On Wed, Apr 20, 2011 at 11:19 PM, Emmanuel Noobadmin <centos.admin at gmail.com> wrote: > Perhaps only a small handful keep "whining" about the situation. > However, the same idea that 95% of CentOS users never post to the ML > is also applicable to the complainer population. For every complainer, > there are probably 9 other who feels the same way and/or may be > deciding against the project without posting a single word. That doesn't necessarily follow. If you look at who has been complaining, a select few names span several years -- even when there are no point releases pending, they complain. Anyone who has ever used a newsgroup knows that some people "delight" in disrupting the process. They're called "trolls" on newsgroups. When someone continually repeats the same thing over and over and over, *ad nauseum*, then I would not conclude that they speaking for nine others who are silent. > Bear also in mind that those who complain the loudest are usually the > same people who promote the loudest. So they will have an indirect > effect on the perception and popularity of a project vs another. Doubtful. Some people have an extremely negative outlook or they have an agenda that they hope achieve by being the constantly "squeaking wheel." Or, as in newsgroups, they have a need to be always "stirring the pot." and this is how they stroke their egos. Whatever it is, many complainers are never satisfied, even when they get what they want. That's just their personality and it's not going to change. > The downward trends for CentOS on one of the charts that the dev > posted as evidence of CentOS's popularity is a possible indication of > the above two possible consequences of some of the rather > unprofessional responses by the some of the devs. I haven't been following the mailing list that closely lately, but when the same people constantly harp on the same subject it tends to get under your skin. I would imagine when the developers (who have had two point releases and a major release thrown at them all at one time) are already tired due to the extra work, the ungrateful and repetitious bitching from the same few complainers would tend to be extremely irritating. <snip. And does anyone really think trying to nuke a project with constant, public criticism is really going to groom these whiners to be great "cheerleaders" when (if) they ever get their way? Sorry, but some of them have the destructive personality of gossips. They've already shown their true colors. And I'm not saying this about everyone, especially not those who've occasionally complained about a specific issue and are often airing a legitimate gripe. It's those who have been "fed up" with CentOS for years and are going to leave "any millennium now" if they don't immediately get their way. I don't think I need to mention any names. You've seen them (again and again) here and at just about any public forum they can use to harm CentOS. -- RonB -- Using CentOS 5.6