Feedback on bug reports

[Bill Baxter]

torhu wrote:
> David Ferenczi wrote:
>>>> It seems that this request has been silently ignored. Rejecting 
>>>> would be
>>>> ok, but ignorance is more than disappointing.
>>>>
>>>> I would like to understand the reasons.
>>>>
>>>> Could anybody give me some short explanation on this?
>>>
>>> It's a one-man project, so the reason there's not much feedback is
>>> shortage of manpower.  It's just the way it is, we've all had to get
>>> used to this fact.  A one-man project that creates free products can't
>>> provide the same level of customer support that a commercial project
>>> can.  Hope this explains it.
>>
>> Thanks, I agree. But I think it somehow also lies on the topic. There are
>> topics, which get attention immediately, and there are others, which 
>> never.
>>
>> The point is, just like in case of bug reports, to get some feedback. 
>> Let it
>> be even a single line.
>>
>> If you have a community around your project, it is necessary to 
>> communicate
>> with them. Or just define some rules, if you don't have time for it. 
>> E.g. I
>> don't answer mails, newsgroup post, except for...
>>
>> The worst can happen to enthusiast users that they get ignored. This 
>> makes
>> also the recommendation of D questionable.
>>
>> My suggestion addressed this kind of situation at bug reports. And the
>> impression is (maybe the truth is totally different) that nobody cares.
> 
> I fully agree with you.  I expect the situation will improve sooner or 
> later, forced by increasing adoption of D.  How it's going to happen 
> remains to be seen.

I was watching this Google Tech talk:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4216011961522818645&q=poisonous+people
from the guys who run Subversion.

One of the things they mention in there is the importance of 
responsiveness, and they suggest that some member of the project should 
be made responsible for addressing all issues that come into the mailing 
lists that seem to get dropped.

That's great for a truly open-source project, but the problem with that 
suggestion for D is that no-one besides Walter, and maybe now Andrei, is 
really a "member" of this project.  No one besides Walter has any 
ownership, so nobody really has any more obligation (or authority) to 
respond to posts than anyone else.  There probably are people here who 
would step up to the plate and take on such responsibility if they were 
given some authority, but no-one has such authority now.  Especially if 
you want to know "why isn't bug 2345 being fixed?".  No-one knows that 
besides Walter.  So if someone is going to communicate that to you it 
has to be someone who has Walter's ear.

As it is, only Walter (and maybe Andrei) really know what's going on, 
and it mostly goes on behind closed doors.  That's another thing that 
the subversion guys talk about in that video -- they say that wherever 
decisions are made in the svn project --- irc, face-to-face meetings, 
wherever --- they aren't ever considered "official" until they've been 
posted to the mailing list for all to see.

The upshot is that D just isn't really an open source project.  The 
source part (to the front end) is open, but the project part is not. 
And that's fine.  Stuff still gets done.  If you don't like it that way, 
then it's certainly something to consider when deciding whether to base 
your future on D.  It doesn't bother me too much because even if Walter 
got hit by a bus, D 1.009 works pretty well for what I need, and I'm not 
basing any sort of commercial venture on D.  Though if Walter did get 
hit by a bus I'd probably stop writing D code pretty soon after, because 
without Walter, D doesn't have much future.

--bb