[bug #54114] QUICK TYPO FIX in tbl(1): `tbl(c)' should be `tab(c)'

[Michael Witten]

Follow-up Comment #8, bug #54114 (project groff):


No, my friend. You are missing the point. Let's be clear:

  $ git log --reverse -S 'tbl( c )' --format=%H | head -1 |
    xargs git log -1 --format=%H%n%ad
  a2992cdd9995aef2da2d8f7a35eb0dfacd9ef7df
  Mon Jul 21 15:04:55 2014 +0200

An egregious mistake  in the naming of an  option sat prominently
near the top of the man page in question for almost 4 years until
a *passerby* said to himself:

   You know what? I guess I have to be the one to fix this.

   I mean,  I've already figured  out that it's  wrong, and
   there's no  benefit  to me  to worry  about it  further;
   however,  let  me  save  another person  from  the  same
   confusion.

That passerby went through the trouble of finding the repository,
cloning it, locating the error, making and validating the change,
producing a patch with the relevant information, figuring out how
to log into Yet Another  Cumbersome Ticket-Tracker, filling out a
poorly designed  form, uploading the patch,  explaining concisely
and obviously how that patch  should be applied, and taking every
step to make the process of reviewing and incorporating the patch
as convenient as possible for the maintainer.

This passerby wanted just one thing.

All this passerby  wanted in return (and all  this passerby asked
for, both explicitly and unnecessarily) was for his authorship to
be recorded, which is not exactly a tall order for a contribution
to a software project, let along a FOSS project.

And,  no. Injecting  his  name somewhere  in  the commit  message
doesn't count; besides  the fact that doing so  neglects any kind
of official structure, there are  also fellow folk who grace this
world under the  name "Michael Witten". And no.  The patch wasn't
written on 2018-June-16; it  was written on 2018-June-14. (Please
note that git  records not only authorship  information, but also
committership information.)

What makes me  grumpy is not just the  *willful* incompetence (or
maybe  laziness),  but  rather the  *unearned*  indignation  that
inevitably follows not far behind.

Look,  I'm  not the  one  pretending  to  be  a custodian  for  a
software project.  You self-described "maintainers"  have adopted
an indignation that  is undeserved; you fscked up at  the one job
that you yourselves have placed upon your own damn shoulders, and
then you got passive-aggressively  defensive when you dropped it.
Perhaps, that  unwarranted attitude  was lost in  translation for
you in particular, Werner?

As far as my acerbic comment is concerned, I stand by it; heed my
warning or  don't. The only  reason it  stings is because  it has
substance.

For instance, your  censure  of  my inadequate social skills, and
your accusation of my victimizing nature, fail to wound my ego or
trigger  any introspection;  such obvious  falsehoods are  like a
fart in the wind.

I wish you and your project the best.

Sincerely,
Michael Witten



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