Comment 81 for bug 882274

This comment is written with love.

A bug report isn't the best place to work through relationship issues, but this comment thread is unhealthy enough that I don't want to leave it standing as-is. Just a brief note here, but what really matters aren't words but actions over time.

The Ubuntu community (and I include Canonical as part of that community) has fallen into some unhealthy habits. We've been together for 7 years now, and over the years we've started to take each other for granted. For the community to survive, and for Ubuntu to succeed, this has to change. I was greatly encouraged by UDS-P two weeks ago. For those who didn't attend: things are changing around here, for the better. As one concrete example, we're starting up a team of volunteer designers to work on user journeys across the entire distro. The Unity designers have (joyfully, gladly, and with great enthusiasm) agreed to participate with this team, to share their knowledge and experience, and learn from the knowledge and experience of others in the group. Today, it's just the smallest seed, a tiny trajectory shift, but it's change in the right direction.

I have a different message for different parts of the community. For the Unity designers, my message is "come out and play, don't worry, they won't bite". And for everyone else, my message is "stop biting the Unity designers, you're scaring them away from open participation" and "if you see someone else biting the Unity designers, gently correct them and teach them how we collaborate around here". You see, communities only work when we *all* play our part in making them work.

I love the Ubuntu community in its entirety, both volunteer and paid. I'm not promising you that the next 7 years will be easy, nothing worth doing ever is easy. But I am promising this: if we work together, what we build will be absolutely amazing.