> *All* communities have this. It's the nature of people. Pretending it might
> be otherwise is to paint a rather pleasant utopian fantasy that,
> unfortunately, can't exist. (At least not one that has people in it) It's
> one of the common failings of people involved in open source projects.
> Assuming that somehow people will magically be other than people is the
> fastest way for the perl 6 community to self-destruct.
The fantasy is believing that it can't exist without even trying, sir. Or, at
least, it's equally fantastic. The shame is that we lazily accept the fantasy
that takes less effort to achieve... the one that takes no effort.
> This does point out the biggest issue the community has at the
> moment--there aren't enough calm, mature, rational folks weighing in to
> keep things as level as we might want. I'm not sure what to do about that,
> since it's both a tiring and thankless endeavor that tends to burn people
out.
Decisions that are acceptable to the general public and not just compromise
between public and commerce are seldom if ever determined in committee. We have
hundreds of years of political history to demonstrate that. This country
(apologies to non-US citizens) was not founded on committee action, but on
rebellion. Only a few citizens of this country know the names of the
constitutional congress, but _most_ recognize the Declaration of Independence
and Constitution. What is the first amendment? Who is the first person to sign
the document? (This is an example, not a trivia quiz.)
Until this language is out of danger from corporate entities trying to destroy
it or take it over, or at least until the powers that _could_, actually _do_,
there must be a voice crying "foul!". I love this language, and will do what I
can to protect it. Right now, that means getting the attention of the people
who could help the situation, and getting that in such a way that they cannot
_but_ act appropriately toward the protection of this language.
To comply with the wishes of the listmaster, please move this thread to
perl6-meta.
