On Sat, 05 Sep 2009 01:02:21 -0400, John E. Perry wrote:
Almost all the complaints have been addressed, but new complaints replace them.
Unfortunately, that's the nature of software development: 100% of the users are not going to be happy 100% of the time; this means that there's always going to be someone complaining about something. Nature of the biz. And users do have a tendency to see what's not being done; it's the nature of IT work (which I did for a number of years) that when things are working, nobody knows you're there; when things are broken, though, they know who you are, where to reach you, how to reach you, and so on. I've been called just about every name in the book by unappreciative users, threatened with "being reported to my VP" and other such nonsense. And I agree it's frustrating - and I didn't always deal with it with grace. I'm only human, and so are the developers here. But we also have to remember that the users are also only human, and while some may resort to poorly-considered tactics to get their way, if the devs respond "in kind", that's not going to get the issue dealt with. Namecalling didn't work on the playground when we were in elementary school. It certainly doesn't work in real life - because it almost never causes someone to reflect and say "gee, I was being an ass, I'm sorry".
So, while we're cutting Bob S a little slack for maybe not having heard all this before and blown it off, I think we need to cut the developers a little slack, too, for having had to put with this crap for so long and so many times.
Sure; in the final analysis, what I'd like to see is that the focus move off of the individuals and back on the software, where it belongs. We have a common goal (or should have a common goal), which is to make the best Linux distribution out there. If we can start with that common premise and understand that we're all trying to achieve that same goal, that gives us a point in common to start a discussion from. Then we focus instead on moving forward instead of anybody making it a personal issue. I can give everyone some slack here myself (not that that'll matter a whole lot - the 'slack' needs to be given by the people who are engaging in the ongoing flaming); I just would like to see us get back to discussion about the issues and how to best have them reported and evaluated - and possibly even addressed. This really isn't about giving anyone slack, it's about getting people talking about the issues rather than just beating on each other. That just wastes energy and accomplishes nothing. Well, except perhaps showing outsiders that maybe they ought to look for another community to participate in. And that's also something that we should all want to prevent. That doesn't mean we can't have vigorous discussion and disagreements about things. 100% agreement doesn't advance things either; I'm just saying let's keep it about the *software* and not the people. Jim -- Jim Henderson Please keep on-topic replies on the list so everyone benefits -- To unsubscribe, e-mail: opensuse+unsubscribe@opensuse.org For additional commands, e-mail: opensuse+help@opensuse.org