Re: [gentoo-project] Re: [gentoo-dev] The mis-concept of "slacking" in Gentoo

[Nirbheek Chauhan <nirbheek@gentoo.org>]

On Wed, Jun 30, 2010 at 5:31 AM, Sebastian Pipping <sping@gentoo.org> wrote:
> On 06/16/10 06:48, Alec Warner wrote:
>>> When you are active in Gentoo during one week and less active during the
>>> next it may happen that people (sometimes jokingly) call you a
>>> "slacker".  This pattern seems to have become common enough that people
>>> even started calling themselves slackers when they are less active than
>>> potentially possible.  Is this reasonable and healthy?
>>>
>>> No, it isn't.
>>
>> Why is it unhealthy?
>
> I believe it's unhealthy because it's using guilt as a tool.
>
> Also, it's inverting being a developer from doing something to not not
> doing something: inverting being good to not being evil.  That's two
> different things.
>

I've never felt guilt when I was called a slacker. Nor have I every
used it to induce guilt, nor seen it induce guilt. I've only seen it
being used in a humorous or ironical way, and only to people whom you
know very well personally. It's a form of bonding, has nothing to do
with using guilt as a tool to make someone contribute more to Gentoo.

Hell, armin76, one of our *most* active devs, who manages several
arches all by himself, took over the mozilla herd when no one was
left, etc etc has been called a slacker by me for ironic effect
several times.

You're jumping to conclusions about this without understanding what
they are for, what they mean, etc. The word 'slacker', the word
'fail', the phrase 'use repoman || die', kicking new recruits on
#-dev, the word^Wperson 'welp', all are part of an enormous set of
in-jokes in Gentoo. In-jokes are an essential part of community
bonding *everywhere*. OTOH, it is also very easy to misunderstand and
misinterpret in-jokes if you've not been a part of them for very long.

Please don't try to dismantle the jokes that make Gentoo fun.

-- 
~Nirbheek Chauhan

Gentoo GNOME+Mozilla Team