Re: Rules of discourse for the mailing lists
On Wed, 15 Oct 1997, Ian Jackson wrote:
> Profanity I can live without - who gives a **** about it anyway ?
> However, `treating others with respect' is far to vague to be a useful
> guideline. Does that mean I can't say that I have severe reservations
> about someone's competence in one field or any ?
As long as you express it in a way that is not intended to be injurious
to the person involved, I dont think so..
> I remember one notable occasion when a person I have a great deal of
> respect for was prevented from posting to the mailing lists for
> calling another developer an `idiot'. I remember wondering whether it
> would be a defence that they were an `idiot', and if not what the
> critic in question should have said instead.
> > 9) Don't critisize people -- agree or disagree with their ideas.
Notwithstanding the debateability of the other 9 points on the list, I
agree wholeheartedly with the one quoted above. We really shouldn't be
judging other people, but their ideas. Instead of calling this person an
idiot, something along the lines of 'this idea is bound to fail' or 'this
idea is completely unworkable' is much more appropriate. To remark on the
competence of another with regard to the task at hand, it is much more
polite, professional, and altogether more mature to express something to
the effect of 'I have some strong reservations regarding X's abilities in
this matter' than 'X is an idiot'.
Idiot is a word generally not used solely in its literal meaning, but to
convey a great dislike and general disregard for a person. I highly doubt
there are any true 'idiots' subscribed to this list.
One thing I think we who work in the computer field tend to forget
sometimes is that computers are not the be all and end all of
intelligence. That there are plenty of extremely intelligent people who
know nothing about computers.
Anyway.. enough..
Say.. what copyright are these rules going to fall under?:-))))
David Welton http://www.efn.org/~davidw
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