[vorbis] xiph.org irc channels moving

[SwiftBiscuit]

--- "Nathan I. Sharfi" <nisharfi at csupomona.edu> wrote:
> Unfortunately, IRC servers *are* a burden.
> Why do we need to host our own IRC server when
> there are others who are more than willing and
> capable of handling the task?
> 
> Remember, we're not getting rid of IRC. We're
> simply having someone else handle the hassles
> that come with running an IRC network.

And yet you operate your own website, your own email
system. irc is not considered a high enough priority
and that is my beef. By palming the service off to
other people you are leaving it to the mercy of
outsiders. Sensible people do not do that for
essential services.

A year ago Xiph came out with Vorbis and that was
good. Then Monty went off to do something different
and effectively stopped pushing Vorbis forward. In a
larger company Monty's understudy would have stepped
up to the plate and kept the momentum going. That
didn't happen and we all know why. So Xiph gave Vorbis
out to the 'community' for them to continue its
development.

But this tactic hasn't worked. People are very aware
of what Vorbis and does, but it's just too hard for
most people to work on and produce meaningful results.
As far as I'm aware, only Garf has had any success in
updating Vorbis and his work still hasn't been
officially published.

Community development work runs well with products
like Icecast, Xiph needs to be for Vorbis all that the
Icecast team are for their product. Vorbis advice
needs to be available almost immediately. I remember
on at least one occasion Garf saying how hard it was
for him to get a reply from Monty. That can't be
allowed to happen.

There should be much more work done on the
documentation, much more work. If Xiph can't spare the
manpower to sit around and field questions then it has
to have a useful amount of documentation as an
alternative. The documentation at present doesn't make
the grade. That much is obvious since the only guy who
has pushed Vorbis forward still had to refer to Monty.
I myself tried to work on low bitrate encoding; I
tried to walk the walk, despite not having a
background in the field. It's people like me that need
the documentation. The people who already know their
stuff are most likely already working on Vorbis or
competitors; Xiph needs to cast the net wider.

Monty's knowledge needs to be dispersed among Xiph's
supporters so they can start handling the hard
questions. It all comes down to this - Monty left
Vorbis too soon.

Xiph's flagship product is being left almost entirely
in the hands of the 'community' and it's floundering,
Xiph needs to be bending over backwards to encourage
developers. Running an irc channel cannot be allowed
to be seen as being a burden, it has to be seen as
being essential to Vorbis's future. Just as much as
better documentation and better access to Monty.

-

My time is tight so I wrote this email in one take. I
hope it still makes sense.

~Mark.

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