[mb-style] Public reprimand (was: RFV: Clarify order of precidence of guidelines and principles)

[Robert Kaye]

On Apr 8, 2010, at 7:18 AM, Brian Schweitzer wrote:

<SNIP>

>
> Guidelines and principles say what they mean.  They do not mean what  
> you say.  Period.

<SNIP>

> Ignoring your implication that I and others here have not done just  
> the same, as I think every one of us who cares about style would fit  
> your description.

( Preface: In 2006 during the great debate, I got hammered up and down  
for dealing with troublesome people in private. When I went public  
with the issues at hand and rejected Keschte as a developer many  
people where shocked as what was happening and how things came out of  
the blue. Having learned my lesson, I am taking the steps to reprimand  
troublesome parties in public. Please bear with me. )

Brian,

It is the duty of the style leader to drive consensus and stop back- 
and-forth arguments in order to drive the style process to a  
meaningful conclusion. Your statements and actions in the style  
process of the past few weeks have been anything but that. I know of  
two people who have taken a step away from MusicBrainz because of your  
actions. Thats two people who have spoken to me about this, which  
means there are several more people who have quietly stepped away from  
MusicBrainz because of you. Your actions are damaging this project.

Let's take one quote from you as an example:

 >  They do not mean what you say.  Period.

Voice is part of the community and working hard to improve the style  
process. The style guidelines ARE what he says and what others say.  
Its is your job to drive the community feedback process towards  
consensus. It is not your point to shut down contributors that do not  
agree with you.

I'm going to have to ask you to start behaving like someone who is  
driving the community process towards consensus. You need to take your  
personal interests out of the process and be inclusionary of other  
people's feedback. If you fail to do so, I will have to ask you to  
step down as the style leader. And, please spare me the long drawn out  
arguments as to why your actions are right -- they are not.

--

--ruaok        The answer to whether or not something is a good idea  
should not be taken as an indication of whether I want to do it.

Robert Kaye     --     rob at eorbit.net     --    http://mayhem-chaos.net