Re: [Tails-dev] RMea culpa

Cyril Brulebois:
> Hi folks,
>
> I'd like to offer my apologies for my tendency to be, or at least appear
> to be, negative on the tails-dev XMPP channel when I'm preparing a new
> Tails release. I tend to be easily frustrated when I cannot do anything
> else than waiting for some cron job to get started, when some network
> transfers seem to take way too long, and when I see delays getting
> accumulated along the way, possibly derailing the target time schedule
> (basically trying to be ready at 17:00 on Tuesdays). This list is not
> exhaustive and that can happen for things that seem broken; which I
> should just investigate and file a ticket for, instead of first
> complaining about on a public channel…
>
> Besides the overall negativity that can be felt during such times, it's
> been brought up to my attention it's not always clear to others what I'm
> expecting during such times, which doesn't help restore a suitable mood.
> I suppose it's basically either something that I (feel the need to) vent
> about on the spot, or something that should be ending up in some ticket
> or mail-based report once the release is over. I think I've done the
> latter since my very first release, and I'll now focus on avoiding the
> former when preparing the next releases.
>
> Thanks for your patience and for your tolerance so far. Feel free to
> bring it up to my attention if I do that again in the future, so that I
> try harder and/or differently to self-correct.

Very cool and brave that you wrote this! Kudos!

I must admit that I noticed a single instance of this happening during some release you were RMing months ago. My (private) reaction was annoyance/hurt in the sense: "I know our stuff is far from perfect, but please don't shit on our work", but it was rather quickly dissipated: I just had to remind myself of all the painful releases you'd had, and empathy was fully restored and I moved on without thinking "less" of you. However, I blame myself for not jumping in and helping you vent more constructively, which I definitely was in a position to and must have understood that you needed.

I've been there myself, deep in the release process frustration, and I am certain I've puked hate over our stuff in front of others too. I hereby pledge to join you in being more careful how I vent on our communication channels!

Thanks! ♥