Re: New maintainer

[John Wiegley]

>>>>> Eli Zaretskii <address@hidden> writes:

> It's too bad, IMO, that you evidently assign so much importance to issues
> with which you disagree. Cooperation is about finding the areas of
> agreement, which are certainly vast in this case, and using them for the
> common good, rather than poking at the few disagreements.
> 
> You will have to decide up front whether a possibility of no compromise in
> some situations is something you will be able to live with. This is
> something that IMO sheds light not only on your relations with Richard and
> the FSF, but also on your relations with other contributors here, because
> such situations will arise there as well.
> 
> [...] And my question is: why not concentrate on those areas, and simply
> "bypass" (a.k.a. "ignore") the rest?

Eli, the time I have free to spend on open source projects is very limited,
and extremely precious to me. There are a hundred more things I want to do,
than can do, on any given day. So to make a commitment of this extent, I must
be confident in what I'm getting myself into. Not just the technical content,
or even the political content, but the "spirit" of those who are in charge of
decisions that could make my life as a contributor miserable, should they
choose.

My questions are somewhat pinpointed in this thread, because I'm using them to
bring out characteristics from people that I can't determine just by asking
their friendly opinions. I've been extremely impressed with Richard throughout
this transaction, and frankly that has mattered more to me than anything
that's been said. Seeing how a thread progresses when an issue is put under a
microscope like this, tells me more about the community than it does about the
issue. The issue itself, in fact, has only become greyer -- as often happens
-- since I'm coming to appreciate the complexities of the problem.

Once I have faith, I do "ignore" the rest, and you won't have to worry about
me arguing every point. But if you do worry, then vote -1, and I'll completely
understand.

John