[theme-reviewers] Censorship must not be tolerated

[Chip Bennett]

The purpose of this mailing list is for discussion of review of Themes
submitted for inclusion in the WordPress Theme Repository. It is primarily
intended for developers who are submitting Themes, and for volunteers who
are reviewing Themes - although it is also intended to solicit input from
other experts in the WordPress/Theme community.

Lively discussion and heated debate are welcomed and encouraged; however,
endless discussion and debate are not welcomed or encouraged. When such
discussion and debate begin to detract from the purpose of the mail list,
then they are no longer encouraged. This specific instance did not involve
lively debate and heated discussion; rather, it was comprised of one person
arguing a point to which every other single voice involved in the thread
disagreed.

*So, yes: I absolutely disagree with your statement.* This mail list is not
for general, Theme-related chatter. It does not exist to provide a sounding
board for endless ranting. Ending a discussion that has run its course of
usefulness is not censorship. (Your words on the mail list still exist in
perpetuity; and you are always free - *in your own venue* - to continue
expressing those words.)

Bear in mind: the WPTRT has a task to perform, and the performance of that
task does require making decisions regarding competing ideas - ideas with
which not everyone will always agree. One of WordPress' guiding philosophies
is instructive here: *Decisions, Not Options*. At some point, discussion of
a decision becomes a distraction, and a detraction, and for the good of the
project, it is better to make a decision and to move forward.

We had clearly reached that point in your discussion.

Chip

On Sun, Jul 3, 2011 at 9:40 PM, Darren Slatten <darrenslatten at gmail.com>wrote:

> In my opinion, the discussion about output buffering that ended earlier
> today was a complete failure on many levels. I personally spent many hours
> responding to that discussion thread, and ultimately, I believe it was
> terminated prematurely simply because a couple of individuals were extremely
> frustrated with it.
>
> I too was extremely frustrated with the apparent lack of progression, and
> even more frustrated with the official outcome, but in my opinion, "pulling
> rank" to stamp out a heated and lively debate...is *absolutely
> unacceptable*. This type of censorship should not be tolerated in any
> open-source project or community, and certainly not in a WordPress mailing
> list, whose *defining purpose* is to facilitate exactly these kinds of
> discussions.
>
> I'd like to contribute some ideas on how we can avoid similar failures in
> the future, but first I think it's important to establish whether or not
> everyone agrees that this is a problem. So my question is:
>
>
>
> Should it be okay for some individuals to prevent everyone else from
> engaging in certain discussions* on this mailing list?
>
> *assuming the discussion is relevant, appropriate, not abusive, not
> illegal, etc.
>
>
>
> Some people mentioned in the output buffering discussion that my
> stance/arguments are difficult to recognize, so I'll emphasize my point
> here:
>
> *No one should be permitted to terminate or prevent a relevant discussion
> on this mailing list, unless there is sufficient evidence to show that doing
> so is necessary to protect the rights, freedoms, and/or safety of the
> WordPress community at large, or doing so is required by law.*
>
>
>
> Does anyone disagree with that statement?
>
>
>
> --
> Darren Slatten
>
>
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>
>
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