WordPress Openness (was Re: [wp-hackers] UI development for 1.6)

[Roy Schestowitz]

Quoting Matthew Mullenweg <m at mullenweg.com>:

> Roy Schestowitz wrote:
>> It often seems as if WP is an impenetrable development community. Many
>> suggestions (including several of mine, which were definitely 
>> constructive) are
>> ignored and additional code is labeled "plug-in" and added to a 
>> 'graveyard'. The
>> community makes some independent decisions (without polls) and while it's
>> XFN-friendly, it is not very professionally friendly (read: open). In the
>> spirit of the GPL, what was open must remain open. Until some months ago, b2
>> was not even acknowledged properly.


Firstly, please accept my apologies for unnecessary flames. That remark which
you took back ignited an impulsive comeback. I already apologised to Mike
(off-list) for unintentionally misrepresenting a few.


> By necessity not everything can go into the core. The whole point of the
> plugin system is to allow people to extend WP without including code in
> the core and bloating the codebase with things that may only appeal to a
> limited subset of people. Every highly mature OS project I'm familiar
> with has evolved in a similar way, and the ones that haven't are IMO
> either bloated or a pain to upgrade.


Very true, but not the primary point I was making. I think that 
features can be
voted on so that the outcome better reflects on the desire of _users_.

Admittedly, I would be the last person who can comment on development. 
There are
litterally thousands of people out there who wish contribute; the most one can
do is listen and promote discussion. You have access to many IT professionals
who will give you free advise. We are not mere peons and not only WordPress
Lead (communally speaking) have inexhaustible intelligence. Given the time, I
would have loved to get a widely-exposed Open Source project or 
contribute, but
with 2 jobs and a full-time Ph.D. all I can do is give my opinion on 
occasions.
Sadly, I rarely make impact, e.g. WordPress forums in UseNet do not exist and
the mailing-list archives are not themed to suit WordPress -- something that I
offered I would do in Perl.


> I have no idea what you mean by the b2 remark, it has been in the first
> paragraph of the about page for over two years now and I always talk
> about b2 when people ask about the origins of WP.

It must have escaped me somehow. I trust your honesty, so sorry for all the
fuss...

Roy

-- 
Roy S. Schestowitz
http://Schestowitz.com