[Discuss-gnuradio] About the list

[Tom Rondeau]

I want to thank everyone for their opinions over the past few weeks.
And I mean everyone. I have been learning a lot about the needs and
wants of the community, and I hope these discussions have allowed
everyone to think or rethink what they want out of this project. By
“discussions,” I'm assuming everyone reading this know what I'm
talking about.

I have been happy to let these conversations go on uninterrupted.
While there have been a few derogatory attacks on various people, they
have mostly been minimal. I appreciate that. However, recently, things
have started to get a little more heated and people are getting
actually upset, and I won't tolerate that. Respectful disagreements
and discussions are great and will help us move GNU Radio forward. But
some of what has been said recently has gone too far, and I would like
everyone to reflect on that, calm down, and then we can get back to
work.

As an open source project, GNU Radio has attracted many people from
all around the world and all different positions, interests, and skill
sets. It also means that there is a lot of passion in many of the
people working on this project, some of whom do it out of love of the
science and new capabilities that GNU Radio enables. It's
understandable that this kind of passion elicits passionate responses,
and I do not want to see anyone driven away, punished, or abused
because of that.

One thing to keep in mind is the level of maturity that this project's
list has demonstrated for almost 10 years now. Many of us are
professionals and that attitude has been brought to the list in the
form of free help, advice, bug reports, and success stories. Yes we
have had a few slips here and there, but I have always appreciated the
tone the GNU Radio mailing list has kept, especially considering that
it would be so easy to go in the opposite direction.

As a final note, I also want to point out why certain projects and
attitudes seem more prevalent than others in GNU Radio. As Johnathan
Corgan has stated in the past, GNU Radio, as are many open source
projects, is a “doacracy.” Things get done because you DO it. We each
have our goals and desires, and it is up to each one of us to
contribute. Those that contribute and work hard get the attention that
comes with that.

With that said, I hope everyone can help in raising the level of
discourse. We do not want to have to start moderating this list. I
already see that the conversation has taken an upward swing into
constructive criticism that will lead to improving GNU Radio, and I
thank you for that.

Sincerely,
Tom