Guild (was Re: [consulting] Proper Collections Procedure)

[Laura Scott]

On Aug 19, 2006, at 3:22 PM, Boris Mann wrote:

> On 8/19/06, Henri Poole <poole at civicactions.com> wrote:
>
> > I'm not sure I think it is a bad idea, but I think that an official
> > guild (for lack of a better term) with formal dispute resolution
> > procedures would be necessary as a part of this. I'm not sure any of
> > us have the time to do this right.
>
> I could spare some time each week for such a guild. Although I think
> dispute resolution is probably a small part of what should be done. At
> vivid, we had a quality assurance manager that told me that I  
> should fix
> the faucet before mopping up the floor more often.
>
> The guild could certainly help with that and the trusted relationships
> that would come out of it would enable private conversations of a
> sensitive nature (like this one) to happen with more ease.
>
> I'm not against anyone taking the initiative and setting up a  
> "guild" (is that what the Marketplace on groups.drupal.org/ 
> marketplace is becoming? I don't know...) but it makes me VERY uneasy.
>
> Drupal itself already has the reputation of being very insular in  
> nature. I would like to continue to work to grow the ecosystem of  
> developers that "know" Drupal...everything from best practices  
> around the API to the "best practices" of community involvement. I  
> suspect a guild-like structure will prove even more of a turn off /  
> barrier to additional developers entering the community.

Count me as someone else generally uneasy about a trade guild. For  
example, "peer review" in such a context could end up being something  
like Coke reviewing Pepsi or HP reviewing IBM. Such marketplace  
character could also end up being a turn off to the consumer, who may  
feel like it's a price-fixing trade guild or developer mafia. It also  
could be illegal in some countries. Trade associations that do more  
than PR are generally frowned upon in the US, for example, and were  
the target of the original Sherman anti-trust act.

Back to "transparency," I tend to lean towards the no-trash-talk  
approach to business. Specific complaint is one thing, but when I  
hear someone disparaging others, I come away wondering what he or she  
is saying about /me/ behind my back. There's little gain in it, and  
(if I may mix metaphors) the bad apples out there make their own beds  
to lie in anyway. I feel that transparency is for one's own business,  
and the concept doesn't easily translate to "being transparent" about  
other people's business. IMHO....

Laura

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