On Tuesday, October 10, 2000 1:26 PM, Andy Dougherty
[SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] wrote:
> [An offlist request for clarification, though I invite you to follow-up to
> the perl6-meta list if you deem appropriate]
Absolutely it's appropriate. They think I'm paranoid and the only one who sees
the danger. Relatively few people speak openly about it for fear of getting the
same beatings I get on a regular basis. Frankly I think it's important for
these guys just to realize that other people are sitting back and watching,
with unexpressed interests.
> On Tue, 10 Oct 2000, David Grove wrote:
>
> > How do we allow the core developers some peace, while giving the community
> > FREE
> > voice?
>
> Apart from the voting idea, do you have any other specific suggestions?
> The dilemma you cite is indeed real.
The problem with voting is indeed just as has been described. It can be faked.
Who was it... deja.com... some search engine has votings on it on a regular
basis. It was basically fair until a certain point. For several months, FreeBSD
and Linux topped the charts, until suddenly, in about a week, NT went from the
total bottom to the total top. I think the subject was something like "secure
server O/S". Similar things happened to VB in different ratings... started out
sucking in the majority vote (bottom of the list by a huge margin), then
suddenly it sprang up.
Perhaps, then, there should be one more officer, chosen by Larry himself. This
person would be responsible for collecting public opinions and representing
them to the developer group, who needs to follow that guidance as long as
they're technically capable. (Obviously, because of my big mouth and cynical
nature, I'm not qualified, so I'm not suggesting myself.) This person must be
impeachable, or at least, know when to step down when the time comes, and be
trusted to know when to do so and actually do it. This person should also
determine the timing of releases, or agree to the timing based on public
opinion. No more of this releasing versions before they're ready or withholding
modules. If we can't have a stable perl, we won't have a perl at all. Don't
think that our current "information officer" is capable of accurately or
faithfully filling this role, you'd be off by several hundred miles.
