Re: Membership (One user says:)

[John Baskind <jbaskind@home.com>]

[long and acrimonious discussion, at present ending with this message, clipped]

> Let's recall that once this ``situation'' is resolved, the list of
> volunteer members/coders will likely increase. Many, I'm sure, myself
> included, have held back.


I am following this discussion with some alarm, and I am sure that many 
others who rely on everyone involved in this acrimony to keep our sites 
running are too.  I think competition is very important, and the sort of 
internal competition you lot are involved in is crucial to the continued 
speedy evolution of the critical software you are making ( for us users, 
please be reminded).

Those who rely on your skills and expertise--in other words, the vast 
majority of Apache users, which means, apparently, some 50% of the active 
Web at this point, NEED you, all of you, as a group. to continue to share 
your brains and their collective product, with us. Because the vast 
majority of us couldn't do what you do if our lives depended on it.

I use mod_ssl, purely because it seemed easier to install and compile than 
Apache_SSL, and I really like Ralf's installation notes, not because I 
formed any judgement about the relative excellence of mod_ssl over 
Apache_SSL. I am not capable of making that judgement--I rely on YOUR 
assessments!

I really don't care if it actually is easier to install or not; --from my 
point of view, I honor Tim Hudson and Ben Laurie, Ralf Engelschall  and all 
the less public members of the Apache Group equally. Each of you 
contributes in a different way to make my life, and therefore livelihood, 
simpler and more pleasant.

Part of my skill set is political consulting--if there's anything I've 
learned, it is that mud not only sticks to both the flinger and flingee, 
but also clouds all the subsequent issues between both parties to a 
remarkably large degree.