Initially I resisted responding to this thread because I have avoided the politics of FIG as much as possible. However, I do have strong feelings about this topic and feel the need to take a stand. I'll save those that want a quick quote the trouble of trying to paraphrase what I am about to say:
tl;dr: It is my opinion that PMJ should be expelled from FIG. Now that we've gotten that out of the way, this is why... The link that Larry put in his response [1] is very good and generally covers why I think PMJ hasn't already been removed. He has a lot of knowledge, he's active, and he maintains a lot of open source projects. For those of us that have been reading the list for a long time there is a clear pattern of antagonism, bullying, and condescension towards other members. PMJ regularly complains about the drama but is also a significant source of it. Things that should be totally unimportant immediately get called out, such as when Graham opened the voting thread to remove PHPixie and used the wrong word. Yet PMJ himself has told others that "commenting in voting threads is not allowed". The drama over secretary selection was, in my estimation, entirely a product of PMJ making a stink out of something that had already been resolved privately and amicably. It isn't hard to find more examples of this. In addition to issues with communication style, I don't think that PMJ is the type of person that we want to be considered a leader in the PHP community. I suspect that PMJ would say that he favors meritocracy in open source. I do not, because meritocracy is an excuse for all kinds of bad behavior and doesn't acknowledge the real problems that come from lack of diversity and support for said diversity [2]. PMJ is entitled to his own opinions but that does not mean I need to respect those opinions. In my professional life, I would not be willing to work alongside someone who was openly a misogynist or racist, no matter how smart they were. I'm not saying that PMJ is either of those things but several of his blog posts about non-technical subjects have made me very uncomfortable. As a white male with many advantages, I can only imagine what less advantaged people feel about the same material. Many people are commenting (see r/php) that FIG has been consumed by drama and is no longer producing anything useful. I would not hesitate to say that PMJ is the reason for this. Despite that fact that he is listed as a sponsor on both PSR-15 and PSR-17, which I am editing, he has contributed very little in the way of actual feedback or suggestions. From my point of view, it seems PMJ wants to be part of FIG more for the drama and less for actually contributing anything of technical value. Ultimately, this is not about whether PMJ shows technical merit. Everyone should be able to agree that he does. I think PMJ is an extremely good programmer. However, that is not sufficient for leadership and working with others. At the end of the day, we need to acknowledge that we are all humans and we need empathy and trust to collaborate effectively. PMJ has not shown that he cares about either of those things and therefore I think he should be expelled. [1]: https://blog.vanillaforums.com/help/how-to/dealing-with-toxic-community-member/ [2]: https://modelviewculture.com/pieces/the-dehumanizing-myth-of-the-meritocracy -- Woody Gilk http://about.me/shadowhand On Thu, Jun 23, 2016 at 2:52 PM, Michael Cullum <m...@michaelcullum.com> wrote: > Hi all, > > Over the past 8 weeks, we [the secretaries] have had a number of voting > members, former project representatives and well known community members > alike approach us regarding a situation they believe is being detrimental > to the continued success of the FIG and the harmony in the group. It is, > essentially, the impact of Paul M Jones on the harmony of the mailing list > and the impact his contribution is having on making this group welcoming or > pleasant to be involved with. > > To avoid putting words in mouths but still convey the common grievances, > we’ll quote from those who have complained: > > - > > “This individual is toxic to the group and is therefore directly > affecting the ability of the group to perform its aims” > - > > “I believe this individual is the sole biggest cause of loss of > respect and members for the FIG” > - > > “I stepped down as a voting representative due to this member” > - > > “The presence of this individual makes me not want to contribute or > get involved with to the PHP FIG” > - > > “My main problem with him is that every time I opened a threads lately > to read up, he's getting into some tantrum with other over small > meaningless things. Sometimes he might even be right but honestly I don't > even care whether he is right or wrong. They is just plainly disrupting the > FIG at this stage. He used to be annoying, but I was fine with that, this > is just disruptive though.” > > > The following complainants said they are happy to be named (Nobody asked > not to be named, but some we never asked if they were happy to be named): > > - > > Ross Tuck - Community figure > - > > Larry Garfield - Drupal project representative > - > > Graham Daniels - PHP League project representative > - > > Fabien Potencier - Symfony project representative > - > > Mike van Riel - PHPDoc project representative > - > > Jordi Boggiano - Composer project representative > - > > Anthony Ferrara - Community figure > - > > Phil Sturgeon - Former project representative and community figure > - > > Christopher Pitt - Former project representative and community figure > - > > Rafael Dohms - Community figure > - > > Marc Alexander - phpBB project representative > - > > Cees-Jan Kiewiet - ReactPHP project representative > > > In total the number of complaints about this individual totals about 20 > however there have also been other concerns aired about this individual > publicly and a number of individuals who contacted us said they in turn had > heard complaints about Paul from others; as a result of this, and being > explicitly asked what we can do/to do something about this situation, > including requests of this specific course of action we are starting this > discussion on PMJ’s membership. It is not the role of the secretaries to > handle this kind of thing or pass judgement on member projects so we are > posting this topic to invite discussion from both sides of the table out in > the open. > > We believe having this discussion going on for too long will not be > conducive to the FIG so a vote [to request a new representative from Aura, > which will result in Aura’s expulsion unless a new representative is > provided] will then commence unless a conclusion has been reached agreeable > by all sides before that point. That vote should then put an end to the > current situation. > > To clarify further, this topic does not indicate the opinion of > secretaries that this project representative should be expelled, but that > we have been asked by a significant number of voting members and community > members to do something about it so we are moving those complaints into > public for discussion by voting members as we can do nothing but move the > discussion and complaints to the mailing list for the attention of voting > members. > > I know this is a difficult discussion to avoid making personal, but please > try and keep it civil and respect self-throttling. People have requested we > ensure we always have two week discussion periods before voting on matters > which means that we will not lock this topic unless we have no other option > open to us but will be issuing temporary mailing list bans on anyone not > respecting rules about civility or self throttling; more than 3 responses > in a 24 hour period will result in a 24 hour temporary ban, as will > repeatedly making posts that cross boundaries into flaming. If rules are > broken multiple times, we will increase the time period of bans. > > Many thanks, > > The Secretaries > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "PHP Framework Interoperability Group" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to php-fig+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. > To post to this group, send email to php-fig@googlegroups.com. > To view this discussion on the web visit > https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/php-fig/CAAqcDMhe-Uk%3Dwwcu_z7VFY9Uy12NsTQ4CnoXSFGfafBDpQscww%40mail.gmail.com > <https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/php-fig/CAAqcDMhe-Uk%3Dwwcu_z7VFY9Uy12NsTQ4CnoXSFGfafBDpQscww%40mail.gmail.com?utm_medium=email&utm_source=footer> > . > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "PHP Framework Interoperability Group" group. 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