From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 From: Scott Randby Subject: Org Community Date: Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:01:54 -0400 Message-ID: <513CBC82.4000600@gmail.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1 Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Return-path: Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([208.118.235.92]:45374) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UEjdI-00083R-V5 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:02:02 -0400 Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UEjdG-0004y9-Uw for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:02:00 -0400 Received: from mail-ie0-x235.google.com ([2607:f8b0:4001:c03::235]:64009) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1UEjdG-0004xt-Q8 for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Sun, 10 Mar 2013 13:01:58 -0400 Received: by mail-ie0-f181.google.com with SMTP id 17so3823420iea.26 for ; Sun, 10 Mar 2013 10:01:58 -0700 (PDT) List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org Last September, I attended a talk given by the lead developers of a prominent free software project. One of the developers spoke about the importance of maintaining a friendly community that does not drive people away. In particular, the developer emphasized that the community is more important than the code. The org community has been wonderful since I've started using org. My questions on even the most basic matters have been answered with respect and clarity. Even though I'm a mere user of org, I've never hesitated to participate in a discussion on the mailing list. However, I am concerned about the future of org. There is one individual who is poisoning the atmosphere by engaging in unfair and unfounded name calling that simply should not be included in messages to this list. Now this person wants to take some of their contributions out of org. The developer of the talk I attended called this tactic "hostage taking" and said that it is better for the community to let hostage takers go their own way. The project and community are more important than the code. The code can be written by others, or the community can decide to go in a different direction. Giving in to hostage takers leads to more hostage taking and the decline of the project. Many of the users of org find it to be irreplaceable. We don't want to see org fall apart because of dissension in the community. I'm not saying that we shouldn't have dissent and disagreement. No, those are essential for a vigorous and healthy project. It is hateful and untruthful personal attacks that we should not accept no matter how significant the code contributions of those making the attacks. Scott Randby