Nursing a thriving community

Yep, getting to know someone outside of code reviews is a great way to connect and understand someone.

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Not every review actually adds value.

NixCon ever having at least all active committers present in person at once would surprise me. This discussion is exactly about trying to implement Ā«improvementsĀ» that are neither universally recognised as improvements nor written down, and also a bit about interpreting written down expectations about using GitHub (ToS amd stuff). Something discussed by ten people at NixCon will not lead to universal recognition of whatever, so in the end you still need a written proposal out of all that. And defend it in public and in writing.

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I feel we need to outgrow ā€œdefensivismā€ and enter ā€œpost-defensivismā€.

That word does not exist, but I expect everyone to easily understand what I mean out of the context. To be considerate about the general readership, Iā€™ll be happily available in a PM for clarification.


I suggest, the roots of ā€œdefensivismā€ lie in Karl Popper and the (scientific) gold standard of falisification for the advancememt of knowledge.

We might be able to agree that those concepts (meant for the advancememt of knowledge) are not inherently suited for direct application in a social context, like our community context.

If youā€™ve ever done a group project, you know that not everyone brings value either. However, it doesnā€™t mean that they should be denied the opportunity to try.

EDIT: Iā€™m making an effort to make this phrasing more generic and relate to future events. As Iā€™m already exhausted about past events.

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Unless there is a good proposal coming out, letā€™s take a break here. The discussion is starting to become unproductive.

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I think all these discussions (which I still perceive as productive) are actually valuable implicit base material and set the stage for the community manifesto. By saying this, I think they are very well worth having.

@nixinator

I think, in general, the issue is bigger in the US than, say, in Colombia or even in Europe.

Of course, it can spill-over into our community, too. Especially so, since quite some members are from the US where this fight is fought vividly across society and academia, these days.

But I guess, if we hold truely deer the foundations of good faith (on all sides), and openly demand (sic!) them (of all sides) thatā€™s a very effective antidote.

This community, on many levels, already seems to be a minefield: itā€™s obvious, how peopleā€™s emotional attachment to one thing or another is everywhere. This is not necessarily narcissism, as referred to in the video, it might be founded in the mentally involved nature of writing code.

I donā€™t think, though, we can meaningfully move forward by over-emphasizing the ā€œavoid stepping on those minesā€ without stalling ourselves. We also need to foster values of ā€œgood faithā€, ā€œkindenessā€ (not ā€œpolitenessā€!) and ā€œindividual recilienceā€.

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This thread has become exhausting because of how general and off topic the discussions have become. It hard to be productive when talking so generally. Letā€™s take a break from this. I am closing this topic. If you have concerns about this, please direct message me.

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