Re: Reordering etc/NEWS

I can offer the perspective of a minor (very minor) contributor to
Emacs.  When I was a student, I found some (to me) real deficiencies
in the way colored annotation for CVS and the VC back end worked.  I
learned a bit of lisp, applied some basic color scaling theory, and
produced a patch which added great new functionality.  I got in touch
with the VC maintainers, who were enthusiastic, and, after some
tweaking, they added my code into Emacs.  Total success!

Or so it would seem.  That was Summer, 2001.  Six years later, and the
fruits of my early toil still aren't available in any released version
of Emacs.  So, while I continue to maintain a personally relevant
programming mode, and contribute bug fixes where they impact that
mode, I have not taken on any other "feature improvements" to Emacs.
To me, the value equation just doesn't compute.

>From my perspective, Emacs is an ancient, deeply rooted culture, with
its own customs and beliefs, established long ago.  I am an outsider
by almost any definition of the term.  That I do not feel justified in
challenging these customs does not change the fact that the long and
inscrutable release cycle has dampened my interest in contributing.

-- 
JD Smith