Quim, I'm not sure if your initial post was directed at me or just a general rant around what I was saying...

If you are talking to me specifically, I am by nature a "Master of Every Topic in 1001 discussions" so please don't ask me to completely overhaul my personality. That's how I roll. I am better at facilitating from 1,000 feet in areas like this than in dwelling on details... especially since I am largely still unfamiliar with the ins and outs of Linux details. EDIT: also, until 2 weeks ago, I felt it was well within my rights to tell the corporation where and what to do. That was in fact my obligation as an employee.

Anyway, I have no qualms against helping on any project BUT I feel like the various efforts are by and large too diffused, too ignorant of each other and too individually oriented for me to know where to begin (that said, I have engaged in testing and feedback).

But you know where I come from: the professional world of coding. My experience programming under Windows affects my outlook here. I don't have much Linux/OS experience at all so perhaps the situation that I see as chaotic may be perfectly okay for you. However, I would like to draw an analogy: I used to be involved in FPS game mapping design in one community. There were many, many projects going but the few that survived and were highly enjoyable were those that were well staffed and professionally approached. Take just one of those aspects away (as happened to my project when staff vanished) and the result is less than desirable.

In the end there were hundreds of maps, many with the same basic concepts, and that diffusion did significant damage to the overall concept and drove new players away. Some of us tried to corral the disparate developers into larger projects to prevent confusion and unnecessary overlap but too many map makers were far too independent to participate in teams.

I've seen pretty much the same thing with third party Maemo solutions. Again, I think lone coders are okay but to an extent-- I believe most efforts should be performed by teams. But I doubt that was possible before the foundation of the council, and I'm hopeful its creation will result in some guidance at the very least.

From past experience I know that you can get the wrong impression of what I'm saying, and I'll take at least half the responsibility for that. Maybe I sometimes choose words poorly. If you still have problems with what I'm saying here, by all means let me know.

EDIT: speaking of which, see what Roger said in the post above mine. He put it very well IMO.

EDIT 2: kudos to fms as well for touching on the importance of psychological motivation.

To continue on the theme, maybe what's needed here are "official" mentors. People who monitor startup projects and then step in to offer guidance where needed. Of course, receptiveness by the project's originator is key here but I am hopeful such an approach could prevent a great deal of what is being addressed.

EDIT 3: the more I think about it, the more I also take exception to the title of this thread. Sometimes talking IS doing.