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Date: Tue, 17 Apr 2012 18:42:06 -0400
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To: Kris Craig <kris.craig@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [PHP-DEV] Some Stats
From: sean@seancoates.com (Sean Coates)

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My response earlier was meant to be funny, mostly, but I did also intend =
to convey some of the same things Rasmus said. The only person who wants =
to participate in a conversation where someone is hogging the floor is =
the person doing the talking.

> Yeah one of the problems that really frustrates the hell out of me is =
that,
> after I've answered a question or responded to an objection, somebody =
new
> jumps in and raises the exact same issue.  When I tell them to read =
earlier
> in the thread for my answer, they tend to get hostile and will often =
just
> keep re-repeating the criticism until I finally get fed-up and just =
repeat
> the response I'd posted earlier.  Rinse and repeat.


In my opinion, the main reason this happens is because of your "natural =
verbosity" (as you put it). People are busy=97especially smart people. =
You want the smart people to be able to read the important bits of your =
proposals/ideas, but most of them are unwilling and unable to sift =
through hundreds of messages. This is why they ask questions that have =
already been answered.

Ignoring entire threads is a horrible thing for PHP's most valuable =
contributors to be doing, but I bet very few of the main committers in =
the list Rasmus posted have actually read all of the messages in all of =
the threads, lately. There's just too much posting, and as you can see =
from the stats, the distribution of posts is way out of balance (the #1 =
poster should never have more than twice as many posts as the #3 poster =
in a functional community).

PHP has functioned as some sort of meritocracy since I've been a part of =
the community (and I'm sure that it was this way before then, too). If =
you want your opinions and comments to have weight, here, it's important =
to do more than talk. [1]

Please, for the sake of people reading this list, adjust your posting =
habits accordingly.

S

[1] Before I get more whiny emails from more whiny people calling me =
some sort of hypocrite: while I have been mostly dormant (including =
posts to this list), lately, I've also put in hundreds of hours =
contributing to many parts of PHP over the years=97I say this not to =
seek a pat on the back; I'm just looking for some understanding from =
new(ish) people. I have stepped back for many reasons, but one of those =
is definitely the unreasonably low signal to noise ratio on this list.


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