[maemo-developers] How to destroy your community

[From: Stephan Jaensch]

Hi Tero,

Am 21.01.2010 um 12:56 schrieb <tero.kojo at nokia.com> <tero.kojo at nokia.com>:

> There are problems sure, that bit is apparent. Do you really think any party (community, admins, ISP, me) is right now happy at how the ISP has handled the case? No.

Well then, what is being done to make sure something like this doesn't happen again? And just for clarity: I don't see the ISP being the root cause of the problem here. The question is: how could "roughly fifteen blades, a few teras of netapp" end up at such a bad ISP? Isn't it common sense to use an ISP that one has prior experience with and hopefully a known contact? Who made this decision? Was that person fit (qualified) to make this decision? If not, is he still responsible for these kinds of decisions?  

> If anyone has a blade rack with roughly fifteen blades, a few teras of netapp and fast connections handy, and is willing to watch it 24/7, give root access and guarantee that it will be there for the next three to five years, please step forward. I would love to get that somewhere.

Getting that "somewhere" is obviously not the issue at all, for the right price. And I'm guessing money is not the issue either. So it's just about having someone who has experience and the right contacts in this regard to make the proper choice.

> But ranting on this list will not help.

I don't think that I'm ranting. I'm trying to get to the root of the problem here. This might be an important discussion since it's possible not all of us agree about the root cause.

>> It is very easy for Joe to just go away or to shut up, without any loss
>> to him.  We should be happy that he doesn't, it would be a loss for us.
>> He can do good for maemo.org, and I wouldn't be surprised if he can do
>> more good than many of our paid sysapes.  Get him root access already.
> 
> Give root access to a person who walks in here and starts shouting? Are you serious? No smileys, so I assume you are.
> Marius, I want root access on all your machines. I want it, now! :)

Jeff was shouting? I would rather characterize him as one of the (if not the) most valued community contributors in regards to maemo.org infrastructure. Just take a look at http://wiki.maemo.org/User:Jebba. He was the only one (!) being able to provide maemo.org repository access during the server move. I think he has proven that he is capable and can be trusted.

So tell me Tero, what are the criteria for getting root access? Is this a community, i.e. a meritocracy?

> Also Marius, would you watch your language. Calling people names is rude. It gives a bad picture of your character, and is against netiquette. You should know better, it's not a kindergarten.

Exactly, it is not. It's high time people started being accountable for their performance.

> Please show up at the next monthly sprint meeting and take some tasks to improve things then. How much time and energy are you willing to pitch in personally?

I'll be there. How much responsibility are you willing to give away?

Cheers,
Stephan