Re: [Gnewsense-dev] Current Status (and Wiki Performance)

[Sam Geeraerts]

Op Fri, 14 Oct 2016 10:07:59 +0100
schreef Bob Ham <address@hidden>:

> > > - What are the decisions that need to be made for the planning of
> > >   gNewSense 5?
> 
> There's no response to this question.  Should we assume that there are
> no pending decisions which need to be made?

Assuming that Builder will work, nothing substantial. Think of a name,
maybe come up with some new artwork, ...

> if there is going to be effective team work, there needs to be much
> better communication.

Agreed.

> I'd like to ask: is there a particular reason for holding
> these discussions in private?

I try to make the gNewSense community friendly and welcoming. But you
don't have to look far to find examples that show that the free
software community can also be a hostile environment. This can make
people who are otherwise enthusiastic hesitant to take their first
steps in public. Discussion in private can help build their confidence.

There can also be other reasons to initiate discussion in private, e.g.
privacy issues that are useful for a mentor to know, but don't need to
be shared with everyone.

> I'm concerned by this mode of working.  It seems that there is (Sam
> +Eddi) doing work in private who will then seek feedback from some
> separate entity called "the community".  What I would expect, and what
> is the norm in modern bazaar-style development is that Sam and Eddi
> are simply members of the community, working in the open with other
> members. What that means in practice is that discussions happen on
> the mailing list and code is available in a public repository.  Would
> you consider changing your mode of working to being more open?

Of course. It's not my intention to do all development in back rooms
and only make it public when it's finished. I'll come back on this in
the next few days.