Request: please consider clarifying the project's position on Spins

[Máirín Duffy]

On Sat, 2010-12-04 at 21:51 -0500, Greg DeKoenigsberg wrote:

> Now I wonder if you can take the next step, and consider "front page
> real estate" one of those issues that might be worth discussing.
> Because as of right now, it seems as though you're rejecting that
> discussion out of hand.

I've probably spent a lot more time discussing front page real estate on
the website than most people in Fedora. Check this out:

http://duffy.fedorapeople.org/temp/woot/

Those 17 mockups of the main download page are just a fraction of the
mockups and hours of discussion on IRC and mailing lists.

With limited design resources is this the best way to be expending
design time & effort? I'd personally rather work on things where I don't
get accused of hubris and secret hidden evil intentions.

> I believe that there are creative ways of making it clear that there
> is One Approved Choice for the novice, while at the same time doing
> more to celebrate some of our other spins.  I really, truly, deeply
> believe that.  

That's why we have a www.fedoraproject.org geared towards the novice,
and spins.fedoraproject.org as more of an
r&d-look-at-the-other-cool-things-fedora-can-do sort of space.

We actually designed, developed, and launched spins.fedoraproject.org a
full two releases before the new www.fedoraproject.org specifically to
avoid the spins feeling outed. A lot of time, effort, and love went into
both of those designs, but I can't force the spins owners to take
advantage of what we built with & for them there.

> Can we have that conversation without characterizing it as "a
> choose-your-own adventure clubhouse type of affair"?  

When people stop telling me that large classes of users 'have no
business' using Linux I will stop referring to them specifically as
clubhousers. 


Hubristically yours,
~m