" For a while that worked pretty well, perhaps partially because the constant flow of favorable publicity provided a constant flow of new, enthusiastic, and (often) competent developers willing to devote their time."
This, more or less. Freenet is simply not experiencing the positive feedback loop it used to be in. There's no single way to get back into the grove outside of simply working until you have something that people want to use. The situation might look dire from the discussions we're having, but active participation from developers will go a long way as long as the code is QA'ed. On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 3:34 PM, Ian <i...@locut.us> wrote: > On Wed, Dec 2, 2015 at 2:24 PM, Victor Denisov <vdeni...@plukh.org> wrote: > > > > > This is very interesting, it is - but I'm afraid the true reason Freenet > > is struggling as a software development project is much, much simpler. > > If I can put my two kopecks' worth out there, my *personal* feeling is > > that the project has been lacking some sort of a "steel hand", > > Stalin-style, ever since Ian had stepped down. > > > > Basically, what Freenet had shown in that regard is that management "by > > committee" doesn't work for open-source projects just like it doesn't > > work in the world of commercial applications. You (developers) and we > > (users) desperately need a real *leader*, a person who will listen to > > different points of view and then make quick, binding and final > > decisions - which everyone will respect and adhere to, and which will > > end any and all discussions of the topic in question. You/we should > > choose *one* person and willfully grant him/her authority to make final > > unilateral decisions on all aspects of the project. > > > > I'm afraid that before that is done, Freenet is destined to be stuck in > > the development mire it currently is. > > > I'm not sure, I've definitely been very hands-off in recent years, but even > at the peak of development around 2000-2003ish I don't think anyone would > describe me as "Stalin-like", I always tried to act more as a > "facilitator", trying to encourage people to play nice and be an > independent arbiter. For a while that worked pretty well, perhaps > partially because the constant flow of favorable publicity provided a > constant flow of new, enthusiastic, and (often) competent developers > willing to devote their time. > > I don't think a "Stalin-like" approach will work for most open source > projects because unlike Stalinist Russia, people voluntarily need to want > to be part of your project or they'll just walk away. > > That being said, I do think the project would significantly benefit from a > new and much more engaged leader, ideally with project management > experience, but unfortunately such people do not grow on trees when you > need them to work voluntarily. Should we find such a person I would > support them in a heartbeat. > > Ian. > _______________________________________________ > Devl mailing list > Devl@freenetproject.org > https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl > _______________________________________________ Devl mailing list Devl@freenetproject.org https://emu.freenetproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/devl
