[maemo-developers] How to destroy your community

[From: Aldon Hynes]

> And which discussion would that be?
Gee, Jeff, I don't know.  Aren't mirrors part of the server infrastructure?
I seem to recall a recent discussion about mirrors.  Discussions about the
mailing list being down, SVN moving, and R.M.O being down all fit, at least
in my mind as part of the disucssions about server infrastructure as well.

> Or, how about instead of complaining about my tone you actually add
something useful to the discussion?

I'm sorry that my suggestion that the tone of comment here might be impeding
making progress in addressing the important issues of this list isn't
considered useful for you.  Based on that, I suspect none of my other
suggestions are likely to be considered useful either.

> Do you have any suggestions, corrections, or improvements about any of my
suggestions?
Yes, but I suspect you won't find them useful.  While I've been a computer
programmer for over forty years, the past several years have been focused
primarily as an activist and community organizer.  The reason I am
particularly interested in the N900 as a mobile device and Maemo as a
platform is that it has the potential to be a great platform for community
development.  However, that is unlikely to happen if people spend their time
griping about how Nokia is not taking their concerns seriously enough
instead of working on building a strong sufficient standalone community.

If you want Nokia to run the community, keep demanding that they do things
and don't take initiative on your own.  I'm pleased that Jeff took the
initiative to create his mirror and to talk about it.  That is the sort of
initiative that needs to be taken.  However, for these initiatives to really
work, they must be accompanied by coalition building.  Griping about Nokia
not doing enough probably is not the most effective form of coalition
building.  Instead, if you feel the repositories are substandard, build a
coalition of repository mirror owners.  Push it even further, if you get
enough focus and power, to become the alternative repository where the
really good developers work together.  If you feel that the developers
mailing list isn't meeting your needs, set up your own mailing list.  The
same for the Wiki.

If you think there is something fundamentally flawed with the debian style
of distributing packages, create your own distribution environment based on
RPMs or some other distribution methodology.

As it stands now, in spite of problems that have occured with the mailing
list and the repositories, I'm pretty happy to keep using the tools that now
exist.  I don't have a pressing need to create something other or better.

Me?  I'm still learning my way around Nokia, N900, Maemo and the various
community surrounding them.  I do not know enough of the players or issues
yet to start my own organizing here yet.  However, I have been speaking with
folks at various open source companies to get ideas about how to make the
community here more effective and cohesive.  When I get a chance, I'll be
writing up more about this on my blog, but right now there are political,
work, and family issues taking a higher priority.

Aldon
http://www.orient-lodge.com