So I'm thinking about getting a recumbent bicycle for sports touring and some commuting to the office. My regular mountain bike is just a bit hard on my back and wrists, so part of my motivation is looking for comfort. But I also want something that I can use for longer rides. And, of course, this being Boulder, I don't want a tank -- I'll be climbing hills and riding some dirt and gravel trails.

Any buying advice?

Any suggestions where I can go in the Boulder area to test-ride some of them, maybe buy one?

Harry Slaughter recognizes the need for some sort of evaluation system for the huge number of Drupal modules available on Drupal.org. However, I feel he gets the diagnosis wrong.

As far as I can tell, the primary reason for not having a rating system for modules is fear. Module developers in particular are concerned with the fairness of ratings. They are concerned with "gaming" of ratings. They are concerned that inexperienced or "dumb" end users may unfairly give a bad review of a module simply because they don't understand how to use it. These are all reasonable concerns. But they are concerns shared by other OSS projects as well. Sure you will see "bad" reviews, giving a module the lowest possible rating along with some inane review such as "tis modules sukcs BEWARES" :) But who cares, it's just noise that will be drowned out by valid reviews. It works for other OSS projects, and it can work for Drupal.

It's not fear, it's time and energy. Configuring ratings on Drupal.org takes work -- volunteer work, so far. Regarding ratings, it's also a matter of figuring out the proper metrics for evaluating a module. Some measures that come to mind immediately include scalability, ease of use, ease of administration, extensibility (interaction with other modules), as well as aggregated metrics of the status of issues (how long they're open, how many, etc.), number of downloads....

How do you measure that with basic ratings? It's not so easy. Even the architecture and business logic of a ratings system has to be well thought out.

I feel Harry also gets the remedy wrong:

John Forsythe has released what I believe is the first site dedicated to rating and reviewing Drupal modules drupalmodules.com. No doubt this site will be a source of controversy as developers voice their concerns. But we need this resource now.

I encourage my entire audience (hi, mom!) to register at drupalmodules.com and to submit reviews for both your favorite and most hated Drupal contributions. This is a great way for non-techies to contribute to the community. The site is young, and there is naturally a shortage of ratings on the site now, but that will change as the site brings on more users.

Maybe this database will eventually make its way to Drupal.org. For now we can show our support for this type of system by helping build out the database at drupalmodules.com.

I don't think private metrics efforts will get imported into Drupal.org, for risk of skewing the results. And I feel there's some downside to splitting community dialogue into disparate sites scattered around the web. I suppose perhaps it's inevitable -- "scratch your own itch" and all -- but my preference is for Drupal.org-focused efforts.

We're having open discussions about redesigning Drupal.org on groups.drupal.org/drupal-org-redesign-analysis, including implementation of some ratings system.

Angie is co-leader of this effort, and has been putting a lot of energy into making it rock. Kieran is also a leader in this effort, and is looking for team leaders.

I've signed on, as have a number of others. While stop-gap sites that fork and fragment module discussions may have some value to some, I feel we benefit most from gathering the resources of the full community. Rather than build out a remote pantry, let's fix up our own kitchen. Drupal.org is our collective home. Redesign is a lot of work. But as Jack Aubrey would say, "Well, then, there's not a moment to lose!"

Join us!

Typically I stir around 6am, but don't wake up until I've had my tea (or sometimes coffee). In Boulder these days, the sky is lightening at 6am Mountain Standard Time, but the sun isn't quite up yet. I don't know about you, but I've always had a harder time getting up in the dark of night.

I feel like a travel amateur this week because I was having a hard time waking up early enough to hit the first sessions of DrupalCon in Boston. It's been years since I lived in the Eastern US, and I'd forgotten how profound just a couple of hours' difference can be.

This morning, without an alarm, I woke at 6:40am Eastern Standard Time. Getting adjusted!

I was concerned that by the time I fly back on Saturday I'd be adjusted to Eastern Standard Time, but then I'd just get used to Mountain Standard Time again before the shift to Daylight Savings Time in April.

Ah, but remember: Congress, in its infinite wisdom, expanded Daylight Savings Time so that this year it commences on the second Sunday of March.

That's this Sunday.

No doubt Congressional approval ratings will start to go up next week, once we're all reminded of the wonderful work they're doing to keep the sun shining.

There's something seriously wrong about this.

Comcast — or someone who really, really likes Comcast — evidently bused in its own crowd. These seat-warmers, were paid to fill the room, a move that kept others from taking part.

[Update: Comcast admits to paying people to stack the room in their favor. Read the report.]

They arrived en masse some 90 minutes before the hearing began and occupied almost every available seat, upon which many promptly fell asleep (picture above).
MarkeyComcast’s sleeper cell

One told us that he was “just getting paid to hold someone’s seat.”

>> Listen to the audio

He added that he had no idea what the meeting was about.

If he was holding someone else’s seat, he never gave it up.

Many of this early crowd had mysteriously matching yellow highlighters stuck in their lapels.