Taking a step back
September 29, 2006 10:50 am gimp, gnomeEvery so often I get so invested in something that I start to go off the rails a little when others don’t see things in the same way. At the moment there are two situations like that – one I won’t go into, and the other is a long-standing issue in the GIMP community about how to handle abuse in the community.
So I’ve been getting overly heated on both these issues, and have been trying to keep things moving in the right direction, but I realised yesterday that in both cases my intervention has been counter-productive.
So I’m going to take a step back for a while. Perhaps I’m not looking clearly at the issues any more, and others have ideas which will work better than mine. For the first situation, it means I’m going to take a few days to cool off, and see if anyone else steps up to the plate to move things along.
In the case of the GIMP, that means I’m finally, and definitively, leaving the project. I haven’t written any code for the GIMP in a long time anyway, and the project has ceased being fun quite a while ago. I have unsubscribed from all GIMP mailing lists, and bolsh@gimp.org no longer exists. I will also be removing myself from the list of people who handle GIMP donations as soon as possible.
The failure of the project to control the limits of acceptable behaviour of its participants has been a long-standing problem, and needs resolution. But I’m not the person who will get that resolution.
September 29th, 2006 at 8:31 pm
I hope this doesn’t mean that you retire from Libre Graphics Meeting project.
September 29th, 2006 at 9:57 pm
Alexandre: Next year, LGM is in Montreal, and it’s Louis who will be doing all the heavy lifting. Of course I will be there to help as I can when my help is needed.
Dave.
September 29th, 2006 at 10:21 pm
That’s relieving to know, if the word “relieve” is applicable to such a context at all.
September 30th, 2006 at 12:50 am
I can understand you so much. The best thing is to ignore some of people out there.
September 30th, 2006 at 3:39 am
It saddens me to see so many talented people leaving their positions. It appears to be in a lot of areas in the Open Source industry.
I sincerely hope that fences can be mended and those who want to make a living with open source..do so. Those who just like to contribute PLEASE continue.
-We can get a lot of things done when we are not enclose in a box-
Dale
October 1st, 2006 at 7:31 pm
C’est celui que j’appréciais le plus qui s’en va de ce projet. Merci pour tout et à bientôt peut-être sur un autre projet 🙂
Raymond
October 1st, 2006 at 11:25 pm
Best of luck in whatever you decided to do next. It is remarkable you have stuck at it as long as you have. I remember your efforts to promote a Roadmap were not well received, amongst other great ideas which didn’t catch on. The gimp developers have shall we say an unusual style of working.
If someone as determined as you is taking a step back it makes me think seriously about quietly unsubscribing from the gimp lists too.
October 2nd, 2006 at 1:10 am
I am saddened to hear that you are leaving the GIMP project (I would probably be disconcerted about your other situation if I weren’t so heavily sedated :-).
Any volunteer activity needs to be, first and foremost, “fun” for those who participate. While goals, rules, and production are not worthless concerns, nothing will destroy a volunteer project quicker than a lack of reward for those who volunteer; and without volunteers to contribute, those other concerns DO become meaningless.
As a GIMP user, I thank you for your contributions to the project and I wish you well on your next.
October 4th, 2006 at 9:00 am
For all the fuss about certain people abusing the lists it looks like my mails are now being blocked from the list without any warning or reason being given.
October 6th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
Alan, I strongly disagree with Yosh about blocking your mails but there have been warnings and you ignored them. You aren’t going to make us believe that this step surprised you because you asked for it, loud and clearly.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:40 am
Dave, I am sad to see you leaving. You made nice contributions to the project, promoted LGM, etc. I hope that we will be able to sort out our internal problems before too many contributors disappear.
Sven, I also disagree with the way Alan was blocked. As I mentioned in a private e-mail to Yosh, the warnings sent to the list were not very different from other warnings sent in the past and I do not think that these resulted in people being blocked or excluded. Note that I may be wrong on both counts: maybe Yosh sent additional warnings to Alan in private, and maybe other people have been blocked in the past. But then I never heard about these cases.
October 7th, 2006 at 1:52 am
Alan, Sven, Raphaël: Can you take debates about GIMP mailing list policy off my blog, please? It seems to me like within the GIMP community is the best place to have such a debate. Thanks.
October 10th, 2006 at 7:22 am
AU dernier LGM, on avait échangé sur les craintes que nous avions face à la tournure que prenait les choses. Il semble que tu es fait ton choix. Ta décision est courageuse et respectable au vu de ce que tu nous a tous apporté. Merci encore.