Date: Mon, 15 Mar 2004 21:20:22 -0800 From: underway@comcast.net (Gary W. Swearingen) To: "Poul-Henning Kamp" <phk@phk.freebsd.dk> Cc: freebsd-current@freebsd.org Subject: Re: To the Armchair Directors Message-ID: <d565d5bc6h.5d5@mail.comcast.net> In-Reply-To: <89577.1079373410@critter.freebsd.dk> (Poul-Henning Kamp's message of "Mon, 15 Mar 2004 18:56:50 %2B0100") References: <89577.1079373410@critter.freebsd.dk>
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"Poul-Henning Kamp" <phk@phk.freebsd.dk> writes: > Gary, > > Nobody in FreeBSD has the right to annoy developers by whining at them. I meant to say that developers should be tolerant of the whiny set of many users; not that should be tolerant of the set of many whiny users. But the first tolerance requires being tolerant of occasional comments on FreeBSD development that annoy many developers, such as: Somebody should make the boot loader grok USB and Ethernet so that users could replace RS-232 terminals with USB and Ethernet terminals for simular uses, like using boot loader commands. Users on freebsd-questions@ and my local BSD forum agree. I've always considered it a waste of my and your time to make such suggestions here, but I sure don't think it deserves the poster a flame for having suggested it. It's easily ignored, and flaming such comments cause more harm to FreeBSD than good, whether anyone considers such suggestions to be pontificating or not. One other thing (that I heard from another user): A developer often doesn't know what contributions a seeming-non-developer has made to FreeBSD when the judgement is made whether or not to flame a comment. You might be suprised how little work, compared to yours, makes some people think they deserve a chance to comment on FreeBSD developement without being flamed. Their expectations can cause even a flame with a smiley to result in great offense and can greatly discourage further contributions. If it's important enough to risk all that, at least put your rules in a tactfully-worded "official" explanation which you can refer to instead of having developers vent their frustrations on people who are just trying to help, in their own unhelpful manner.
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