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Nope. We'd been working on our response ever since Dear GitHub was published. It just took a little time because we wanted to think long and hard about our res

Nope. We'd been working on our response ever since Dear GitHub was published. It just took a little time because we wanted to think long and hard about our response - beyond just the words we used to respond – and actually consider how we are interacting with the community, and where we can make demonstrable improvements. It is just coincidence that the ESLint thread happened this week, and our response came out today.

bphogan 11y ago
Just a tip from a person who's interacted with cranky people for a long time.... When I get feedback, especially negative, I like to think about it before I respond. And I may take a month to respond. But I always immediately respond with something like "Thank you for providing feedback, and thanks for your patience while I think about your feedback, discuss it, and respond appropriately." At least you then know I'm not ignoring it.
- pflats 11y ago
  As a classroom teacher, I agree wholeheartedly. A timeline for when you will respond in more depth (24h, a week, a month) is also quite helpful.
- slavik81 11y ago
  They responded in the original HN thread saying basically that.
  - enraged_camel 11y ago
    Most Github users don't read HN.
    - mhurron 11y ago
      Most GitHub users probably also didn't know about the open letter in the first place.
chris_wot 11y ago
You really should consider telling those who filed the letter that you were at least working on it. Did you expect them to know?!?
- eric_h 11y ago
  Someone, not the GP, did: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10905338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10905338
- stronglikedan 11y ago
  Did they who filed the letter ask? If they asked and didn't get a reply to the effect of "we're working on it", then I can see your point. If they didn't ask, well then that's on them. I not finding any stories about them asking about what's going on and not receiving a reply, so I'll assume the latter, since I'm sure the former would have been posted about.
  - chris_wot 11y ago
    Who, precisely, were they meant to ask? Perhaps you should reread that letter: However, many of us are frustrated. Those of us who run some of the most popular projects on GitHub feel completely ignored by you. We’ve gone through the only support channel that you have given us either to receive an empty response or even no response at all. We have no visibility into what has happened with our requests, or whether GitHub is working on them.
    - nicky0 11y ago
      It's a statement. There's no question there.
      - chris_wot 11y ago
        It's a statement that said that they asked them to address some critical issues via their regular support channel. The statement said they have already reached out, and they had nowhere else to go so hence the open letter. Or in other words, to answer the question I was asked (which was "Did they who filed the letter ask?"), yes, they did ask. Apparently repeatedly.
Siecje 11y ago
I think it looks worse that it took so long to respond without any demonstrable improvements.
- wiremine 11y ago
  I disagree: I'd rather see a well reasoned response than a knee jerk relation. If they had decided _not_ to do anything, I'd prefer to have them think about it first. That said, they set the bar pretty high, and now they need to execute.
- Touche 11y ago
  What world do we live in that 29 days is an unacceptably long amount of time to deliver a feature that affects 0.1% of millions of users?
  - johnnyfaehell 11y ago
    This world. Seriously their response was some words, that doesn't take that long to come up with. 29 days to go to production on that is not good. Adding a simple feature on a project which I am pretty sure they say they deploy daily on shouldn't take 29 days when you have the amount of talent they have. I am sure people aren't expecting the world, but 29 days should equal some text saying ok we're listening here is something we've done.
    - deleted 11y ago
      [deleted]
    - hk__2 11y ago
      They’re already working on a lot of different things; they’re not just there waiting for someone to write a letter and then jump on coding everything that’s written in.
      - x1024 11y ago
        Oh, the classic "HR" response. "We're very busy here". Well, if they truly have "more imporant things to do than address community ire", then this also means that they agree to take the community's ire.

bphogan 11y ago

Just a tip from a person who's interacted with cranky people for a long time.... When I get feedback, especially negative, I like to think about it before I respond. And I may take a month to respond. But I always immediately respond with something like "Thank you for providing feedback, and thanks for your patience while I think about your feedback, discuss it, and respond appropriately." At least you then know I'm not ignoring it.

pflats 11y ago
As a classroom teacher, I agree wholeheartedly. A timeline for when you will respond in more depth (24h, a week, a month) is also quite helpful.
slavik81 11y ago
They responded in the original HN thread saying basically that.
- enraged_camel 11y ago
  Most Github users don't read HN.
  - mhurron 11y ago
    Most GitHub users probably also didn't know about the open letter in the first place.

chris_wot 11y ago

You really should consider telling those who filed the letter that you were at least working on it. Did you expect them to know?!?

eric_h 11y ago
Someone, not the GP, did: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10905338 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10905338
stronglikedan 11y ago
Did they who filed the letter ask? If they asked and didn't get a reply to the effect of "we're working on it", then I can see your point. If they didn't ask, well then that's on them. I not finding any stories about them asking about what's going on and not receiving a reply, so I'll assume the latter, since I'm sure the former would have been posted about.
- chris_wot 11y ago
  Who, precisely, were they meant to ask? Perhaps you should reread that letter: However, many of us are frustrated. Those of us who run some of the most popular projects on GitHub feel completely ignored by you. We’ve gone through the only support channel that you have given us either to receive an empty response or even no response at all. We have no visibility into what has happened with our requests, or whether GitHub is working on them.
  - nicky0 11y ago
    It's a statement. There's no question there.
    - chris_wot 11y ago
      It's a statement that said that they asked them to address some critical issues via their regular support channel. The statement said they have already reached out, and they had nowhere else to go so hence the open letter. Or in other words, to answer the question I was asked (which was "Did they who filed the letter ask?"), yes, they did ask. Apparently repeatedly.

Siecje 11y ago

I think it looks worse that it took so long to respond without any demonstrable improvements.

wiremine 11y ago
I disagree: I'd rather see a well reasoned response than a knee jerk relation. If they had decided _not_ to do anything, I'd prefer to have them think about it first. That said, they set the bar pretty high, and now they need to execute.
Touche 11y ago
What world do we live in that 29 days is an unacceptably long amount of time to deliver a feature that affects 0.1% of millions of users?
- johnnyfaehell 11y ago
  This world. Seriously their response was some words, that doesn't take that long to come up with. 29 days to go to production on that is not good. Adding a simple feature on a project which I am pretty sure they say they deploy daily on shouldn't take 29 days when you have the amount of talent they have. I am sure people aren't expecting the world, but 29 days should equal some text saying ok we're listening here is something we've done.
  - deleted 11y ago
    [deleted]
  - hk__2 11y ago
    They’re already working on a lot of different things; they’re not just there waiting for someone to write a letter and then jump on coding everything that’s written in.
    - x1024 11y ago
      Oh, the classic "HR" response. "We're very busy here". Well, if they truly have "more imporant things to do than address community ire", then this also means that they agree to take the community's ire.