In article <m0sah7$4ci$1@ger.gmane.org>, Georg Brandl <g.brandl@gmx.net> wrote:
On 10/05/2014 09:36 PM, Ned Deily wrote:
To me, the main issue is that the noise is not just directed at python committers but also to the python users who have submitted those issues or otherwise following them (via nosy or otherwise). I think the risk is that his noise sends a wrong message to those users: i.e. that python-dev has suddenly taken an interest in this issue and that, by taking the time to create a patch, the issue will somehow get magically resolved. That won't happen, of course, unless a core developer chooses to get involved. Most of the messages like "can someone look at this" don't seem to send any wrong messages.
I was thinking more of the messages to non-python-dev users along the lines of "Can you supply a patch?" with an implied promise that this will cause the issue to be resolved, often without any particular insight into whether such a patch should be written.
The tracker does profit from having less inactive issues that are ready to be closed after a trivial commit, or being out of date or missing requested feedback. I've closed a few such in the last few days because of Mark's pings.
Remember that one thing we'd like users to see before reporting is to search the tracker for similar issues: the less noise they find there the better.
I don't disagree with that.
And I am uncomfortable with the risk of users potentially inferring that he is somehow a de-facto "project leader" of Python maintenance. Well, those users can easily be informed about the circumstances should a question arise.
How would we know? They are likely unfamiliar with the python-dev project and they receive these emails from an unknown person, sometimes even offering apologies on behalf of an indefinite "we".
In total, I think there's no grounds for a ban (yet), but his tone has to be watched. If hints from our side are con ignored or receive ad-hominem responses, that'll change the situation in my opinion.
I dunno. We've been down this road more than once over the years, always ending in some dust-up. I really don't think it's healthy for python-dev or our users to keep repeating that.
-- Ned Deily, nad@acm.org