Hi,
I agree that this isn't something that should continue. Kicking should be reserved for people being disruptive. There is no reason to be anything other than polite to users asking for help.
How much time do you spend in #winehq? I know I don't spend much time there, but I know it's a thankless job. four out of five people who ask for help there seem to a) expect you to drop everything you're doing to help them b) insult the person trying to help if the suggestion doesn't work c) threaten to go back to windows and expect you care. d) leave before you get around to answer
[...]
If the general consensus is that we'd rather have Vitamin helping and we are ok with his behaviour then I'll support that. I'm just explaining my position on the matter.
I think there is clear consensus that we all deeply appreciate the work that Vitaly is doing. There is also clear consensus that it would be great if more people could help out on #winehq (and on bugzilla, and so on). Further, I think there is even clear consensus that we all want to support Vitaly as he does an amazing job that few of us want to do.
However, I have to say that we have now had enough people complain that it seems reasonable to conclude that he is kicking / banning people too quickly, whatever the reason.
So, here is a proposal for consideration: 1. More known Wine developers keep a tab #winehq; we get them op access 2. We ask vitamin to run without op privileges, so he isn't tempted 3. When there is trouble, he has lots of people to ask for backup, and they can do the kicking.
In fact, wouldn't it be a nice way to show our support for Vitaly by letting him be the good guy and we agree to take on the role of bad guy?
I've added #winehq to my tab now, and if someone ops me, I'm willing to be a bad cop <grin>.
Cheers,
Jeremy