On Fri, Oct 15, 2010 at 3:53 PM, Erik Moeller <erik(a)wikimedia.org> wrote:
You're generalizing in ways that are invalid. Your
behavior on this
list, MZMcBride's behavior on this list, Trevor's behavior on this
list, my behavior on this list -- all those things are very specific
to us as individuals, and so are the community dynamics that result.
There's no inevitability of outcomes, we're shaping these outcomes
together now.
I respectfully disagree. Attitude is not important compared to
concrete things that are upsetting people. The number one thing that
volunteers are unhappy about is non-deployment of volunteer code.
Why? Because the only reason for their participation is so that their
code should be deployed. When their code is neglected while other
people's code is deployed immediately, solely because those other
people happen to work for Wikimedia, that will result in a great deal
of frustration no matter what attitude anyone approaches it with. And
the solution is simple: Wikimedia has to allocate the resources to
deploy volunteer code continually, just like employee code. Which it
has, and that decision will have a much greater impact on the
staff-volunteer relationship than any change in attitude possibly
could.
I didn't brush aside your points earlier, nor did
Danese, nor did Tim,
nor did others who responded to you. If you want to feel slighted, you
have all the right and time in the world to do so. But again, that's
your personal choice, not "systemic".
If enough people make the same personal choice, it's fair to assume
that there's an underlying reason for it. In that case, appealing to
the choice itself is fruitless -- look at the reasons for the choice.