threads / discuss / 55424

Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

Subject: Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

## tl;dr

5 messages between Apr 2, 2021 and Apr 7, 2021.

replies: 4people: 3as markdown or json

Bagas Sanjaya· Apr 2, 2021, 05:45 UTC · lore

Alright so let's imagine this situation.

Supposed that all developers here take a break from Git ML (except Junio the maintainer of Git). Many celebrities (public figures like singers and actors) are instead reviewing patches here (with no subject matter expertise on Git, let alone programming languages and software development in general). Almost all patches reviewed by them are given Reviewed-by trailer from them.

The situation above is roughly similar to some TV programs when celebrities comment on interesting and unique moments happened all around the world, with little or no subject matter expertise regarding the subject being commented.

Junio, what will you do in such situation above (celebrities reviewing patches and giving Reviewed-by despite of lack of subject matter expertise)?

-- 
An old man doll... just what I always wanted! - Clara

Junio C Hamano· Apr 4, 2021, 02:27 UTC · re: Bagas Sanjaya · lore

Re: Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com> writes:

> Junio, what will you do in such situation above (celebrities reviewing
> patches and giving Reviewed-by despite of lack of subject matter
> expertise)?

I find the scenario highly unlikely, and I do not see the point of wasting my time on a trick question, thinking about what I would do in a scenario that is not realistic, so I was tempted to ignore this message. If you have something you really want to ask, ask it directly instead.

But I'll make it an exception this case, since you are relatively new.

I do not think the celebrity status of a person who sends a Reviewed-by matters. What matters aroud here is the quality of review that comes with "Reviewed-by".

Just a "Reviewed-by" without comments would most likely not count at all, unless the perceived competence and expertise the reviewer possesses in the area is reasonably high.

The "perceived" is a rather important word here. It does not matter how good one actually is. One must have had demonstrated one's competence and expertise on the list sufficiently to earn trust by other readers on the list for one's "Reviewed-by" to really count.

"I read the patch with fine toothed comb, I found it very well done, I have nothing else to add.", coming from somebody who is KNOWN to know the area the patch touches well, would mean a lot. When the same statement was given by somebody who hasn't earned the trust of the collective mind on the list, regardless of the celebrity status, would mean a lot less.

Jeff King· Apr 7, 2021, 20:24 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

On Sat, Apr 03, 2021 at 07:27:12PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 34 quoted lines

> Bagas Sanjaya <bagasdotme@gmail.com> writes:
> 
> > Junio, what will you do in such situation above (celebrities reviewing
> > patches and giving Reviewed-by despite of lack of subject matter
> > expertise)?
> 
> I find the scenario highly unlikely, and I do not see the point of
> wasting my time on a trick question, thinking about what I would do
> in a scenario that is not realistic, so I was tempted to ignore this
> message.  If you have something you really want to ask, ask it
> directly instead.
> 
> But I'll make it an exception this case, since you are relatively
> new.
> 
> I do not think the celebrity status of a person who sends a
> Reviewed-by matters.  What matters aroud here is the quality of
> review that comes with "Reviewed-by".
> 
> Just a "Reviewed-by" without comments would most likely not count at
> all, unless the perceived competence and expertise the reviewer
> possesses in the area is reasonably high.
> 
> The "perceived" is a rather important word here.  It does not matter
> how good one actually is.  One must have had demonstrated one's
> competence and expertise on the list sufficiently to earn trust by
> other readers on the list for one's "Reviewed-by" to really count.
> 
> "I read the patch with fine toothed comb, I found it very well done,
> I have nothing else to add.", coming from somebody who is KNOWN to
> know the area the patch touches well, would mean a lot.  When the
> same statement was given by somebody who hasn't earned the trust of
> the collective mind on the list, regardless of the celebrity status,
> would mean a lot less.

I don't usually post "me too" responses, since they are usually just noise. But I could not resist it here, for two reasons:

  - this is such a nicely written summary of what "Reviewed-by" means in
    our project that I think it deserves some praise. :)

  - because it is ultimately about "what does Reviewed-by mean within
    the Git project", there is some small value in having another
    project member say "yes, that is exactly what I expect from it,
    too"

-Peff

Junio C Hamano· Apr 7, 2021, 20:57 UTC · re: Jeff King · lore

Re: Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:

Show 10 quoted lines

> I don't usually post "me too" responses, since they are usually just
> noise. But I could not resist it here, for two reasons:
>
>   - this is such a nicely written summary of what "Reviewed-by" means in
>     our project that I think it deserves some praise. :)
>
>   - because it is ultimately about "what does Reviewed-by mean within
>     the Git project", there is some small value in having another
>     project member say "yes, that is exactly what I expect from it,
>     too"

Heh, thanks.

Are you hinting that some of what I wrote (with typofixes like s/arond/around/) should be inserted to SubmittingPatches or somewhere near it?

I am still scratching my head why "celebrities" were brought into the original question in the first place, but I can say that we do not discriminate against "celebrities" who review patches with prejudice like "that lady only plays a hacker on TV, and must know nothing to qualify to review our patches." Celebrities or not, once somebody demonstrates enough competence and earns reputation on this list, opinions by that person would count more than others.

Jeff King· Apr 7, 2021, 21:18 UTC · re: Junio C Hamano · lore

Re: Reviewed-by given by celebrities (no subject matter expertise on Git development)

On Wed, Apr 07, 2021 at 01:57:10PM -0700, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 18 quoted lines

> Jeff King <peff@peff.net> writes:
> 
> > I don't usually post "me too" responses, since they are usually just
> > noise. But I could not resist it here, for two reasons:
> >
> >   - this is such a nicely written summary of what "Reviewed-by" means in
> >     our project that I think it deserves some praise. :)
> >
> >   - because it is ultimately about "what does Reviewed-by mean within
> >     the Git project", there is some small value in having another
> >     project member say "yes, that is exactly what I expect from it,
> >     too"
> 
> Heh, thanks.
> 
> Are you hinting that some of what I wrote (with typofixes like
> s/arond/around/) should be inserted to SubmittingPatches or
> somewhere near it?

I would not be opposed to that, but I also do not want to create more work for you. :)

-Peff