Re: [boost] Process discussions

Subject: Re: [boost] Process discussions
From: Robert Ramey (ramey_at_[hidden])
Date: 2011-01-31 11:55:27

Vladimir Prus wrote:
> As of recent, we had quite a lot of discussion about process. In true
> open-source spirit, it was a fairly open discussion, with everybody
> offering their perspectives and experience. However, while we surely
> learned many things, it does not seem like we're going anywhere.
>
> For a quick experiment, I tried to assess whether the discussion
> actually reflects the needs of Boost developers, so I created a table
> of Boost developers sorted by the number of commits in 2010. It is
> here:
>
> http://tinyurl.com/5suwfbn
>
> It seems that 5 top Boost comitters did not participate much in recent
> discussions. And going down the list, it seems like many of active
> developers did not say anything, while most of discussions is fueled
> by folks who don't commit much.
>
> Of course, everybody can offer valuable thoughts, but if the goal is
> to fix things for Boost developers, it would make sense if developers
> say that needs fixing, as opposed to other people doing it for them.
>
> Maybe I suggest that for some time, we outright ban freeform
> discussion about process, and instead, we restrict them to threads
> started by a Boost developers and saying this: "I am maintainer of X,
> and had N commits and M trac changes in the last year. I most hate
> P1, P2 and P3. I would propose that we use T1, T2, and T3 to fix
> that". Then, everybody could join to suggest better
> way of fixing P1, P2 and P3 -- without making up other supposed
> problems.
>
> Thoughts?

Trying to "manage" the discussion is a lot of work and I don't thing
it's a good use of anyone's time.  I think it would create a lot of
unhappiness and have no practical benefit. As a practical matter, when I see
a long thread, I just pickout posts from some who I've come to
expect a concise and/or interesting post and skip over the rest. I'm
guessing that most of us do the same, So the thread is already "managed" 
from
this perspective.

Robert Ramey