Re: Process is no substitute for understanding
>>"Ian" == Ian Jackson <ian@davenant.greenend.org.uk> writes:
Ian> I think that by biassing the system in favour of smart people we will
Ian> bias it in favour of good arguments and right answers. Ie, we can
Ian> make the correlation between smart people and right answers work for
Ian> us by putting an expert in charge.
First, we have to figure out who is smart, and who is an
expert, Secondly, looking at what policy covers, there is no
such thing as an expert. (there may have been a time in newtons days
when one person could indeed be an expert in all known things, but
this is untenable now). Thridly, you have to convince a growing
volunteer body that the smart and expert person is actually a) smart,
and b) an expert on the current subject.
Frankly, I don't think ithis is possible, and all this talk
about ``experts'' in the wide rtange of subjects policy is
supposed to define in the years to come indicates that the notion has
not really been thought out at all.
Ian> I'm not suggesting that the policy czar should always go with their
Ian> own opinion. Certainly there should be discussion; anything else
Ian> would be madness. But I think we can safely leave questions like how
Ian> much discussion, and, following discussion, what the right course is,
Ian> to the maintainers of the policy manual.
Frankly, I think that is too much power invested in too little
people, there is an implied belief that we can discover smart people,
that they shall be willing to work on policy, and that they shall not
go away from time to time with real jobs, and that smart people
actually make good policy, and that enough of the developer
population can be convinced of that. Frankly, this I am god and you
better listen to me stuff may work in small groups, but I find it
obnoxious.
Ian> For any kind of decisionmaking there will always be hotheads who claim
Ian> that someone is being an obnoxious dictator.
And perhaps they are right.
Ian> It's not as if there aren't volunteers to do the policy maintainership
Ian> job this way.
I wouldn't wonder. But is handing policy over to people so
willing to exercise total power in the best interest of the project?
manoj
--
"The hands that help are better far than the lips that pray." Robert
G. Ingersoll
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@debian.org> <http://www.debian.org/%7Esrivasta/>
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