to see how that could ever be such a good thing, considering the strong
> contributions we have always seen from the Germans.

Exactly what I'm thinking.

But I also think it doesn't hurt for either side of this conversation to 
let the discussion devolve into a discussion of "he said/she said" with 
regards to past events.  Let's identify that there's an issue and work 
towards a compromise that everyone benefits from and that moves towards 
unification of the community rather than further fragmentation.

That means it's important to put all the issues on the table.  What are 
both groups' concerns about what's currently in place at this moment?  
How can we bridge the differences and make for a *stronger* community?

> So... I would like to ask my own direct question here... Is there ever
> going to be an opportunity when we can all sit at the table and have a
> legitimate discussion of the pros and cons of the community and how we
> can fit each others' goals in a complimentary way?  

That would be a good starting point, certainly.

Some general comments, not directed at anyone in particular:

I think it's important that the organizations involved be clear about 
their goals, and if there are compromises to be made on either side, that 
those compromises be made in a spirit of doing what's best for the 
community.

I think that starts with a default assumption that what everyone wants to 
do is what they think is best for the community as a whole.  It's easy to 
think of "that other group" as "adversaries", but an adversarial approach 
isn't going to move us forward.

Jim
-- 
 Jim Henderson
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