[maemo-community] My Perception of the Maemo/MeeGo Community

[From: Revd Kathy Smith]

Forgive me, Michael, I am 'only a user' round here. And so ignorant, I'm top 
posting (Horror!) on a mailing list. Fortunately, I know I'll be forgiven, 
and my opinions read despite the crime.

Your response to Texrat's reply seems to me to be sign of a tendency to take 
stuff personally. I recognise it because I have that tendency too. When 
Nokia announced the n9 and two or three people made comments on forum.meego 
that it should be discussed there as it wasn't relevant, I felt personally 
slighted and made unwelcome: but there was nothing personal in the comments, 
and careful study showed it was one or two posters at most making those 
responses. So I would invite you to present specifics. Bring us the actual 
statements which have made you feel that the community is unwelcoming, and 
let us look at them. If there are one or two being overly brusque we'll 
point that out to them. But a broad brush sweep at the 'whole community' 
insults everyone, when MOST people round here are helpful, welcoming and 
well-meaning.

The other thing I invite you do is make sure you have it clear in your head 
what is the role of the Maemo community, what is MeeGo Community (they are 
not the same, and the two communities operate very differently) and what is 
the corporate business of Nokia. Blaming the community for Nokia's business 
decisions is taking a meaningless swipe at the wrong people, some of whom 
are every bit as hacked off as you are at the decisions, but finding 
creative ways to live with it.

My own experience has been that the people I have met and interacted with 
have been extremely welcoming - almost (almost) without exception. And that 
despite my NOT being an engineer and having no code/dev skills whatsoever.

Kathy


-----Original Message----- 
From: Michael Cronenworth
Sent: Sunday, August 14, 2011 8:45 AM
To: maemo-community at maemo.org
Subject: Re: My Perception of the Maemo/MeeGo Community

On 08/13/2011 02:40 PM, Randall Arnold wrote:
> I'm always willing to listen to feedback, even the harsh, negative type, 
> but it's hard to process when it doesn't reflect reality.

I had a good friend of mine, who is an avid technology buff, proof read
my OP before I sent it as I was just as concerned with you about its
touch with reality. He agreed with my OP so I sent it.

>
> The traits you ascribe to the whole are really limited to a tiny few, and 
> do not fit the community. There is no pervasive "self-entitled, elitist 
> attitude". Not even close. There is much, much more of a "can-do, 
> volunteer, what-can-I-do-for-myself-and-the-community" attitude. That 
> should be appreciated by anyone who benefits.
>
> The fact that you include the Maemo council in this flawed assessment 
> speaks volumes. There has indeed been the occasional representative that, 
> in my opinion, reflects those traits, but not the majority. Most of those 
> who have stood worked long, frustrating hours to act as advocates for 
> Maemo. What you may see now is just increased anxiety and frustration at 
> Maemo reaching an apparent end-of-life with many issues left unresolved. A 
> disappointment that we could not completely liberate Maemo. But don't for 
> one second think we believe ourselves to be "self-entitled" or act 
> "elitist". Nothing could be further from the truth.

I rarely see any visible work from the council. I frequent the maemo.org
home page, this list, and infrequently the t.m.o forum. I, like many OSS
folk, prefer mailing lists over web forums for discussions. The one time
I can recount any council discussion was talk about an ad banner on
maemo.org. Any other discussions were either less memorable or were
posted in areas that were out of sight to me. I felt I had a good view
of the community so if it was out of sight to me then the council lacked
transparency.

>
> As for MeeGo, don't blame the volunteer community for issues. You need to 
> separate volunteers from paid participants. You and I might find some 
> agreement once you do so.
Perhaps. I've ignored MeeGo after my first encounters were with the
community members and not actual participants. My larger problem with
MeeGo is stated in my reply to Sivan.
>
> At least you acknowledge that your allegations are subjective. Could it be 
> that your approach and mindset might play a part in how your questions and 
> comments are perceived? If you honestly think that your negative 
> assessment affects the whole (which completely flies in the face of not 
> just reality but probability itself) then I daresay you may well be 
> injecting much of it.
>
> It's unfortunate you felt led to insult the community at large for actions 
> of an unrepresentative few. That works against solving any problems you 
> perceive. I urge you to rethink your approach and conclusions. Broad 
> accusations hurt more than help.
>
These two paragraphs highlight why I made my original e-mail. Your reply
is an attempt to attack me. I never "insulted" anyone. The adjectives I
used were earned.

Out of the many communities I have involved myself with Maemo stands out
as a negative to me. While I am open to re-engage the community on a
positive level, the problem about its future still stands.
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