for Thomas E. Zander, mplayer maintainer.

[Bill Moran]

In response to "Tuc at T-B-O-H.NET" <ml at t-b-o-h.net>:
> > 
> > On Thu, Aug 09, 2007 at 10:58:04AM -0400, Tuc at T-B-O-H.NET wrote:
> > > > 
> > > > Distributed, worldwide projects like FreeBSD rely on communication
> > > > between their members.  When one project member in a position of
> > > > responsibility denies the ability for others to contact him -- whether
> > > > it was his direct choice or just because he chooses to use a mail
> > > > server with inappropriate filtering -- then it harms the project.
> > > > 
> > > 	Kris, FWIW, I think when someone posts a request for help onto
> > > a list, gets back a dozen "Did you RTFM" either on list or offlist,
> > > replies back that they did (And shows they did), and then gets dead
> > > air.......... THAT harms the project.
> > 
> > Uh, you seem to be axe grinding, but I told you to follow up with the
> > maintainer once I evaluated your report and didn't spot any obvious
> > problems.  Why wasn't that good enough for you?
> > 
> 	If you mean axe grinding in the sense that over the years I've
> posted to freebsd-* for help with things pertaining to either a single
> piece of software, procedure I read somewhere, problem during an 
> upgrade, etc... and either been blown off, told to re-read the docs
> that I've missed a crucial step (Which I stated that I did perform
> in my original email), or told to fix something ELSE that had nothing to
> do with it first... Then yea, I guess you can call it axe grinding. 

Perhaps FreeBSD is not the correct community for you?

I don't mean that negatively, or that I _want_ you to go away.  It's just
that open source projects have "personalities".  The communities that support
them (Linux, FreeBSD, etc) have ideals and traditions and so forth.

While I don't ever want to chase anyone away from FreeBSD, the point (in
my mind) of open source projects is that you can choose what works for you
with no strings, and even fork off a project and do it your own way if you
so desire.

If you're having so much trouble with the FreeBSD community, I would suggest
one of two strategies:
*) re-evaluate they way you interact with the FreeBSD community
*) try to find a community that you can interact with more successfully

-- 
Bill Moran
http://www.potentialtech.com