Silence does not imply consensus.

["Carlos O'Donell" <carlos at redhat dot com>]

Dear Community,

Silence does not imply consensus.

I've recently fallen into this trap myself, and I
thank Roland for pulling me out of it. I can't just
check things in because nobody complains. That's not
consensus. It's easy to fall into this trap,
particularly when you're busy and need to get that
patch in before you reach your deadline.

Consensus needs to be worked on, and involves reaching
out to people in the community and getting them to 
comment on your change.

Is it hard work? Yes.

Is it important? Yes.

Does it increase the quality of our project? Yes.

In the real world, the non-virtual world, there is a
notion called "implicit approval." Which can be
interpreted as "if you see it and say nothing then
you implicitly approve." It has legal implications.

This community does not adhere to implicit approval.

Reach out and gather consensus, and then make 
the change, your code will be better, the quality
of the project will be better, and you'll grow
as a developer.

Keep us honest, and don't hesitate to point out when
someone is interpreting silence as consensus.

Cheers,
Carlos.

P.S. If you hate me for getting on the soap box,
please don't hesitate to tell me.