From: Shawn Anderson <shawn42@...>
Date: 2009-08-22T00:13:35+09:00
Subject: Re: Why, oh why, _why?

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However much I hate to agree with Jason, I have to say that _why should have
posted the opportunity for others to carry on the torch of his work.
Not doing so was kind of a jerk move.  Personally, I would welcome _why
coming back and reposting all of his work, but I doubt that's going to
happen.

/Shawn

On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 10:50 AM, Jason Roelofs <jameskilton@gmail.com>wrote:

> On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 10:23 AM, Xavier Noria <fxn@hashref.com> wrote:
>
> > On Fri, Aug 21, 2009 at 4:07 PM, Jason Roelofs<jameskilton@gmail.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> > > It's definitely too late now, or we would have heard if he got hacked.
> He
> > > closed up shop and destroyed almost a decade's worth of Ruby
> information,
> > > discussions, library documentation, ticket history, etc. I agree with
> Zed
> > on
> > > this one, that was a dick move. People use and rely on the tools he's
> > built,
> > > have contributed back to them, and have helped with the documentation.
> He
> > > didn't just destroy his work, he destroyed the work of hundreds, maybe
> > > thousands, of people who wanted to contribute to Open Source.
> >
> > He has no obligation to do that. Behore him that didn't exist, well
> > now it doesn't again. He has the right to disappear, and people may
> > even appreciate life impermanence.
> >
> > Source code is all around, if people want to keep those projects
> > healthy they have the sources and the means to do so. Starting point
> > is very high compared to years ago.
> >
> > If that was his way of doing that, just respect him.
> >
> > (Of course this is all based on speculation.)
> >
> >
> I never said he was obligated to keep it around, but that doesn't make the
> move right or respectful in any way. Leaving the community is fine. Calling
> it quits with Ruby, or programming in general, that's fine.
>
> Destroying the many thousands of hours of work by OTHER PEOPLE simply
> because it's HIS stuff, out of the blue and with no warning whatsoever,
> will
> never, ever be looked at as "respectable".
>
> In this one move, he broke one of the leading unspoken rules of Open
> Source:
> respect the community. If you don't want to continue maintaining, or you
> don't want to be around at all anymore, then say so, and people who want to
> keep said projects running will do so.
>
> If Matz decided that he was done with Ruby and wanted to move on, if he
> pulled a _why and up and deleted ruby-lang.org, the entire SVN repository,
> and shut down ruby-doc.org, there would be a HUGE outcry. If Jamis Buck
> decided to completely shut down and delete capistrano instead of posting a
> good-bye message like he did and letting others take up the reins, people
> would be pretty ticked off. Why is what _why did here any different, that
> he
> should be respected in this decision?
>
> I think people have confused two issues here: _why's disappearance and the
> destruction of all his work. _why calling it quits is FINE. He has every
> right to leave, and yes he has every right to do what he did in the removal
> of all this work, but that doesn't make it right.
>
> Jason
>

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