[yt-dev] License switch: remove author tags

[Nathan Goldbaum]

Matt,


On Tue, Sep 10, 2013 at 1:23 PM, Matthew Turk <matthewturk at gmail.com> wrote:

>
> I am +1 on removing the author tags.  That being said, I consciously
> decided *not* to, for basically two reasons which are somewhat
> related.  The first is that I think removing the author tags will
> disproportionately impact individuals who perhaps have contributed
> specific files or analysis modules but have not contributed a large
> quantity of code to the overall base of yt.  The second reason is
> really my main one: I don't want to be as strongly associated with yt
> as I currently am.  Not because I don't have pride in it (I do), but
> because I don't want people who aren't deep in the code development to
> believe that I'm the only person contributing, and I do not think that
> does favors for *anyone*.  (I still receive many emails off-list,
> people say things to me that I have to correct about what yt is, etc
> etc.)  It creates an impression of consolidation of responsibility, as
> well as undermines the credit that others receive for their
> contributions.  Having names (that aren't mine) on source files
> reduces the apparent consolidation.  I was leery of making such a
> change, because removing names felt really wrong to me to do on my
> own.
>
>
I'd argue that the yt = matt turk misconception is made worse by the author
tags, since your name is on almost every file.


> So, I'm fine with removing them if everyone else is too.  But I'd also
> like to trade this for having some type of mechanism for public
> recognition of efforts.  (In addition to another paper, which is
> probably still a bit off.)  Perhaps something like a core team, or
> list of contributors, on the website?  Something that can be pointed
> to, put on a CV, anything.
>

Very much agreed.  I'd follow what the IPython project does, a list of core
contributors on the website and list of *all* contributors for each release:

http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/stable/about/license_and_copyright.html
http://ipython.org/ipython-doc/stable/whatsnew/github-stats-1.0.html

Cheers,

Nathan
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