[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #36335: Next generation: core autoloader proposal

[WordPress Trac]

#36335: Next generation: core autoloader proposal
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 Reporter:  dnaber-de        |       Owner:
     Type:  feature request  |      Status:  new
 Priority:  normal           |   Milestone:  4.7
Component:  General          |     Version:
 Severity:  normal           |  Resolution:
 Keywords:  has-patch        |     Focuses:
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Comment (by schlessera):

 Replying to [comment:191 MikeSchinkel]:
 > Replying to [comment:187 schlessera]:
 > > Replying to [comment:184 schlessera]:
 > > > As I find it very difficult to assess whether there's even any real
 interest in having an autoloader, I created a (non-binding !) Twitter poll
 to get a better overview. I would welcome anyone interested in the topic
 to leave their vote:
 > > > https://twitter.com/schlessera/status/773178479953272834
 > Wow, what an ingenious way to beg the question.

 My intention was not to beg the question here. Although I enjoy our
 current back-and-forth discussions here on Trac (as any discussion just
 helps to more clearly define one's own arguments), I'm a bit fed up by the
 fact that a handful of people are duking it out in a subject that can
 clearly not provide a right or wrong answer, but rather needs as much
 feedback as possible to assess what the "majority" thinks. And, to be
 honest, had the Twitter poll shown that there's just no interest in having
 an autoloader right now (Composer or not), I would just have thrown the
 towel and invested my time into something more fruitful.

 I'll just ignore your comment on the current political situation here and
 address the more general question of bias and representativity...

 First of all, as the stated goal of the WordPress project is to
 "'''democratize''' publishing" ( http://wordpressfoundation.org/ ), it is
 very sad to recognize that it is '''a democracy without a voting
 system'''. The basic requirements of a democracy are not met, and the
 whole project just takes over the meritocracy it inherits from its open
 source roots.

 I don't want to debate about what system is better here to manage the
 project, as I don't think a democracy always yields the better results
 (see: World). However, the project should stand by whatever system it
 wants to use and make it work in an effective manner.

 Right now, my impression is that any more uncomfortable discussions are
 often dismissed with the "majority" or "80/20" arguments (pointing to a
 democracy), but there's no way to assert what the majority is or wants.
 There are some access stats that probably account for more bot nets and
 inactive sites than real users, and that's it. When it comes to issues
 where the end users should not even be concerned, it is just strongly held
 opinions and historical reasons.

 So, if the WordPress project wants to democratize something, it should
 provide the basic democratic tools that would allow us to truly evaluate
 what the majority really wants. If it prefers to be run as a meritocracy,
 I'm all fine with that. But then, drop the "majority" argument, as it is
 just something that can't be argued or reasoned about. As soon as someone
 is perceived to have that argument on his/her side, all other reasonable
 arguments are effectively vetoed.

 As WordPress does not have any voting system in place, a Twitter poll was
 just the best I could come up with in the short term. I'm very open to any
 other suggestions on how to better handle this, as I am genuinely
 interested in the data. I want to plan my time investment based on that,
 so what would be the point of wanting skewed results?

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/36335#comment:192>
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