Re: (Important) Boost Foundation meeting this Wednesday

From: Vinnie Falco (vinnie.falco_at_[hidden])
Date: 2024-03-13 02:42:11

On Tue, Mar 12, 2024 at 2:28 PM Robert Ramey via Boost
<boost_at_[hidden]> wrote:
> The authors of this work deserve a yes or no answer as to whether it's
> going to be accepted or not.  That is the purpose of the Boost Review.

Thinking about this a bit more, I have some clarity into some of my
recent uncomfortable feelings. A C++ library goes through the review
process, and whether it passes or fails the library is still usable.
The author can derive value from the library even if rejected, by
using it in their own projects and encouraging others to use it and
form a following.

A new Boost website however, is different. If the website is rejected,
then most if not all of the work is for nothing. It is a total loss or
close to it. We didn't build a new website on a whim, there was a
discussion a few years ago about the need for a new site. There are
stakeholders from the Boost community that have worked with us.
Although the website was not designed by committee (if for no other
reason that such a process makes failure likely), we did get community
engagement once there was something worth looking at.

Unlike a C++ library, a new Boost website is really only usable for
becoming a Boost website. The problem with a straight Boost Formal
Review applied to the website, is that a rejection would likely
discourage anyone from making the effort again in the first place.
Case in point, if I was told at the beginning that our only option
would be to publish our website on a different domain while David
either co-opts our work himself to place on boost.org, or devalues our
labor and puts up his own new website on boost.org, we would have
never done the work in the first place.

The new website reflects my love the Boost Libraries, and in my
opinion there needs to be an implicit understanding that if someone
takes on the enormous risk of building a new Boost website, delivers
on that promise, and demonstrates their understanding and adoption of
Boost culture, we want to encourage and celebrate this. As the website
(unlike a library) cannot be repurposed, a rejection would not only be
an immense personal loss for me but represent a significant loss for
Boost at a time when we need all the victories we can achieve.

I would ask everyone who loves Boost to rally and get behind this
effort to publish this modern website, to show the onlookers and new
potential community members that we are capable of supporting this
high-risk / high-reward contribution. The alternative is too dismal to
contemplate.

Thanks