[sword-devel] Windows Utilities

[Jonathan Morgan]

Hi David,

You're right.  I was being a devil's advocate and pitched it too strong
(probably predictably).
I don't think you were trying to blame anyone (though in some interactions
I have had with other open source groups blame definitely happens - and
it's not about technical faults, either).

However, the more serious point I was making (which I think was hinted at
in some of the other responses to this thread) is that the more people you
have "responsible" for something, the easier it falls through the cracks,
as everyone can justly say "I'm not the expert on this" or "I don't know
anything about this" or "I was just waiting for <X> to respond to it".
I don't follow CrossWire JIRA at all, since I would not consider myself
qualified or experienced to deal with any of the issues raised, but if I
did I wouldn't want to respond to issues with tools or parts of the system
that I just have no experience in.
This doesn't make giving no response right, but it does make it more likely
to happen.

Jon


On Thu, Jul 25, 2013 at 1:50 AM, David Haslam <dfhmch at googlemail.com> wrote:

> Jonathan,
>
> My question was not about blame. It was about responsiveness.
>
> The  CrossWire wiki <http://crosswire.org/wiki/Help:Contents>   directs
> people to the issues tracker for reporting problems. I'm on the inside of
> CrossWire. Imagine how outsiders might feel if they get the same lack of
> response.
>
> Had someone in January last year added even the briefest acknowledgement as
> a comment on the issue, I would not have asked this question the other day.
> I could accept an issue being assigned low priority. I could accept a
> request for further details or more persuasive justification.
>
> What is less than acceptable is to be totally ignored. We generally don't
> do
> that with emails, do we?
>
> To make an observation on your other point, it's always been my experience
> that when I have provided technical feedback to programmers as a software
> tester, they have almost without exception counted that as valuable input.
>
> Indeed, when I retired from NXP Semiconductors in 2009, my colleagues over
> in the Netherlands presented me with a signed plaque from their whole team,
> acknowledging how much my technical feedback over many years had helped
> them
> to achieve significant improvements for their test systems and software
> that
> we used throughout our product line.
>
> And when app developers are congratulated for their success, the best ones
> reply to thank the writer for their kind remarks, and often include a
> proper
> acknowledgement to their team of volunteer testers who have helped make the
> app a success.
>
> No programmer worth his salt should see technical feedback as a
> discouragement, providing it is given in good faith and with a right
> spirit.
> It helps of course to be accurate and succinct in identifying the problem.
> Vagueness is the enemy of good problem reporting.
>
> Best regards,
>
> David
>
>
>
>
>
> --
> View this message in context:
> http://sword-dev.350566.n4.nabble.com/Windows-Utilities-tp4652865p4652906.html
> Sent from the SWORD Dev mailing list archive at Nabble.com.
>
> _______________________________________________
> sword-devel mailing list: sword-devel at crosswire.org
> http://www.crosswire.org/mailman/listinfo/sword-devel
> Instructions to unsubscribe/change your settings at above page
>
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.crosswire.org/pipermail/sword-devel/attachments/20130725/baafd477/attachment-0001.html>