[Python-Dev] str.rreplace (original) (raw)
Nick Coghlan ncoghlan at gmail.com
Sat Jan 25 01:41:05 CET 2014
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On 25 Jan 2014 09:46, "Brett Cannon" <brett at python.org> wrote:
On Fri, Jan 24, 2014 at 6:02 PM, Mark Lawrence <breamoreboy at yahoo.co.uk> wrote:
Okay, I'll leave the snarky comments to the people who are authorised to be snarky. How do you get on this list? Is it any core dev, or are there more severe restrictions than that, for example do you have to be a member of the PSF, in which case I'd guess you can be very snarky without having a word said against you? I suspect Brian's point is sarcasm is fine in moderation. I'm sure we have all had incidences online where sarcasm was not understood and someone took it the wrong way. And with this list being international the chance of something not catching something as sarcastic just goes up. So sarcasm is fine, but keep it on the lighter side is all.
I personally draw the line as so:
is my draft post just snark? Then I delete it rather than posting - such posts never further the discussion, increase the level of noise on the list, and generally waste the time of other list subscribers solely for some momentary emotional satisfaction on my part. If I really feel the need to vent, then I'll send the unhelpful post directly to a friend rather than to the list. This is the kind of post that has no place on any of the core development lists.
is there a snarky side comment in an otherwise constructive post? Then I'll usually take it out anyway, since such comments still usually hinder communication rather than helping it, and we already have enough inherent barriers to effective communication due to a relative lack of knowledge of each other's backgrounds and experience. However, if I'm genuinely irritated, I'll sometimes leave them in - I'm not a saint, and a snarky comment that indicates "I am annoyed by this thread or situation" is a vastly different thing from a snarky post that says to someone else "your post was bad and you should feel bad".
there are other times (fortunately rare), when I consider it necessary to express genuine concern or anger. My main tool for dealing with such posts in the most constructive manner possible is to find every occurrence of the pronoun "you" (or other people's names) and figure out how to replace it with the pronoun "I". The purpose of such rephrasing is to help ensure the post is a constructive one expressing my concerns and sharing my impressions and experience rather than a destructive one that causes the recipients to become defensive, because once we dig in our heels and start defending our positions out of ego rather than reason, then the opportunity for a meaningful, productive discussion is lost.
So, a snarky side comment or two in otherwise constructive post? Not preferred, but usually acceptable. A post consisting of nothing but snark? Not acceptable - either don't post it, or send it to a trusted friend off-list in order to vent.
In this specific case, our general communication about the different purposes of the core lists isn't particularly good, so it's entirely expected that we'll still get the occasional post to python-dev that is better directed to a different list. That's why everyone gets a free pass to asking one or two inappropriate questions on python-dev, since it isn't always clear to them that the question is off-topic. The appropriate response is to politely explain the purposes of the different lists and redirect them to the correct one.
Cheers, Nick.
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