On Nov 7, 2007 2:37 PM, Stefano Bagnara <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Robert is the latest committer having joined our PMC, but is a well > known ASF Member since many years. In this year he proved he's really > good in being propositive and at the same time listen/accept/understand > other's opinions. > > Furthermore he is very active at the moment, and I consider this a plus > as I think it is important (expecially for the Chair) to have the time > to see what is happening everywhere in the project and having a good > understanding about other people opinions/mood. > > Furthermore I think he is the one that could collect the larger > consensus in this election as we already saw many PMC member trust him > both as person and as developer.
thanks for the kind words but i think it best to decline the nomination yes, an apache chair should be active but in a different way to committers or PMCers all the criteria which stefano mentioned are important but IMO every long term committer needs to work to development them. the chair has a more subtle role. every PMCer needs to develop a good understanding of other peoples opinions/moods. that way, not only is more achieved but everyone has more fun. consensus gathering is not magic - anyone can do it and it's a skill that any long term committer needs to develop. one tip is to post ideas much earlier - before they are fully formed. presenting fully formed ideas invites analysis and criticism. this is sometimes only do this if you're fully prepared with flame proof boots ;-) it's much easier to gather a consensus around a crazy idea than a fully detailed plan. coding and designing activity get in the way. it's difficult for a chair to be an effective coder or designer. the first responsibility of a chair should be to promote a healthy community. community building takes time from coding. creating a healthy atmosphere on list, encouraging people onto the list by spreading the word, encouraging people to develop patches, encouraging developers to become committers, encouraging committers to become PMCers all takes time. yes, these are things that all PMCers should be doing (and i would like to encourage a lot more of this) but the more active in coding and development, the less time remains for community building and vice-versa. (for example, i've just spend 30 minutes working and reworking this email.) in order to perform the chair role admirably, i would feel bound to step back from day-to-day development. IMO JAMES development is not healthy enough ATM for me to be able to do this. - robert
