[wp-testers] Center

[Matt Mullenweg]

Dirk Hohndel wrote:
> In open source usually 
> software gets better BECAUSE the constant feedback of the community is 
> taken seriously.

Interfaces in most OS software tend to suck because they try to please 
everyone, give undue consideration to the loudest members of the 
community, design by committee, or add an option whenever there's a 
disagreement.

> I don't feel that our feedback is taken seriously at 
> all - most if not all of the things I list above have been reported over 
> and over again, yet nothing has changed.

Quite the opposite, this is the first release where feedback on the new 
design was specifically solicited, and hundreds of people have:

2.5-feedback at wordpress.org

Also where most of the decisions in previous versions of WordPress were 
more or less arbitrary (I can attest personally), or based on faulty 
premises like "fitting everything on one screen is better," most in 2.5 
were based on feedback from users new and old, and watching what they 
did vs what they said. (Which is often very different.)

The true test of the release is how usage and adoption of WordPress 
changes after 2.5 (what people do), especially after people have had a 
few days to settle into the new feel of things, which I truly believe is 
a step forward.

We didn't always make the safest choices, but we made the best ones. 
Some things will be uncomfortable to people who have been using WP for 
years, but I'm confident over time there'll be less and less friction.

Finally, we do have a history of doing things that everyone hated or 
screamed bloody murder at the time, and were honestly painful to get 
feedback for, but ended up being good long-term decisions, like 
introducing the theme system or WYSIWYG.

-- 
Matt Mullenweg
http://ma.tt | http://automattic.com