From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org ([69.77.167.62] helo=lists.gentoo.org) by finch.gentoo.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1K4QgL-00064o-60 for garchives@archives.gentoo.org; Fri, 06 Jun 2008 01:23:53 +0000 Received: from pigeon.gentoo.org (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with SMTP id 96EEBE07EA; Fri, 6 Jun 2008 01:23:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: from vms046pub.verizon.net (vms046pub.verizon.net [206.46.252.46]) by pigeon.gentoo.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 80047E07EA for ; Fri, 6 Jun 2008 01:23:00 +0000 (UTC) Received: from gw.thefreemanclan.net ([71.242.211.56]) by vms046.mailsrvcs.net (Sun Java System Messaging Server 6.2-6.01 (built Apr 3 2006)) with ESMTPA id <0K20002POP5POD90@vms046.mailsrvcs.net> for gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org; Thu, 05 Jun 2008 20:22:38 -0500 (CDT) Received: from [127.0.0.1] (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by gw.thefreemanclan.net (Postfix) with ESMTP id B379D1240B6 for ; Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:22:37 -0400 (EDT) Date: Thu, 05 Jun 2008 21:22:37 -0400 From: Richard Freeman Subject: [gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev] Nominations open for the Gentoo Council 2008/2009 In-reply-to: To: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org Message-id: <4848915D.60809@gentoo.org> Precedence: bulk List-Post: List-Help: List-Unsubscribe: List-Subscribe: List-Id: Gentoo Project discussion list X-BeenThere: gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org MIME-version: 1.0 Content-type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-2; format=flowed Content-transfer-encoding: 7bit References: <3c32f69c0806041700h42cc5110y34400ec34184e77c@mail.gmail.com> <4847B354.6090800@gentoo.org> User-Agent: Thunderbird 2.0.0.14 (X11/20080505) X-Archives-Salt: fbd6b0db-d8f4-4f99-939a-f7dc7487df04 X-Archives-Hash: 2cbc9aa2cadb1e9615c4adab9c8f001d Richard Brown wrote: > > This was the first of many nominations for the incumbent council that > gave no reason as to why they should be voted for in this election, as > several of them have accepted their nominations with no further > qualification, and flameeyes seems to think himself above having to > justify why he should be elected, so I provide, for your > entertainment, the following blog posts: > > A Council of Successes: An attempt to analyze what the incumbent > council have achieved during their tenure. > http://arbearohooooen.wordpress.com/2008/06/05/a-council-of-successes/ > Moving this to -project since it doesn't really belong on -dev (well, none of this does other than for the instructions to post nominations on -dev). Would I personally be happier if the council had done a little more that was solid - maybe. Do I think that they basically got nothing done at all - no. Here's my thinking: This is a volunteer-based distro. Such organizations are not best run by issuing edicts from the castle, but by influencing and building consensus. Many of the issues that were brought to council were resolved on their own by discussion on -dev/etc. For example, the whole slacker archs issue was probably brought up in reference to mips (although it isn't fair to single them out, I'll still use them as an example. In part due to the discussion, mips decided to revert to a non-stable arch, which helped alleviate the problem. My feeling is that problems getting solved without direct council involvement is a GOOD thing. Now, maybe there are a few things that would benefit from a little more involvement. I'd really like to see PMS continue to gain more official backing as it matures (although this has had some progress). Also - many of the issues that have gone slowly aren't really technical in nature, but rather are policy-oriented. This certainly is within the council's domain, but not necessarily what they have focused on in their developer careers with gentoo. I've noted that they've been very accepting of ideas discussed on the lists, and that is a good place for them to be in. My feeling is that maybe the council could have done more, but on the other hand I'd rather not see them issuing huge policy changes on a monthly basis. Gentoo has room to improve but it isn't a distro in need of over-arching changes to be successful. Here is a thought - maybe the council would be more active if we only put half the slots up for election every other year. I think part of the problem is that with the council starting off new every year it takes some time for them to get a sense for their actual power. 1/6th of their meetings are either their first meeting or their last meeting - which aren't going to be big get-stuff-done meetings. -- gentoo-project@lists.gentoo.org mailing list