[Python-Dev] Goodbye (original) (raw)

Stephen J. Turnbull stephen at xemacs.org
Thu Sep 23 06:32:07 CEST 2010

Cameron Simpson writes:

I've just read that thread. Mark doesn't sound that way to me. "I disagree entirely" is an entirely valid response, when backed up with argument, such as his immediately following sentence:

Perhaps we should simply agree to disagree,

Agreeing to disagree on actions does not work with shared resources, and the tracker is a shared resource. It's not a valid response here. According to reports, his disagreement did extend to action.

"I find this response quite pathetic" does seem an overreaction to a single point clarification-type post. The "Fly back at me if you like. I don't care about me. I don't care about you. I do care about Python." quote I actually think this quite laudable in its way; he's expressing a commitment to getting things done, and a determination to focus on the core issue (response workflow, from the sounds of it) in the face of the emotional responses the disagreement will inevitably produce in the discussions.

Expressing a commitment and emotional discussion are not problems worthy of even thinking about changing privileges. The problem is that (according to reports) he imposed his opinion on all the other tracker workers by making changes to the public database (ie, closing bugs), after being told by several people that the consensus was otherwise. And did this several times.

While this was not clearly expressed in several of the key posts in this thread, I suspect that this is what was meant by "other ways are more fruitful" and Guido's now retracted psychoanalytic comment.

There is a delicate balance to be kept between "he who does the work makes the decisions" and "polluting the common pool." In this case, the balance was clearly upset. Triaging and closing bug reports are not the only functions of the tracker, and in fact they are subsidiary to actual bug-fixing work. It's pretty clear to me that if a triager disagrees with the priorities of the bug fixers, his only recourse is public discussion, and to do what he personally can to respond to issues.

More information about the Python-Dev mailing list