[development] install should optionally create the database

[Laura Scott]

On Oct 13, 2006, at 9:25 AM, Boris Mann wrote:

> My point was to not get drawn into long back and forths when many of
> these issues have been discussed before -- point to existing areas of
> discussion and clarification, and start with that context in mind, not
> re-hashing stuff that has gone through before.

I offer this as an observation, not an invitation to debate....

It would seem to me that part of valuing newer folks' input would  
involve some new discussion of old-yet-as-yet-unresolved topics. This  
is because new insights, ideas and suggestions are always possible.  
Also, inviting newer developers to engage in old ideas might lead to  
yet new ideas approaches by anyone in the community. I would add that  
norms change, markets change, things change.

Any community values the past, but lives in the present. That's all  
the more true in email lists. Yes, there's an archive of this list  
that's searchable, but that doesn't mean that such discussions are  
easily findable.  If a subject has been resolved, that's one thing.  
But if it's unresolved, then quashing new rounds of discussion tells  
the newer folks (and some of the older ones, too) that their input  
has no value.

For my part, I find it quite easy to skip messages that don't  
interest me.

Also, for my part, on this particular thread, I was simply offering  
some comparative experiences, since what other systems do will most  
definitely affect people's expectations of what an "easy  
installation" system will do. I was not trying to suggest that it's  
the way things MUST be done, or get into any "back and forth" about  
it. And the same is true for this post here. ;)

Laura