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

[David House]

On 6/23/05, Mike Little <journalized at gmail.com> wrote:
> > ... We love to argue and that is a fact
> > and everybody can stand around and discuss/argue the merits of one
> > option versus another or somebody can simply take the lead, make some
> > decisions and do something and if it doesn't work, then fix it where
> > necessary. I believe that's what Matt's been doing.
> 
> That would be fine there was any kind of discussion beforehand. Yes, someone has
> to make the decisions. But, I would hope it was after at least some kind of
> heads up beforehand.

So the devs have to say 'I'm doing this' before doing it? IMO things
work better if we're passive rather than active: if you don't like a
change a dev has made, react. Discussion happening after a change has
made (with a view to a retraction if necessary) will make development
more streamlined.
 
> > Plus, this is open source - if you want a different
> > implementation and don't like what Matt is doing, go ahead and do your
> > own thing. Nobody is stopping you.
> 
> I *really* wouldn't want to do that. That would not be a good idea.

Amen. Lets drop the forking talk.
 
> I disagree, the decisions are being made: By Matt.

That's just plain wrong. So many threads seem to disappear into the
ether with no decision or no action. Things like the user levels
overhaul still hasn't seen any light, because the discussion has just
stagnated. I think that at this point we need someone to come in and
make an authoritative decision on what to do. Otherwise when
discussion's ran out and everyone's put their ideas forward, nothing
happens.
 
> I disagree with this too. We don't want or need a committee. We already have two
> mailing lists with plenty of experienced developers with a lot of knowledge,
> good ideas and opinions. Just not enough discussion in advance of the major
> changes to the system.

Discussion is great! The mailing list is just for that -- all the
amazing people in the WP community to come together and give their two
cents. But at the end of the discussion, someone on the comittee needs
to make a decision, for reasons I outlined in my previous paragraph.

> I think my complaints could be addressed by Matt or Ryan joining in (which they
> regularly do) and then stating what decisions have been made!

I happen to agree with you here. A dev just adding to a thread saying
'starting implementing this as of <date>' would make a nice addition,
but I do think a WP commitee would be a good thing.

Let me outline my points in a way that unignorable and unconfusable.

Problem: too many threads are just falling away because discussion
comes to a natural end and the output from the thread never makes it
into the source code.
Solution: create a group of decision makers that would review
'finished' threads and say 'Yep, we'll implement that' or say 'No,
that won't happen'. That way no threads are every lost because we know
someone in a place of some importance has read the thread and _will
act on it_.

-- 
-David House, dmhouse at gmail.com, http://xmouse.ithium.net