Re: [9fans] sources down?

[ron minnich <rminnich@gmail.com>]

On Fri, May 22, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Rudolf Sykora <rudolf.sykora@gmail.com> wrote:

> In order I be of any help I need to know why the hell this happens,
> first. I know next to nothing about how the whole system of sources
> works, still I can help if I know how. But I do not remember anybody
> saying: 'hey guys, we have this and this problem that causes the
> sources are down every now and then.' Yet we see it happening.


OK, so let's try again. How about this:
instead of blasting a note to the known universe, 99.999% of which
can't do anything about the situation, one could do the following:

send a polite, discreet note to the people who actually run sources,
something like this:
"I would like to offer to help with making sources easily and readily
available to the net. I've noticed that, at times, sources is not
accessible. Is there some way in which I can help, by, e.g.,  running
a replicated server?"

Does this latter approach work? Yes, I have seen it work. It's why we
have an improving USB stack.

Does the former approach fail? Yes. It has driven some important
people from this list. Antisocial behavior has negative consequences.

Whining to the list is just, well,  ... whining to the list. It ends
up looking like an attempt to coerce people by shaming them in a
public situation. It's what my kids used to do when they could not get
their favorite dessert in the store. It doesn't make anyone feel any
better. It's why so many people have Uriel in their kill files.

A quiet offer of help to the maintainers is a lot nicer and more
likely to actually get somewhere.

thanks

ron