gentoo-devrel discussion

devrel.txt (text/plain), 4.72 KB, created by Wernfried Haas (RETIRED) on 2006-03-02 10:31:10 UTC

On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:00:37 +0000 George Prowse
<[e-mail]> wrote:
| I agree. Relations between users and Gentoo developers could be *alot*
| better. There seems an air of unapproachability, even elitism, from
| the development camp and it was only when I started helping in
| #gentoo-uk, organising events and became an AT that this became
| better.

You could look at it the other way around, too.

| Too few developers use the forums, they are usually the first stop for
| the beginners who have problems. Usually their problem can be fixed
| by a revdep-rebuild or modules-update but most developers (apart from
| Uberlord/Genone/Klieber) seem to stay away from it like the plague.

Perhaps you should consider *why* this is the case. There are plenty of
changes that could be made to the forums that would make them much less
inaccessible to developers.

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh : Gentoo Developer (Wearer of the shiny hat)
Mail            : ciaranm at gentoo.org
Web             : http://dev.gentoo.org/~ciaranm

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Ciaran McCreesh wrote:
> On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:00:37 +0000 George Prowse
> <[e-mail]> wrote:
> | I agree. Relations between users and Gentoo developers could be *alot*
> | better. There seems an air of unapproachability, even elitism, from
> | the development camp and it was only when I started helping in
> | #gentoo-uk, organising events and became an AT that this became
> | better.
> 
> You could look at it the other way around, too.

How? Users aren't part of the Gentoo's hierarchy, developers are.
> 
> | Too few developers use the forums, they are usually the first stop for
> | the beginners who have problems. Usually their problem can be fixed
> | by a revdep-rebuild or modules-update but most developers (apart from
> | Uberlord/Genone/Klieber) seem to stay away from it like the plague.
> 
> Perhaps you should consider *why* this is the case. There are plenty of
> changes that could be made to the forums that would make them much less
> inaccessible to developers.
> 
Actually the forums are fine as they are. They are a tried and tested
formula and the main place that those need help go. That alone should
give you an idea.

If you could point out some *actual* problems then maybe we could
suggest some solutions.
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-- 
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On Thu, 02 Mar 2006 17:33:58 +0000 George Prowse
<[e-mail]> wrote:
| > Perhaps you should consider *why* this is the case. There are
| > plenty of changes that could be made to the forums that would make
| > them much less inaccessible to developers.
| > 
| Actually the forums are fine as they are. They are a tried and tested
| formula and the main place that those need help go. That alone should
| give you an idea.
| 
| If you could point out some *actual* problems then maybe we could
| suggest some solutions.

You've said it yourself. One *actual* problem is that there aren't
enough developers posting there. Perhaps someone should consider asking
why this is the case.

You can have two answers from me for free. These may or may not overlap
with what you'll get from other developers.

The first is that finding anything relevant amongst all the noise is
extremely difficult. The search function utterly sucks (try searching
for 'vim', 'fluxbox' or 'ciaranm'), so mostly I only go to threads
when someone points me to them via another medium.

The second is that the amount of nonsense up with which I have to put
from forums users is surpassed only by the amount of nonsense that
comes from forum mods (perfect example: the eventual introduction of the
unsupported software forum after months and months of refusals and
complaints to devrel whenever such a forum was suggested). Compare the
average thread on the -user list with the average thread on the forums,
for example. The -user list very much conveys the impression that it's
there for technical discussion. The forums, on the other hand, is often
much more oriented towards getting a high postcount, ricing and seeing
who can make the best "Gentoo developers are elitist" comments.

Neither of these answers will, on its own, be enough to help you solve
the "not enough developers on the forums" issue. Nor will it help if
you claim that "the forums are fine as they are". Why not try finding
out from other developers why they think the forums are not fine?

-- 
Ciaran McCreesh : Gentoo Developer (Wearer of the shiny hat)
Mail            : ciaranm at gentoo.org
Web             : http://dev.gentoo.org/~ciaranm