[ source: more than 25 years working in IT environments from mainframes to micronets ]

This issue is a people issue, not a technical one. I think this is a really great module that provides a tool similar to ones I have used many times in many work projects through the years, including many varieties of system logs, to track down both technical problems and operator errors. However, the module name "Blame" is a very unprofessional moniker that implies the primary reason for using the module is to be able to point fingers and get someone into trouble, which obscures its more legitimate uses.

Drupal is gaining traction in the enterprise level community and in the corporate world you often find team environments with way too much politics and way to easily bruised egos. Blaming people and finger pointing leads to wide-spread employee paranoia and destructive CYA/CMOAF behaviours. Calling this tool "Blame" is likely to politically charge the atmosphere around the module to the point where no (good) manager will approve it being installed (or else only if the senior developer renames everything quietly beforehand). This module deserves more respect than that.

A few of professional name suggestions could be "Site Logs", "Changes Monitor", or "Auto Journal" ... none of which are as sexy or catchy as "Blame". Anything that focuses on the function and not on what you will do with the function (example: "Whodunnit" would be just as bad as "Blame" but "WhoWhatWhen" might work nicely) is the idea. Maybe someone else has some better name suggestions they can add.

Comments

therealwebguy’s picture

therealwebguy commented

Aveu, thank you very much for your feedback. This was a concern of mine as well as the name does suggest a more "finger-pointing" approach, which although the module can be used to achieve said functionality, is not the intended purpose of its functionality.

Considering that the functionality of this module may be in process of a future migration with the current Journal module, the name will ultimately reflect that change and the title of Blame will be removed. Its current purpose on Drupal is to allow the community to have it and provide feedback like you have in oder to properly position and execute the potential of this functionality in the community.

I think the automated process that this module attempts to achieve is a very valuable tool, however, its name and its functionality may not be in the most appropriate of places at its current phase. I will leave this thread open for the time being if any others would like to contribute their thoughts on the matter, but as soon as a decision is made in regards to a possible merger with Journal I will close this thread with a final update to its status.

izmeez’s picture

izmeez commented

subscribing. I agree the functionality of this module is good and the name not so. Also look forward to a possible merge with Journal module.

mcjim’s picture

mcjim commented

The name makes perfect sense, following as it does in the footsteps of svn blame or git-blame.

Irrelevant if it merges with Journal and that namespace is used.

therealwebguy’s picture

therealwebguy commented
Status: Active » Closed (won't fix)

It has been decided to keep this module name as is and will remain its own module going forward. New versions / releases of this module coming soon providing enhanced features that require it to remain independent of other modules at this time. Closing issue, no actively for 10 months.