Skip site navigation (1)Skip section navigation (2)
Date:      Sat, 07 Oct 2000 15:56:17 -0600
From:      Brett Glass <brett@lariat.org>
To:        Brad Knowles <blk@skynet.be>
Cc:        chat@FreeBSD.ORG
Subject:   Re: politeness
Message-ID:  <4.3.2.7.2.20001007153853.044e5e10@localhost>
In-Reply-To: <v04220801b605412327ce@[10.0.1.2]>
References:  <4.3.2.7.2.20001007145514.0473b100@localhost> <4.3.2.7.2.20001007145514.0473b100@localhost>

next in thread | previous in thread | raw e-mail | index | archive | help
At 03:28 PM 10/7/2000, Brad Knowles wrote:

>        While I agree that people should be more forthcoming with their complaints, the reality of the situation is that when people perceive someone as being excessively combative and disruptive, they don't always directly confront the person in question.  Sometimes, they feel that the best way to get results is to approach people in a position of authority and file their complaint with them.

This is inappropriate, since it is an attempt to turn the person who
happens to have control of the list into a censor. It is also fitting
that anyone who is threatened by a harmful action such as censorship
be able to confront his or her "accuser." This right is guaranteed by 
the US Constitution when one is dealing with the government, and it 
is only fair that it be the policy in public forums such as mailing
lists.

>        I haven't personally witnessed the complaints in this case, but I do have my own opinions of certain aspects of your personality, and I find that the statements from PHK sound credible.

We all take issue with parts of other people's personalities, and the
civil and socially acceptable thing to do is be tolerant. I find many
comments on these lists to be abrasive, but do not get "bent out of shape"
or advocate censorship.

>        Regardless of what you may feel about him personally, I think that this is a situation where you at least have to give serious consideration to what he has said.  

I always consider what I write and how people react to it. However, if
everyone refrained from posting because of one or two flamers' callous 
remarks, then such bullies would quickly take over the forum. This
certainly wouldn't be fair nor would it be good for the list. 

[Snip]

>        I know that in the past I have said and done some things that have seriously ticked off Jordan, and I hope that over the years I'll be able to reverse the damage that I have done.  

You seem to be implying that saying something that ticks off Jordan is
automatically damaging! I don't think that whether any one person is or
isn't annoyed by a posting is a good criterion for judging its worth.
I've seen Jordan fly off the handle about a posting (frequently not mine)
and later say that he regrets having done so. 

>If you want to positively contribute to the future of FreeBSD, I would encourage you to start trying to figure out what you've been doing wrong 

Forgive me for saying so, but I don't think that not marching in lockstep with 
everyone else, or posting anything with which someone (whether on the core team
or otherwise) might disagree, is "wrong." 

[Snip}

--Brett



To Unsubscribe: send mail to majordomo@FreeBSD.org
with "unsubscribe freebsd-chat" in the body of the message




Want to link to this message? Use this URL: <https://mail-archive.FreeBSD.org/cgi/mid.cgi?4.3.2.7.2.20001007153853.044e5e10>