"official" MOTU projects (was: Morgue for MOTU ?)

[Stephan Hermann]

On Thursday 09 February 2006 21:37, Matt Palmer wrote:
> On Thu, Feb 09, 2006 at 06:38:17PM +0100, Stephan Hermann wrote:
> > On Thursday 09 February 2006 14:06, Lucas Nussbaum wrote:
> > > On 09/02/06 at 12:57 +0000, Reinhard Tartler wrote:
> > > > These thoughts lead directly to the questions "What are we MOTUs, why
> > > > do we work in the MOTU Team, where did we come from, and where do we
> > > > go tomorrow". Strange questions, but necessary, I think.
> > >
> > > Add: What can be expected from a MOTU regarding quality, dedication,
> > > etc. This is similar to the questions about contribution to Debian. And
> > > there's really no easy answer.
> >
> > You can't expect anything from a volunteer.
>
> No, you can't *force* a volunteer to do anything.  That's not the same
> thing as "no expectations".  I think it's reasonable to set a number of
> expectations of MOTUs, document them, and then require that, if you want to
> be part of the team, that you abide by those expectations.  If you are
> unwilling or unable to meet the necesary expectations, it's "thanks for
> your contributions, but you're off the team".

You can't force or expect anything from someone. The volunteer is starting his 
work because he wants to. He will end his work, because he wants to, has no 
time anymore or whatever reason he has.
The Ubuntu way of handling this is, document your work, become a Member, and 
after some time, become an ubuntu-dev with universe/multiverse upload rights. 
The Ubuntu / ubuntu-dev membership won't last forever, they are limited to 1 
to 2 years. If they're not renewed you loose your rights automatically. Thx 
to LP.
This is different from Debian, where someone has to write a lot of emails and 
waiting for no response to set the maintainer as MIA.


> "No expectations" is, IMO, one of the leading causes of problems in
> volunteer organisations.  Nobody feels a need to do anything beyond
> "because I want to at the moment", and things fall apart.  In the larger
> context, society works on expectations -- courtesy, norms, and so on, are
> all expectations that society "in general" applies to it's members.

That's right, and that's the reason why "volunteer only distribution" will 
never succeed. Debian (as volunteer only org) will never see officially 
supported commercial apps, but Ubuntu/Progeny/insert your favorite 
(semi-commercial) debian derivative here, will see them.

For me, volunteers are coming and are going. It's a continous flow of "human 
resources" over time. Is that bad? No. 
It's only a matter of fact, that volunteer only organisations are just a 
"hobby".

Regards,

\sh

PS: My end of lifetime as Ubuntu Dev is 2007-09-14  , and as ubuntu-core-dev 
2007-05-02.