This is a very interesting issue, IMHO. Sorry for all those bored with this thread.
oh c'mon - we must be close to setting a record :)
Op donderdag 24 november 2005 20:55, schreef u:
I'm totally not arguing with you btw :).
No, I got that; I think we agree, but i think this is an interesting discussion.
yes. I think so as well :)
I undersatnd the attitude that "the only thing that matters are contributors", however I would argue that the more users you have, the more contributors you will have.
I already mentioned that users are a route towards new developers, Not only because the more users you have the bigger the chances are there is a contributer inbetween, but also because a lot of users spend money on hiring developers for drupal.
However, to the project itself, IMO the only thing that really counts, in the end, is the amount of active contributors. All the rest can be ignored.
isn't what you just said contradictory? What am I missing -
Users [help create] new developers [and create] marketplace [which brings] new developers
so how can you then turn around and say "...the only thing that really counts, in the end, is that amount of active contributors.."
I'm just wondering :).
No this does not contradict: If one runs a company, one can easily say: in the end its all about the balance, the money.
yeah - you can say it is all about the money - but if it is for you then that is sad. There's a process - and you better enjoy that process, otherwise you won't be very happy.
Having clients is cool: But clients that only cost money, or even clients that do not bring any money, are nice, yet do not help. in the end, A company can then say "The profit is all that matters, in the very end. Whether that is genrated by no clients at all, only one client or thousands of clients does not matter".
In the same line we can say: The only thing that we can calculate our value off, is the amount of contributors, not the amount of users".
I think this is way too simplistic and reductionist. I agree that just having lots of users isn't it either (if I thought so I would go off and use mambo or whatever it is called now :) ). But to say that users don't matter is silly (for me).
Hell, we can have a million of users, yet only two developers. In that case we have a serious problem :)
it seems unlikely that that could ever happen. Also there are hundreds of drupal developers (perhaps 1000s) who don't contribute code back - we should try to fix that. One thing that I'm starting to conclude from this conversation is that the motivations and interests between different participants is really different. I wonder if there are not clusters. Very interesting discussion - I need to think about this for a while.
Also I just had a thought (everybody cover your ears...) Is the project about the developers/contributors or is it about the code. I wonder...
I believe that a lot of this conversation is because you have new people coming into the arena with their own ideas, aspirations and needs.
Oh, buit this is a good thing, imo. It keeps drupal from rusting.
agreed :)