So far I worked in 7 different closed-source (and 'closed' in many other ways) companies. There I've seen just how much backlash there can be when someone speaks up about what's not working. Over time people learn to stay silent. It saddens me to see this happening in an open-source project. I think as a community we could do a better job of appreciating those who reflect on what we do and find ways we can improve, even if we don't agree with their assessment.
In that vein, I think Justin is doing a great job speaking out, despite the frequently dismissive and negative replies to his views. A community is defined not only by what it does, but also by how it does it. I share the interest in the processes we adopt, what they imply and what they say about us. I agree that it would probably have been beneficial if the Radii8 code donation happened on the dev mailing list. We would have all seen 1) that donations to apache flex are possible (I didn't know, or hadn't realised that before), and 2) what work they imply. Plus, they would have helped make visible this otherwise hidden work that the PMC members and donors do for the project. That's very important for recognition of contributions and, thus, for community building. So I think we should do it next time there's a donation. (And when the details of the donation process become uninteresting we can simply stop following that conversation thread, just like any other.) However, in terms of the importance of the problems outlined by Justin I think the last one is crucial. It definitely relates to the health of the community for more members to take responsibilities and help spread the workload and knowledge rather than having it concentrated in a small number of (thus precious) members. It's just as relevant for open-source projects to have a small Bus factor[1]. And I don't know when, how, or even if this happened, but if other contributions than code are not valued, this certainly reduces the likelihood that some people will spend time on the project. The current situation is that we are faced with a member of the community (Justin) considering to step down because he does not think we are doing some things right. As a result, he has provoked a discussion on those things, which I think is great. I suggest we should (as some have) talk about them and define for ourselves, as a community, whether we want to do things differently or not, instead of being defensive by accusing him of "lashing out" or blackmailing us into doing things "his way". The point, for me, is to figure out how we move forward, as opposed to placing blame for what happened in the past. And if Justin then steps down because he doesn't agree with our way, it's perfectly fine. But if he steps down also because of the hostility against him, we're doing something wrong. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bus_factor On 22 Aug 2014 00:41, "Justin Mclean" <jus...@classsoftware.com> wrote: Hi, > If I have a vision or idea for something and go ahead and build it [and/or > try to donate it]; That is certainly one valid path to take, but it then it may need to go through a software grant and IP clearance. That's a cost you may need to incur if you want to bring software to Apache in that manner. > Presumably, discussion can be had at the time of donation or sharing. Yep that should be the process. Thanks, Justin
