Not too long ago I recall folks bemoaning the sorry state of the Fedora Users mailing list. At that time the suggestion was floated that people should be directed to the IRC channels for a better end user experience. Now, we see folks bemoaning the sorry state of the IRC channel and even a suggestion that folks be pointed to the mailing list. Every single linux distro support avenue that I've ever been a part of has had its share of incidents. I've never done, nor thought it would be easy or even productive, an analysis of which avenue or distro is the "worst". (Just like beauty, worst is in the eye of the beholder.) I have read users from many distros say "I'm leaving and moving to X". This includes leaving Ubuntu to move to Fedora due to a series of confrontations. All the support avenues for all the distros are populated by individuals over which no control is possible since there is no effective punishment for "bad" behavior. It isn't like a dedicated, paid support staff which can be held accountable by an employer. So, while it is always regrettable that we may lose one person from time to time we will always gain others from time to time as they switch from another distro. No amount words in guidelines, or IRC disclaimers is going to change or moderate an individual's behavior. Nor, is confronting individuals in public going to have much effect and in some cases may even make it worse. IMO, the only thing that *may* have an impact is to have individuals, preferably non-contributors, monitor the lists and IRC channels whose charter it is to contact combatants offline and address it problem. On the other hand, I think this would require too much effort for little or no significant gain. _______________________________________________ advisory-board mailing list advisory-board@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx https://admin.fedoraproject.org/mailman/listinfo/advisory-board
