> I haven't seen any nastiness in this thread, but I have to agree to an > extent with C. Brewer's comments. If you are using a gentoo.org e-mail > address, you are obviously a dev, and are acting on behalf of Gentoo > itself - regardless of whether or not you preface you comment with > "These opinions are my own, not (necessarily) those of Gentoo." As a > developer, your opinions are a large part of what makes up Gentoo, and > so _do_ reflect on Gentoo as a whole. It seems being a developer should > carry some responsibility with it, without place for a "I only act like > a dev when I feel like it" attitude. > > On the other hand, I don't mean to point any fingers in this specific > instance - especially not at Jon, who IMHO represents Gentoo well - but > there _are_ some devs out there who on occasion through bickering and > nasty remarks give _all_ Gentoo devs, and Gentoo itself, a bad name. > For most of us, it doesn't make the slightest difference whether or not > you add a "these are my own opinions" disclaimer. You're still a Gentoo > developer making a comment. A meaningless disclaimer doesn't change > that.
I basically agree with the opinions in this mail. I saw no unprofessional behaviour though in the related thread either. Further the [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list is, while public, supposed to be a development list where developers are allowed to express their opinions. The alternative would be to go back to using -core to discuss development issues. That is not something which is good for the distribution. However, I do whish to stress that indeed developers (and especially managers) should be carefull of how they express themselves in public (including this mailing list). This does not mean that they are not entitled to have an opinion, but that they should know that, as being a developer or even manager, their opinions receive a higher weight than those of irregular passers by on the dev list. We like to have a constructive discussion on the mailing list where everyone, including users can contribute. While there are many non-devs on this list who would not easilly be badgered by a negative reply from a dev there are enough who will be. So developers, when you reply to emails, allways assume that they are written in good faith and have the goal to improve the distribution. Do not reply in such ways that can be taken as badgering (and yes, e-mail is more easilly mistaken to be unfriendly than face-to-face communication), but reply in constructive ways, even if you don't agree with all or some opinions in the email. Paul -- [EMAIL PROTECTED] mailing list
