DPL Campaign Questions 003
Sometimes technical Debian discussions (mailing lists, bug reports, blog posts, etc.) become personal flame-wars.
Do you think current frequency/amount of heated discussions is acceptable for the Debian project? What would you do to reduce those?
I do think that the current frequency/amount of heated discussion, as I perceive it, is acceptable for the project. I think that it is acceptable because it demonstrates that we have problems, and we should not be trying to hide problems.
A code of conduct, or CoC, is something that treats symptoms but not causes. As DPL I would encourage the identification and resolution of the root causes. Why are people so angry? Why is there lack of respect? Why are people not asking these questions?
In any healthy, functional organization, there are shared goals. Shared goals, obviously, contribute to a feeling of unity of purpose, and perhaps a vague and general direction to follow. Another thing is the spirit of cooperation and teamwork, and perhaps this is most important. Such spirit does not flourish when there are power inequalities or hierarchical structures. Such spirit does not flourish when you say that it is reasonable to make someone ask for permission to do things that anyone should be able to do. Such spirit does not flourish when things like ego and greed get in the way.
Anyone can claim to be a team player, but it is rare that I actually encounter one.
Which project and external Debian-related communications media do you follow? and contribute to? As well as a general list I'm interested in specific lists (for eg #debian, #debian-devel, debian-devel@l.d.o, debian-project@l.d.o, the Hardware forum on forums.d.n etc).
How do you see those two lists changing if you become DPL?
Which of these communications media do you feel is important for the DPL to read?
I am subscribed to over 50 Debian mailing lists. I do not follow them all. I am currently on #debian-glibc, #debian-devel, #debian-women, #spi, #alioth, #debian.de, #debian-devel.de, #debian-devel-fr, #debian-release, #debian-kernel, #debian-private, #debian-dak, #debian-devel-changes, #debian-ftp, #debian-buildd, #debian-games, #debian-dpkg, and #debian-bugs. I do not follow them all. I joined #debian-admin after a misunderstanding which led me to believe that it had become open and transparent, and was kicked out after about a week. I do not read any web forums, as I find them to be unbearable. As for external media, I occasionally read LWN.
The only specific change I would anticipate after becoming DPL is the addition of leader@debian.org.
I feel that it is important for the DPL to have a grasp of what is going on in the project, but I would not cite anything other than debian-devel-announce@lists.debian.org to be required reading.
As for tones and perceptions on these various communications channels, I cannot say that external perception is entirely unimportant. However, if Debian is made the best it can be, I think external perception will become positive or not matter very much. So unless there are specific public relations needs arising out of a particular incident, I imagine that I would prefer to focus on improving Debian rather than improving Debian's external image.