Open Source: you're doing it wrong - the Pyjamas hijack

[Pascal Chambon]

Hi,

cool down, people, if anything gave FOSS a bad reputation, that's well 
the old pyjamas website (all broken, because "wheel must be reinvented 
here"), and most of all the "terror management" that occurred on its 
mailing list.
Previously I had always considered open-source as a benevolent state of 
mind, until I got, there, the evidence that it could also be, for some 
people, an irrational and harmful cult (did you know github were 
freaking evildoers ?).

Blatantly the pyjs ownership  change turned out to be an awkward 
operation (as reactions on that ML show it), but a fork could also have 
very harmfully "split" pyjs-interested people, so all in all I don't 
think there was a perfect solution - dictatorships never fall harmlessly.

The egos of some might have been hurt, the legal sense of others might 
have been questioned, but believe me all this fuss is pitiful compared 
to the real harm that was done numerous time to willing newcomers, on 
pyjs' old ML, when they weren't aware about the heavy dogmas lying around.

A demo sample  (I quote it each time the suvject arises, sorry for 
duplicates)
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Please get this absolutely clear in your head: that                  |
| you do not "understand" my reasoning is completely and utterly       |
| irrelevant.  i understand *your* reasoning; i'm the one making the   |
| decisions, that's my role to understand the pros and cons.  i make a |
| decision: that's the end of it.                                      |
| You present reasoning to me: i weight it up, against the other       |
| reasoning, and i make a decision.  you don't have to understand that |
| decision, you do not have to like that decision, you do not have to  |
| accept that decision.                                                |
------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ling live pyjs,
++
PKL



Le 08/05/2012 07:37, alex23 a écrit :
> On May 8, 1:54 pm, Steven D'Aprano<steve
> +comp.lang.pyt... at pearwood.info>  wrote:
>> Seriously, this was a remarkably ham-fisted and foolish way to "resolve"
>> a dispute over the direction of an open source project. That's the sort
>> of thing that gives open source a bad reputation.
> The arrogance and sense of entitlement was so thick you could choke on
> it. Here's a sampling from the circle jerk of self-justification that
> flooded my inbox over the weekend:
>
> "i did not need to consult Luke, nor would that have be productive"
>
> No, it's generally _not_ productive to ask someone if you can steal
> their project from them.
>
> "i have retired Luke of the management duties, particularly, *above*
> the source"
>
> Who is this C Anthony Risinger asshole and in what way did he _hire_
> the lead developer?
>
> "What I have wondered is, what are effects of having the project
> hostage to the whims of an individuals often illogically radical
> software libre beliefs which are absolutely not up for discussion at
> all with anyone."
>
> What I'm wondering is: how is the new set up any different? Why were
> Luke Leighton's philosophies/"whims" any more right or wrong than
> those held by the new Gang of Dicks?
>
> "Further more, the reason I think it's a bad idea to have this drawn
> out discussion is that pretty much the main reason for this fork is
> because of Luke leadership and project management decisions and
> actions. To have discussions of why the fork was done would invariably
> lead to quite a bit of personal attacks and petty arguments."
>
> Apparently it's nicer to steal someone's work than be mean to them.
>
> "I agree, Lex - this is all about moving on.  This is a software
> project, not a cult of personality."
>
> Because recognising the effort of the lead developer is cult-like.
>
> "My only quibble is with the term "fork."  A fork is created when you
> disagree with the technical direction of a project.  That's not the
> issue here.  This is a reassignment of the project administration only
> - a shuffling of responsibility among *current leaders* of the
> community.  There is no "divine right of kings" here."
>
> My quibble is over the term "fork" too, as this is outright theft. I
> don't remember the community acknowledging _any other leadership_ over
> Luke Leighton's.
>
> "I suspect Luke will be busy with other projects and not do much more
> for Pyjamas/pyjs, Luke correct me if you see this and I am wrong."
>
> How about letting the man make his own fucking decisions?
>
> "All of you spamming the list with your unsubscribe attempts: Anthony
> mentioned in a previous email that he's using mailman now"
>
> Apparently it's the responsibility of the person who was subscribed
> without their permission to find out the correct mechanism for
> unsubscribing from that list.
>
> "apparantly a bunch of people were marked as "POSTING" in the DB, but
> not receiving mail (?)"
>
> Oh I see, the sudden rush of email I received was due to an error in
> the data they stole...
>
> "Nobody wins if we spend any amount of time debating the details of
> this transition, what's done is done."
>
> Truly the justification of assholes.
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