donald wrote: ↑2022-12-06 02:00
It is weird reading users saying that things and things cannot be discussed here at the same time as one of the administrators saying such topics are more than welcome and encouraged.
Yes, I understand. I think some find irksome not being able to resolve a correct answer, more so than the subject matter not being narrowly targeted. At least, it would explain why so much frustration was noisily vented over my not giving any premise (e.g. any "argument") that might be negated. In fact, the frustration ran so steep that easily-refuted premises simply were attributed to me inaccurately, along with, of course, the actual refutations.
I was thinking about a
suitable recommendation for those who carry such an outlook.
There are
how questions and
why questions. In developing technology, we often become so embedded in the
how that we imagine some kind of relevance sealed away from the real world, which demands us to ask
why.
Why does Debian maintain its own separate package system? Is a technical reason satisfying, or is the reason primarily historic? Are upgrades isolated and reversible, or incremental and unidirectional? Are snapshots best handled through the file system, or through an abstracted file tree? Does Debian handle the full gamut of demands asked of modern operating systems, or prefer to stay confined to a more narrow niche? I think all such questions are broadly constructive.
For my part, I had assumed Debian users largely would want the system to evolve along a tract common with certain competitors, but now I understand the strength of devotion to certain classic characteristics. Yet, Debian is not just the Debian distribution, but also a larger family, including derivations. Of course, I understand when someone grows fond of a system, discussing major changes may be unpleasant. Debian in its current representation is hardly facing an immediate threat of disappearance, and those who like how it is now would gain more from expressing their own preferences, with respectfulness toward all, than from trying to silence every idea that is different.
However, to your point of encouraging discussion, I doubt any encouragement truly follows by relegating such threads to a section called "Offtopic". Perhaps another section might be added for the purpose, one with a more uplifting description, for example, "General Discussion". (In fact, although the thread was moved to "Offtopic", the description is given as "
If it doesn't relate to Debian, but you still want to share it, please do it here". Based on descriptions alone, I tend to consider a better match to be the original location, "Development Discussion", or otherwise, "General Debian".)