Well, it turns out there are many Ruby communities, some vocal, some not. Talking abut the Ruby community is going to end up missing a lot of what is going on. Mostly, though when people talk about a singular Ruby community they mean Rails.
I've noticed that you've said this a lot of times on here (and ruby-talk, if I recall) and you're right - it's just sad that you have to say it and that people still make the assumption you're trying to counter.
"I've noticed that you've said this a lot of times on here (and ruby-talk, if I recall) and you're right - it's just sad that you have to say it and that people still make the assumption you're trying to counter."
One, it bothers me that various good and smart projects (and the people behind them) get overlooked because they exist outside of some self-imposed scope of awareness. Among many Rubyists this means that if it isn't useful for Rails it doesn't exist, or doesn't matter. That people are spiting themselves with this myopia doesn't seem to make a difference. (My perhaps skewed impression is that many Rubyists are more likely to know about and appreciate ideas from non-Ruby projects, especially if the existing Ruby code is seen as a competitor to some favored app.)
I suppose, though, that if your particular community keeps repeating that it's the only community (e.g. Rails == Ruby), it just perpetuates.
Two, this diversity is equally true of many other communities. So far I don't see this sort of intra-tribalism among, say, Haskellites, and really hope that stays that way. There are many intriguing things happening in the worlds of Haskell, Clojure, and JavaScript[0], and a good part of this looks to be an openness to ideas and an appreciation of the diversity within their own ranks. And I want that to continue.
We have to remind each other to not get too comfy, to keep looking around, keep questioning things, and not get lazy and insular.
[0] And other places I'm sure, but these are where I've been trying to pay attention.
Comments
Well, it turns out there are many Ruby communities, some vocal, some not. Talking abut the Ruby community is going to end up missing a lot of what is going on. Mostly, though when people talk about a singular Ruby community they mean Rails.
I've noticed that you've said this a lot of times on here (and ruby-talk, if I recall) and you're right - it's just sad that you have to say it and that people still make the assumption you're trying to counter.
"I've noticed that you've said this a lot of times on here (and ruby-talk, if I recall) and you're right - it's just sad that you have to say it and that people still make the assumption you're trying to counter."
One, it bothers me that various good and smart projects (and the people behind them) get overlooked because they exist outside of some self-imposed scope of awareness. Among many Rubyists this means that if it isn't useful for Rails it doesn't exist, or doesn't matter. That people are spiting themselves with this myopia doesn't seem to make a difference. (My perhaps skewed impression is that many Rubyists are more likely to know about and appreciate ideas from non-Ruby projects, especially if the existing Ruby code is seen as a competitor to some favored app.)
I suppose, though, that if your particular community keeps repeating that it's the only community (e.g. Rails == Ruby), it just perpetuates.
Two, this diversity is equally true of many other communities. So far I don't see this sort of intra-tribalism among, say, Haskellites, and really hope that stays that way. There are many intriguing things happening in the worlds of Haskell, Clojure, and JavaScript[0], and a good part of this looks to be an openness to ideas and an appreciation of the diversity within their own ranks. And I want that to continue.
We have to remind each other to not get too comfy, to keep looking around, keep questioning things, and not get lazy and insular.
[0] And other places I'm sure, but these are where I've been trying to pay attention.