Re: [libreoffice-design] Re: New web banners. Feedback?

Hi Marc, all,

On Sat, Oct 1, 2011 at 5:28 PM, Marc Paré <marc@marcpare.com> wrote:
> Le 2011-09-30 12:14, David Nelson a écrit :
> > * when you offer work, there are some people who are not shy of making
> > opinionated statements even when they never/rarely do any actual
> > useful work for the project. You don't need to pay too much attention
> > to them. But do remember that the people who actually use your work
> > and make the requests for graphics are extremely grateful for your
> > work, and admire and respect your creativeness and skill.
>
> I find this kind of statement quite counterproductive, especially when the
> author of the thread has asked to feedback from the community.

There have been many heated statements in this thread, but I'd like to
think they are a part of defining the project, who we are, how we
work, etc, and hopefully it will enable us to run more smoothly in
future. Let's just not have the same conversation over and over again.

I would happily argue that someone who contributes constructive and
valuable feedback is making as great a contribution as someone who
contributes artwork. The quality of feedback we get will vary, just as
the quality of artwork will (the quality of my artwork certainly
does!).

One of the most valuable things we have is people's time. Long, heated
threads can suck up time and detract from more productive work.

However, if someone submits graphic files that are central to
LibreOffice's identity (such as icons, logos, etc) in a proprietary
format, and then someone else is required to convert them to an open
source format in order to effectively reuse them, then this also sucks
up someone's time. Sometimes this may be worth it, at other times it
may be an overhead.

On the other hand, we can lose potentially valuable contributions if
we impose restrictions and demand that all graphics have source files
contributed in an open format.

Personally, I think we need to be pragmatic. If we ask for graphics,
and the only contributions we get are in a proprietary format, or the
best contribution (by a long mile) is only available in a proprietary
format, then we should accept them and convert them into an open
format if the author is unable to do this. When it comes to artwork,
if the idea and the initiative is open sourced, then this, in my view,
is more important than the format.

At the end of the day, this is a meritocracy, and contributions
matter. If the only person who takes initiative for a particular
request provides us with source files in a proprietary format, we can
certainly encourage this person to use Inkscape/GIMP, but it should
not be a barrier to the acceptance of their artwork.

Regards,
Ivan.

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