Doing something about signal:noise complaints

[Markus Hitter]

Am 22.01.2009 um 12:19 schrieb Andrew Sayers:

> Ubuntu developers tend to complain about the ratio of signal to  
> noise on
> this list - that is, the percentage of posts that take up their time
> without helping them to improve Ubuntu.

Hmm. Is this possibly a indirect argumentation? Developers are  
developers because they want to improve Ubuntu. Improvements in form  
of new features, better design, added functionality, simplified use  
of Ubuntu.

On the other hand, users are typically pointing to what developers  
don't want to hear: Bugs, mistakes, incompatibilities, differing  
opinions and more bugs. Currently, Ubuntu's quality in this regard  
isn't exactly shining compared to the main competitors Windows XP and  
Mac OS X, so users might have a tendency to be head more loudly.

IMHO, there's a natural barrier between users and developers and the  
best way to improve relations here is to try to get users involved in  
a more productive way. Apport has made great improvements recently  
and I'm sure there can be found more ways to benefit from occasional  
developers and hobbyist coders.

In return, user's complaints will calm down, have less substance and  
likely won't be felt that nagging.


I'm aware this opinion could be received as being slightly  
aggressive, please bear with me.


> The current draft of the survey is at
> http://pileofstuff.org/ubuntu-survey/ and will go live this time
> tomorrow - there's still time to make changes if you have ideas.

You ask how likely it is for the participant to post to the -devel  
list. Isn't the -devel list closed to non-developers, making it not a  
choice for most people?



MarKus

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Dipl. Ing. Markus Hitter
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