Re: CVS commit: src

[Jukka Ruohonen <jruohonen%iki.fi@localhost>]

On Tue, Jan 18, 2011 at 09:15:27AM +0000, David Holland wrote:
> It's perfectly possible to propose things on tech-userlevel and get
> them agreed on. It just requires doing a little more planning up front
> to make sure the proposal has clear motivations and benefits and
> addresses likely concerns.

As Kamp ends his pamphlet, the things seen in tech-userlevel@ are a sure way
to scare of potential new contributors.

> Blowing off concerns people raise just because you think their concerns
> aren't important (and hence "bikeshedding") is not the right approach;
> neither is skipping the review entirely.

The "NetBSD projects" WWW page has been very successful at gaining attention
of new people.  However, I would advice anyone to think very carefully before
spending six months in a project only to see it ruled down by a vicious jury
of grumpy old men whose only argument is usually some trivial detail -- or
even more pathetically, "I do not like it", "I strongly object", "this is
how it has always been done". The coin has two sides, and in my opinion 
this is far more destructive side of the "blowing off concerns".

And if you think that this is not a problem, there are at least dozen
examples of this phenomenon in the past couple of years.

Cheers,

Jukka.