Source Guru

After long deliberation (a good few months!), I today came to the decision that I no longer felt that I could be part of the Ubuntu IRC Team.

I have felt for a long time that the Ubuntu IRC team has become an elitist crowd, with a very cliquey inner circle, and those who are not in the inner circle being treated on multiple levels like second class citizens.

There are a lot of things that have pushed me to make this decision, and I’ve not made it lightly. I’ve voiced my concerns to the IRC Council previously, (via individual emails), and had no response.  I don’t see the situation getting any better. In fact, more and more, I see it getting worse.

I know that I’m not the only person who’s thinking this way, though I may be one of the only ones that feels that I need to lay down my cinnamon roll.  I’ve discussed these issues on multiple occassions with various members of the community (both in and out of the team), and with people linked to the Ubuntu IRC community in one way or another (Debian Developers, Freenode Staff, etc etc).

There are also other people who’ve come out of the woodwork after I posted my resignation. Within minutes of doing so, one member forwarded my mail onto the community council, and another replied with his thoughts and feelings regarding the matter.  I’m glad to see that there are other people out there who’ve seen what I’ve seen, and like me, also dislike it.

I will however, retain my @ in #ubuntu-uk.  This is a channel I participate regularly in, and the ops there are chosen by the LoCo Team, rather than the IRC council.

Ok, so, some of you may know that I recently switched from using Xchat + ctrl_proxy to irssi for my main IRC connection. I did this as I’d been pestered literally thousands of times to “get a real IRC client”.

While I don’t agree with this philosophy (Xchat IS a real IRC client!), I have to admit, I’ve not regretted switching to irssi! Combining it with screen means that I can see the same IRC session from anywhere, and using irssi gives me quite a few cool new features (I’m a HUGE fan of regexes!). So, irssi, after getting used to switching channels, and managing everything is great for me. I can now authenticate to OFTC using SSL, I can use IPv6, and many many other things. Slick.

Anyway, as I’ve said, I also use screen. This is one of the best tools ever created by man. It’s increased my productivity, and it’s so simplistic to use.

So, why am I writing this now?

Well, over the past few ways, I’ve finally got around to using mutt for the first time, and while it’s not as pretty as some of the email clients you get out there, it does exactly what I need. And, although I’ve spent the last 2 days tweaking my configuration, getting confused, rereading the mutt manual, shouting and swearing, getting even more confused, rereading the mutt manual again, I’ve found that mutt, for me, is actually an email client that does what I want it to.

For example, using mutt, I now no longer have to worry that I’ll send an email to a mailing list using the wrong address, I can subscribe to a better “Inbox Zero” philosophy (Inbox Zero Status: 0!) and managing my email seems to come more naturally.

Mutt may be hard to get used to, a pain to configure just the way you want it, but, in the end, it makes sense. I’d reccomend everyone try it at least once!

So, yeah, I’ve moved my ubuntu email address over to mutt (in a screen window alongside irssi!) and will be moving the others just as soon as I can be bothered to goto all the different places and combine my .procmailrc. But I’ve made a start, and, for the forseeable future, it’ll be my mail client of choice.

It seems though, I’m spending a lot more time in an xterm than I am in anything else.

Maybe I should start using bitlbee too

… that is the question.

Whether tis nobler in the mind to suffer
the slings and arrows of outrageous harrasments,
or take ops against a sea of trolls,
and by opposing, end them? To /part; to /quit;
No more; and by a /quit say we end
The head-ache, and thousand virtual pings
That IRC is heir to, ’tis a consumation
Devoutly to be wish’d. To /part; to /quit;
To /quit, perchance to /ignore: ay, there’s the rub;
For in that /quit, what messages may come
When we have shuffled off this virtual coil,
Must give us pause, there’s the respect
That makes calamity of such low ping;
For who could bear the whips and scorns of time?
The operator’s wrong, the users contumely
The pangs of despised love, the law’s delay,
The insolence of office and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,
But that the dread of something after disconnection,
That undiscover’d country from whose bourne
No traveller returns, puzzles the will
And makes us rather bear those ills we have
Than fly to others that we know not of?
Thus conscience does make cowards of us all;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is sicklied o’er with the pale cast of thought,
And enterprises of great pith and moment
With this regard their currents turn awry,
And lose the name of action.–Soft you now!
The fair Ophelia! Nymph, in thy orisons
Be all my sins remember’d.

In contrast to Martin F. Krafft and Daniel Silverstone, I personally, prefer to be called by my online nickname.

The reasoning behind this is simple. The name I (now) use for myself online actually comes from what most people in real life call me. The name “Mez” is a contraction of my surname “Meredith” (apparently) and is the name I go by as online, as well as in real life. Daniel also says that he finds it hard for his name to recognise “Kinnison” as someone trying to get his attention. I’m the opposite. I actually find it harder for my brain to recognise “Martin” as someone trying to get my attention, unless I’m in a situation where I’m expecting people to be calling me by that (usually with family, as they are the only people to call me by that name). I’m sure if you ever speak to my work colleagues, they’ll be able to confirm that my selective hearing only ever really picks up “Mez”

I however, unlike some people I know, have no problem with people calling me by my “Real” Name (though a definition of what is real is vague, and although I can’t find a citation, I’m pretty sure that UK law defines the name of someone as that of which they are called by and respond to (given name))

But it’s all good. If you want to get my attention though, I’d try shouting “Mez” at me. (and not “Meez or Mess, cause that DOES annoy me