Apparently
Mr Stevens is now so famous he has his own "Excuse
for being an asshole" page. Amusing! [rebelutionary]
Well, I need to put my two cents in as a former Jakarta committer.
Jon's demeanor on the mail lists is at times as a total asshole, but I would
have to say as an equal opportunity asshole (give him an opportunity and
he'll be an asshole). The fan club page makes a persuasive argument that
Jon will be Jon and what you should do rather than complain about Jon is
to contribute to the project (and state that he's probably a nice guy in
person). But therein lies the problem, there is somehow
the implication that if there is a problem with Jon, it's your problem.
And you should just get over it and contribute to Jakarta. And it implies
that this is only a small barrier to entry in the Jakarta project (which
is your duty to join anyway). But it is not just an outside facing problem.
As you noticed I identified myself as a former committer, even thought
if you look on the Who
we are site I am listed as a committer, and even though I haven't
done squat for nearly 2 years. Apparently the membership clause which reads
"A Committer that has been inactive for 6 months or more may lose their status
as a Committer" interprets the word MAY in accordance with RFC standards
which means "basically never." That and my e-mail is about a year out of
date too. But I digress. Why am I a former committer? To say it is because
of Jon's behavior would be unfair and inaccurate. Blame it on the real job,
the serious girlfriend, and the ensuing marriage. I just didn't have enough
time to contribute to Jakarta for free (as in beer), I would much rather
spend my free (as in liberty) time enjoying it. Those things alone would
keep me out, but throw in Jon and people like him (he's not the only one,
just the most famous) and it goes from a "probably not" to a "hell no".
Andrew Oliver also reflects some of my feelings on the
politics that keep me away (the 6 Sep entry to be specific).
I'm not bagging on Jon just to bag on Jon however. Where I want
to go with this is an inherent problem with free (as in beer) software development.
It's amazing how much thicker your shell gets when it is padded with a few
pay stubs. Is Jon the biggest asshole I've ever seen? Not by a long shot.
I've even worked with bigger assholes than Jon, willingly and happily.
All the resentment that comes with working with an asshole goes away when
the rent check clears. I probably would get along just fine with Jon if
I worked with him in a paying job. Sure, we would have our moments, just
like everyone at my work tends to have with each other at one time or another.
Would I deal with the crap that goes with being an active participant on
an Open Source project for free? Not unless my life dramatically changes.
Would I do it for money? I already do on a daily basis (for a proprietary
project that is). But for the fan club page to trivialize
the problem as not a poblem is IMHO the wrong solution and sullies the good
name of the... umm... oh nevermind. |
