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Why I don't generally like formal web polls for AF changes

tst wrote:

but if you want more organized feedback, I would say that what people suggest should be collected and then voted on in a poll (including the existing terms and possibly also the queue/address/mailbox derivations from the other thread).

I won't do web polls for names. Things end up being named "Enqueuer of Stephen Colbert" or "Vulcan" or "Shrewdinger". Also, for something as subtle as naming, too often what people want is some weird hybrid of "this name works for me when I'm writing actors but not when I'm using actors, and here's my reasons, so find a compromise that makes me happy in both situations."  I would much rather hear the discussion play out and then use that to decide whether to make a change or not. I've changed many bits of the AF around due to community feedback, but a poll is not really community feedback, even though it feels like it. I believe one person serving as the arbiter of grievances creates a more consistent set of decisions across an API than an ad hoc committee. The downside is that it leaves me in the role of technical dictator -- a change essentially has to be pitched to convince me or to make the community voice so united that I feel obliged to go along. But it is my name that has to go on the Perforce change logs, so I feel obligated to not execute a decision I think is a bad idea, no matter how much popular support it gets -- and some of you can no doubt cite times when I've stood in the way of very popular ideas for LV. Unlike most of the decisions coming out of R&D, with the AF, if I do make a decision that is truly egregious, you have the ability to fork the AF and use your own modified version -- even distribute it. So I think this works in the long run.

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AristosQueue wrote:

Things end up being named "Enqueuer of Stephen Colbert" or "Vulcan" or "Shrewdinger".

Hence my choice of adjective to describe the feedback. I deliberately avoided saying it would be good.

Although, don't let me stop you from choosing the name Shrewdigner. It would certainly help get people into the Heisenbug finding and shrew-handling mood they should be in when dealing with a system like this.

Anyway, I explained my opinion on the topic. I'll leave it to others to weigh in if they want.


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