On 21-Mar-00, 17:18 (CST), Debian Bug Tracking System <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: [Ian Jackson unilaterally overrules the entire policy group]
Ian, this is completely unacceptable. Most of these proposals were closed [REJECTED] because they failed to attract sufficient support in the policy group, according to the system proposed by Manoj Srivasta and accepted by the participants in the policy group (aka everybody in Debian who cares to read debian-policy and participate.) Now, after a year (6 months? whatever) of silence, you come in and arbitrarily pick things you approve of and decide that they should be policy. If you approved, why didn't you help promote them at the time? This is becoming a pattern. You disappear for 6 months, then come back and stomp around with big pronouncements about all the things being done wrong, what we should do better, and then disappear again. If you want to participate, participate. If you don't have the desire, or time, that's fine too, but then you have to live with things not always going the way you want. I happen to think your participation would be incredibly valuable, far more than mine. The contributions you have made to Debian are remarkable; I've been using Debian long enough to remember when you wrote dpkg: it was a *huge* leap in the state of the art at the time. But you also originated the Debian Constitution, precisely to limit the power of individuals over Debian, and to allow for different mechanisms to manipulate policy. We tried the "policy czar", and that didn't work (or rather it worked, but it burned people out). So now we have policy by discussion and agreement, and it seems to work, because Manoj and a bunch of other smart people spend time and effort to make it work. For you to come back and overrule them is unfair and rude. If there are policy proposals that you think need to be re-examined, then you should re-make them, stating your arguments, and let the process work. You're probably right. Most people around here respect your technical skills and opinions (I do!), and will at least read with an open mind. Steve Greenland -- Steve Greenland <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> (Please do not CC me on mail sent to this list; I subscribe to and read every list I post to.)
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