Editing 306: Orphaned Projects

{{comic
| number    = 306
| date      = August 22, 2007
| title     = Orphaned Projects
| image     = orphaned_projects.png
| titletext = His date works for Red Hat, who hired a coach for her, too. She advised her to 'rent lots of movies like Hitch. Guys love those.'
}}

==Explanation==
{{w|Debian}} is a {{w|GNU/Linux}} distribution (but also ships {{w|GNU Hurd}} and {{w|BSD}} versions). {{w|Red Hat}} is the company behind {{w|Fedora Linux}} and {{w|RHEL}}.

The comic is about orphaned Linux projects, because volunteer FOSS developers will often leave their projects aside whenever something of greater importance to them requires more time (like dating, relationships, tiredness, sickness, boredom, natural disasters, wild boar attacks, zombie apocalypses, robot uprisings, desire for snacks, etc.). Some companies/foundations, while not needing these developers, can greatly benefit from community-maintained projects. The Debian Team uses a phrase that is, intentionally or otherwise, similar to the famous {{w|Yoda}} quote from ''{{w|Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace}}'' in the first panel "Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering," by replacing it with dating and orphaned projects.

{{w|Hitch (film)|''Hitch''}} is a {{w|romantic comedy}} in which {{w|Will Smith}} plays a "dating coach," who helps men to have successful dates with women. To avoid losing their developers (in this case, Cueball), the people at the "Debian HQ" have opted to hire [[Black Hat]] to give the developer intentionally bad dating advice, thus sabotaging his relationship before it could become distracting. Cueball is advised to "constructively criticize" his date in an attempt to appear more intelligent. This technique is very unlikely to work,{{citation needed}} but is nonetheless attempted by some men. It is unclear whether this is "negging" (See [[1027: Pickup Artist]]) or simply a demonstration of hubris, neither of which would be an attractive attribute in a potential long-term partner or mate.{{Citation needed}}

In the title text, the woman is being similarly advised by a representative hired by Red Hat. She is advised to rent lots of romantic comedies, presumably to watch with her date. The prevailing stereotype is that young men strongly dislike films in that genre.

==Transcript==
:[Voices are coming from behind a door with a sign that reads "Debian Linux HQ."]
:First voice: Problem: One of the volunteer developers has a date this weekend. Dates lead to romance, romance leads to orphaned projects.
:Second voice: What's the plan?
:First voice: We're hiring him a relationship coach. He's like Will Smith in "Hitch," but he only gives bad advice.
:[Black Hat is talking to Cueball, who is standing in front of a mirror.]
:Black Hat: Okay, remember: The key to conversation is constructive criticism.
:Black Hat: You need to show you're smart enough to solve her problems.
:Cueball: Makes sense.

{{comic discussion}}
[[Category:Comics featuring Cueball]]
[[Category:Comics featuring Black Hat]]
[[Category:Romance]]
[[Category:Star Wars]]