Date: Tue, 4 Feb 2003 18:56:38 +0100 (CET)
From: Magnus B{ckstr|m <b@etek.chalmers.se>
To: Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject: Re: dillon@'s commit bit: I object
Message-ID: <Pine.BSF.4.44.0302041751160.81613-100000@scrooge.etek.chalmers.se>
In-Reply-To: <4.3.2.7.2.20030204094350.027e9e00@localhost>
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On Tue, 4 Feb 2003, Brett Glass wrote: > Subject: Re: dillon@'s commit bit: I object > > At 03:35 AM 2/4/2003, Dag-Erling Smorgrav wrote: > > >....I am not > >a member of the core team. Nor do I wish to become one - I could > >never put up with all the shit they get flung at them. > > Could this be part of the problem: That the current organizational > structure is such that some people who should be on -core do not > wind up there, while others who should not be there do? > > Running -core as a closed, secret cabal certainly does not help. > More open governance would be a vast improvement. I would consider a more open governance to be harmful. Things would get bogged down in discussions fed by the opinions of the whole populace (review current thread) whereas what is needed is indeed a closed group, appointed by those most involved, on whatever merits those most involved see fit, for whatever directing purpose they see fit. With "human nature" in the equation, that is the only efficient way to manage a sizable organisation. African tribe management (whole village meets until consensus is reached) may be great as a social event but is disastrous as a direction-finding device. "Those most involved" need to be developers; they are the only ones investing anything in the project (bylaws dictate what a monetary contribution buys you.) The rest of the universe's population gets FreeBSD for free, and can offer clever suggestions but never credibly dictate anything. Not a democracy, sorry -- ergo, not an open government. It's interesting to liken the FreeBSD project to a box: I'm outside of the box, but I've seen the box doing its obscure job for several years, and only occasionally has the box jumped a millimeter or some brief grinding sound has come out of it. Even better, now that I've observed the box a bit more closely for a few years (the output of the box is important to my employer, and personally I'm interested) I've gained a less foggy view of the structure among the humans (wow!) inside the box. What I see doesn't scare me, and some things are reassuring -- e g the unanimous (trusting greg's statement) decision in -core lately on a managerial matter that is -not- easy. .02 euros, Magnus To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message
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