Where Fedora Went Wrong (nice conclusion)

[G.Wolfe Woodbury]

On Wed, May 16, 2007 at 01:29:52AM +0530, Rahul Sundaram wrote:
 
> It would be better if you would. You can choose to not contribute 
> anything back and only expect to get everything for free but if 
> everybody chooses to be selfish you wouldn't get what you are getting. 
> This is a ecosystem that relies folks investing resources like their own 
> time or money.
> 
> If you have the time to complain you have time to contribute. If you 
> don't find this system suitable find another one. It's not like there is 
> a death of choices. No point in constantly abusing the system while 
> relying on it.

I'd like to disagree with Rahul's harsh tone here.

F/OSS will *always* have its leeches, but we shouldn't be too hard on them.
They form a ground and are part of the environment too.  As a metaphor,
they are the soil into which we cast the seed hoping to find and form more
seeds.

Contributing takes many forms, and even the complaints are sometimes useful.

I take the time to test installing packages and their interactions, even if
I don't use some packages.  I like doing installs and I have the time to do them.
I'm no longer a good programmer, but I have the ability to read thru anaconda
and other things and make suggestions. I have the time to file bugzilla tickets
and respond to them.  That is my contribution, as minimal as it may seem.

The harshness of Rahul's tone is much too common in the Fedora community, and
is part of the "failing" we face and need to correct. IMHO of course.

-- 
Wolfe
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