2009/1/15 Brian Brian.Mingus@colorado.edu
Access to svn does not imply access to MediaWiki. Changes to MediaWiki have been almost entirely up to core developer discretion, and as I have demonstrated, 'consensus' has largely implied that they, and only they, thought the changes made Wikipedia better. The ideas are rarely presented to the community in a formal, well-designed demo format (as SMW has been, time and time again), and they are not evaluated for their usability. When a usability issue arises third party tools are not properly considered. Rather, they reinvent the wheel in an inferior manner.
Maybe I'm the only one thinking this...but if you see problems, why don't you try to get involved fixing them? Saying "we have problems, and you guys won't listen to us" isn't helpful, it's just complaining. If you have such an enlightened opinion as to the state of usability within MediaWiki, why not get involved and share said wisdom?
As many people have said earlier in this thread: the developers create no barriers to helping with the software. Us getting involved with all of the various wiki communities every time a change is proposed would be counter-productive--I for one don't want to get into an enwiki debate over the placement of a button on the preferences page. Just as you don't expect Commons to come and ask every wiki if they think an image should be deleted, don't expect the developers to come and ask the community for their blessing every time something needs changing.
-Chad