Stefano Zacchiroli wrote: > On Fri, Apr 29, 2011 at 06:50:04PM -0400, Michael Gilbert wrote: > > Look at the "welcoming new contributors" GR; what did that actually > > accomplish? There isn't anything new to show for it, there are no new > > means to bring contributors in, and the number of new people hasn't > > really changed. > > I doubt you'll find this surprising, but I beg to disagree. As little as > that number can be, there are nowadays 3 people in the contributors > keyring, 1 in the NM queue, and 1 which is about to apply (asked me to > advocate him a few days ago). Considering that the infrastructure and > procedures took a few months to stabilize after the GR outcome, I > consider that to be a pretty good result for about 6 months since > everything was up and running (and 5 it's a non negligible share of the > amount of new DDs we get per year).
OK, I was unaware of these developments (better DPL communication on the status in this area would be very welcome). Also, I was unable to find any info on any changes to the process at e.g. [0], so it seemed like nothing of relevance had happened. So these results are a *very good* thing, but I still see the GR as overkill. The same results could have been achieved by just deciding to go ahead and implement the non-packaging contributor process. As an aside, I feel like these changes didn't far enough to achieve the goal of welcoming new contributors. It's still a long, arduous, and drawn-out process even to be considered for the non-packaging role. I would like to see something more immediate. For example, a contributors.debian.net that would give people an email address relatively quickly with a very low barrier to entry (a few good bug reports and/or patches). This would go a long way in making people feel welcomed in a system that takes years to become a part of. > I have no idea whether those people would have diminished their > involvement in or not considered contributing to Debian, if the GR > weren't there. But as a matter of fact, chances are that those people > wouldn't have been able to be Debian Developers today if it weren't for > the GR. It wasn't the GR itself. It was the fact that these changes to the NM process were actually made. I suppose it is arguable that those changes simply would not have happened without the GR, but that indicates more of a lack of direct motivation within the new maintainer team. So, if it required the GR to motivate them, then I suppose it was a necessity and ultimately a good thing, but my point is simply that its better when motivation comes from within; rather than an applied external force. Best wishes, Mike [0] http://nm.debian.org -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to debian-devel-requ...@lists.debian.org with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact listmas...@lists.debian.org Archive: http://lists.debian.org/20110506140420.409cffc9.michael.s.gilb...@gmail.com