Having worked on projects that were decided by a committee, I agree. I think I suggested that due to the fact that I am not a contributor and that I have only been using CouchDB for a few months and am not fully sure yet how things are decided within the community. Please excuse my ignorance on this one.
Jonathan Porta On Mon, Apr 16, 2012 at 5:07 PM, Noah Slater <[email protected]> wrote: > Some comments. > > "I wish it could have been discussed before too." > > Sorry to jump on you here Benoît, but this is not the way CouchDB works. > > And every time I see this unhealthy attitude raise its ugly head, I am > going to stamp on it. > > CouchDB operates a culture of trust. We trust that community members are > going to act in the interests of the project. Whatever you want to do, just > have at it. It is easier to ask for forgiveness than it is to get > permission. > > The only rule to that is: don't be a berk! > > This permission culture that we seem to have fostered in recent years is a > blight on the project, and it is my hope that we can use recent events to > shake it off. But we need to start by stamping it out where ever we see it. > Setting an example. > > The website was not discussed prior to the launch, because I can tell you > right now, with my hand on my heart, it would never have seen the light of > day. We'd still be sat here, with a 5 year old site, moaning about it. > Because everyone thinks they know how to design, and everyone has an > opinion, and the thing would've been debated until it was killed. > > You can imagine how much I flinched when I read this: "Does anyone think it > would be a good idea to list the proposed changes/issues to/with the site > and then have the community vote on them?" > > Not picking on you here Jonathan, but it's a good example of what I am > talking about. > > Voting on the design of the site is probably THE worst idea possible. > > If we want a site that looks good, then we need to entrust a single > individual (preferably with a good eye for design, and modern design > skills) to own the site, and to take responsibility for any changes. That > is the only way we will avoid the dreaded design by committee, and it is > the only way we will be able to sensibly evolve our brand. > > So, I am asking people now. Please do not touch the design of the site > unless you are prepared to take ownership of the design of the site. And I > mean complete ownership. If you want to mess with the design, please be > prepared to take further requests. This is not to discourage you. In fact, > quite the opposite. If someone wants to do this, I would be overjoyed! But > we need someone who is committed, and who can use their single, unified > vision to guide us in the right direction. > > Are you a designer? > > Do you think you could help to maintain our one page static HTML website? > > Please get in touch. We need your help! > > In the mean time chaps, I have created a wiki page to collect our ideas. > > http://wiki.apache.org/couchdb/Website_Design >
