[pmwiki-users] Why all this zapping?

[Ben Wilson]

On 4/30/07, The Editor <editor at fast.st> wrote:
[...]
>
> Actually Kathryn, that is not completely fair.  : ).  First, there
> were several reasons--the biggest is suggested in the link I mentioned
> above at zapsite.  Second, I have actually had as much or more
> positive feedback on the name change than negative, with several
> encouraging me NOT to change it back. Actually my associate is
> encouraging me to rename Hg to AcmeHg and MarkupExpressionsExtensions
> to AcmeExtensions, etc., and I must admit I find the idea kind of
> unifying.  : )
[...]
>
> Well, my associate has taken over maintenance of Hg, as noted on the
> page.  And as it's only had one bug fix in recent memory (that others
> discovered, solved, and fixed) it's not a lot of work anyway.

In the interest of full disclosure, I looked at your 'associate,' Wile
E. Coyote. This is the fellow who you say encourages keeping the Acme
moniker, and who you say has taken over Hg maintenance. However, his
profile redirects to PmWiki:Profiles.Caveman. Caveman is your handle,
unless my email archive is totally mistaken.

I would like to discourage your continued use of references to a
certain popular cartoon series. Assume you become successful with your
wiki clone, you will undoubtedly incur the wrath of the holder of the
trademarked names and copyrights of the images you display.

As for "unifying" by naming a set of recipes maintained by you, I
would also discourage that. I presently maintain several recipes, but
you wouldn't tell by the recipe names. This sounds more like you're
carving out a fief than contributing to the growth and prosperity of
the PmWiki Community. Even if you are not, the impression is conveyed.
What happens if you reach a point, as Hans recently has, of where
you're not able to fully support your recipes and decide the community
is better served by allowing others to carry the load a while? This
community has flourished due to selfless, cooperative support.

ZAP sounds like a fork of PmWiki, judging from the approach taken by
the site. While GPL allows for code forks, it's generally done when
there is dissent in the developer community, or when the owner of the
code fails to support the community. Pm has put years of work into
making PmWiki the flexible, powerful tool it is; and he proves his
support to his user base by his daily involvement in the list.

I have to say I'm with Kathryn on this issue. Pmwiki thrives on an
open, cooperative environment. I recently applauded Pm for having
fostered an open-source community that embodies those characteristics
of a good community. Forking and fiefing are contra-productive in this
environment.

Apart from that, I didn't realize that Hg allowed inheritance of
higher group's configuration. This discussion led me to investigate
further.

Kind Regards,

-- 
Ben Wilson
"Words are the only thing which will last forever" Churchill