Re: The importance of civil communication on the list (was Re: Fucked up gnustep-make)

[Jeff Teunissen]

Stefan Bidigaray wrote:
> I think the issue here is not professionalism, but politeness.  Really,
> how much more help/attention will you get, and this goes for anywhere
> you go, if you're insulting anyone?  A great example is, step into any
> government building wanting something and insult (directly or
> indirectly) anyone in there, see how fast they'll solve your problem. 
> Seriously, whatever happened to common courtesy?

Let me quote from the first of my messages in this thread, found in
msgid:<er1quf$rk$1@odo.d2dc.net>:
] Personal attacks are unacceptable no matter who does it, or in what
] situation...but technical stuff is fair game no matter what language is used
] about it.

Saying a certain product of someone's work sucks might be a little harsh, but
it's a far cry from insulting them personally. It's just code. :)

> I understand that you might be angry,

I'm not angry, I just took this opportunity to put forward my opinion on
what's been going on in here for years. It does, however, interest me that
passionate language (and I'm not referring to "colorful" words here, but
writing forcefully) carries the presumption of anger in here.

I write like I speak -- it's a trait that usually needs to be cultivated, and
it's known to be the best way to write technical documentation (not to mention
fiction). Get to the point, don't use a five-dollar word where a five-cent
word will do, use contractions, act like you're having a conversation with the
reader with nobody else listening, and so on.

[snip]

-- 
| Jeff Teunissen -=- Pres., Dusk To Dawn Computing -=- deek at d2dc.net
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| Core developer, The QuakeForge Project     http://www.quakeforge.net/
| Specializing in Debian GNU/Linux           http://www.d2dc.net/~deek/