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 CAD / Development / Organizations / LDraw / 1995
1994  |  1996
Subject: 
Re: rebuttal...
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw
Date: 
Fri, 26 Apr 2002 03:19:23 GMT
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Since I was appealed to in Franklin's email and post, I am adding my
comments in reply to some of the posts here.  Steve knows this, but it might
not be public knowledge -- I do not get involved in the trenches when it
comes to parts.  Steve has responsibility to organize parts updates and
release them, within the approval system created for parts authors to submit
and review for quality control.  I'm mostly concerned with everyone here
coming to a mutual understanding and moving forward in the community.

In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Steve Bliss writes:
In lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw, Franklin W. Cain wrote:

I understand your position.  I also pointed out to you that 'fixing'
this problem would cause other problems.  If fixing one 'mistake' causes
more problems, what have we gained?

I agree with Steve on this point.  As Parts Administrator, Steve has set up
a system for authors to submit parts for inclusion in the official LDraw.org
updates.  He built this system (as far as I understand with the assistance
of Dan and possibly Jacob) as an efficient way for him to administrate the
updates and provide the authors a submission system.  So, Steve has certain
procedures he as administrator follows to make it easiest for him.  I think
it is appropriate for parts authors to respect Steve's wishes as far as the
submission, review, and editing processes go with regards to parts and the
tracker.

I understand your decision, but I cannot agree with it, for this reason:  You
*asked* that I refrain from doing this, with the *implied* promise of help in
getting this done yourself.  Please re-read your public post on LUGNet, and try
to see how that post looked to me.  If this was supposed to be a *policy
change*, it should have *clearly* stated such.

There was no policy change, it was a statement of the current policy.  I
did not imply any 'promise of help', I'm not seeing how you infer that.

In reading Steve's post: http://news.lugnet.com/cad/dev/org/ldraw/?n=1982 I
took away the following:

- Don't rename files yourself on the tracker (whether this is a statement of
policy or a change of policy does not matter.  Steve made the request, I
interpret it as his current policy)
- Email [Steve] if you need something renamed

I simply wrote that the proper way to get files renumbered is to send me
an email (as opposed to playing games with the Parts Tracker).  In this
specific case, I disagreed with your request, and declined it.  In more
detail, I had already considered this situation *before* you emailed
your request to me, and made a decision about what to do; I decided to
keep the files as they are.

Ok.

I hereby *contest* your action; I hereby appeal to Tim and Jacob to reverse
this action of yours.

For now, I think our best shot is to play nice and work things out.

I agree.

I do not apologize for my actions; I still see them as justified.  I do,
however, deeply regret any hard feelings that I may have caused, as well as any
extra work for you.  But, when I see something that *needs* to be done, and if
I don't see someone else doing what needs to be done, I *have* to step in, if I
can fix it by my actions.  I've always been this way.

Frankin, I see it this way.  Steve is the parts administrator.  He has come
forth and said that he carefully considered the situation and made a ruling
not to change these filenames.  He heard all the sides, weighed it, and
reached a decision.  You, disagreeing with Steve's ruling, circumvented his
request as administrator not to rename files.

This all gets tricky because LDraw.org is a loose, volunteer 'organization'
which has no real authority structure.  Steve, Jacob, and I (along with
Terry for Contests, Dan C for downloads, Ahui for tutorials..) operate under
the assumed authority granted to us by the community, and the server space
Jacob provides along with the passwords he provides us for access.

There needs to be a measure of mutual respect for this system to work.
Jacob administrates the server, donates the space, sets up programs and
advises us on things like code for programs, HTML, etc.  I work with the
static web pages, downloads, news, etc, as well as the website's
organization, and do some promotions.  Steve works with the parts updates.
The three of us all confer with each other on our individual tasks and
respect each other's input.  Its a collaborative effort.  None of us is in
'authority' over the other, we administrate together.

The same level of mutual respect needs to be in place between parts
authors/reviewers and the Parts Tracker Administrator for that system to
work.  Authors need to realize Steve has set up a system which is efficient
for the authors, but especially for him as administrator.  We might not
agree all the time, but we need that respect for each other's wishes in
order for this to work.

I'm not looking for an apology.  I am looking to see that you understand
the way the PT system is *supposed* to work, and a willingness to work
within that system.

I agree.

The Parts Tracker requires a fair amount of trust between all users.  I
feel that you have abused this trust, especially since I warned you
about not messing with files this way, just two days ago.

I think this is a fair assessment.

I am glad neither party here has developed hard feelings.  Franklin, you're
a very valuable contributor here, and I want to see you continue in that
respect.  We all need to respect each other and their expertise and/or
"authority" and vision for LDraw.  Steve's words have significant merit
because he is parts administrator.  I hope you two resolve this so that 1)
Franklin, you can work within the system and continue submitting parts and
organizing filenames appropriately and 2) a new, clearer policy and mutual
understanding can come out of this.

My "ruling" since Franklin appealed to me is this.  As a volunteer, the
Parts Tracker is Steve's responsibility.  He sets guidelines.  Reviewers and
authors should work within those guidelines, but should also feel free to
contest them if they feel they are unjust or inappropriate.  Still, the
guidelines should be respected.  Please work within the guidelines Steve has
set up.

I think both of you have handled this situation well and I have confidence
trust will be restored and we will move forward with a better understanding.

-Tim



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: rebuttal...
 
(...) I'm only replying here. I'm going to post two replies, one addressing the current issue, the second to address Franklin's charges against me. (...) I understand your position. I also pointed out to you that 'fixing' this problem would cause (...) (22 years ago, 25-Apr-02, to lugnet.cad.dev.org.ldraw)

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