Fedora 8 review

[Jeff Spaleta]

On Dec 21, 2007 10:25 AM, Arthur Pemberton <pemboa at gmail.com> wrote:
> Well from memory of the reviewers statements he tried combinations of
> the following options:
>
>  * native/VM
>  * customized/customized
>  * target drive partitioned / unpartitioned
>  * different physical machines

Does ANY of this translate to filed bugs from other people
experiencing the same issues? Do we have any additional reports.

I'll let you in on a little secret. The number one thing I absolutely
LOATH with regard to linux operating system reviewers is the
absolutely lack of any effort for them to drive their problems into
the bug reporting systems so they can get a reasonable look and then
fixed.

The next rant is aimed at every single reviewer on in the laypress and
not to these people specifically. What I write below is my personal
reaction to what I see as a generally negative influence on linux
distributions in general by laypress reviewers in general.

SHAME ON ALL OF THEM for sensationalizing the problems while standing
in their self righous pulpit on top of thier little ant hill, instead
of participating in a transparent open process that can be used to
start driving fixes for things. It helps noone to sit on this
problems, without filing them.  Every single reviewer who does this
sort of crap, and doesn't reference a live bug ticket associated with
each an every hardware problem is a drag on the system for EVERY
openly developed distribution out there, not just Fedora.  They
represent a culture where the user is a consumer and not a culture
where the user is a collaborator.  Fedora isn't a product that we are
selling, its a process by which developers and users come together to
get shit done.

Its a fact, we're gonna see hardware problems interspersed in the
wild. We will never be 100% free of hardware bugs...ever.  And I want
reviewers to be honest about the problems. If they have problems I
want them to write about them, because its a reality check. But
reviewers need to cooperate with us as part of the open process and
actually reference bug tickets corresponding each and every serious
problem in their reviews, readers/viewers/listeners know exactly where
to go to look for solutions to these problems as they are developed.

If reviewers actually cared about open development in any significant
way (without introducing bias into their evaluations of any particular
distribution), they will all start to reference bug report tickets for
every hardware problem or crasher problem when they talk about them in
their reviews.  We can all agree that hardware problems or crasher
problems are worth filing. UI issues are tougher to get consensous on.

I hereby make this a personal challenge to every single laypress
reviewer out there. Stop sensationalizing problems, and start helping
your readers appreciate the value of participating in open development
by being role models on how to interact with developers to file
issues.  You can't participate like this for other software, stop
squandering the opportunity to help users to see the opportunity to
have an impact on the software they are using.

-jef