[MPlayer-dev-eng] [patch] prefer ALSA over OSS

[Uoti Urpala]

On Sun, 2007-04-29 at 09:46 +0200, Attila Kinali wrote:
> On Sun, 29 Apr 2007 03:38:16 +0300
> Uoti Urpala <uoti.urpala at pp1.inet.fi> wrote:
> 
> > First note that what I said was not an ad hominem argument. "Rich
> > Felker's arguments about ALSA are false because he is a kook" would be
> > an ad hominem argument (attacking the person making an argument to
> > discredit the argument). "You shouldn't waste your time arguing about
> > ALSA with Rich Felker because he is a kook" is not an ad hominem
> > argument.
> 
> Yes, Rich has a very unfriendly way to tell people
> his opinion. But, unlike you he seldom attacks people
> personaly and only if attacked first.

Rich has attacked me personally several times, and without being
attacked first. His standard "unfriendliness" towards other people has
also included calling them idiots. And when talking about other projects
his standard way of arguing is to call the authors personally
incompetent or even intentionally malicious.

"unlike you"? How many people have you ever seen me "personally attack",
whether attacked first or not?

> And if you would listen to Rich once in a while you
> would see that he has a point. Always. Not always
> one that i like, but one that i cannot deny either.

"Always"? Where does this Rich-worship come from? Seriously, saying
"would see that he has a point. Always." is not something you'd say
about anyone whose abilities you can evaluate neutrally. Even top
experts sometimes make stupid arguments, and Rich is not a top expert in
anything. He frequently makes claims that are complete rubbish. I have
listened to many of his claims, and I can confidently say that several
are nonsense.

> If Rich would be the kook you claim him to be, then
> he would have gotten the mighty boot already years
> ago. But he hasn't and is still a very well respected
> developer.

That he hasn't been booted is probably because the most nonsensical
parts of his claims are usually in areas that are not directly connected
to MPlayer. The people who know better just ignore those parts most of
the time.

As for "very well respected", I think that's more your personal opinion
than representative of the general view among developers.