On 21 July 2015 at 11:03, Ben Finney ben+python@benfinney.id.au wrote:
If challenged to do so, could one (the contributor) present a compelling justification for the change?
This is what I claim Paul Moore's doubt (fear?) is indicative of. I maintain that this doubt is quite healthy: it helps the contributor to pause, reflect, seek assistance in making decisions, and thereby also tends to exclude poorly-justified changes which would otherwise be committed.
That is *not* what I was trying to express. My fear is that I will be subjected to the sort of unreasonable level of debate and frankly criticism that came up in this thread, and I'm not sure if I have the energy to deal with it. I wouldn't ever commit something unless *in my judgement* it was OK to go in. Whether my judgement is sufficient is the whole point here.
And to be honest, there's an implication in your comment that you think there is a possibility that any of the core devs might commit something when they had a level of doubt[1] about whether it was right to do so. I think that implication is unwarranted, and constitutes exactly the sort of subtle criticism that escalates things like this. I'm sure that's not what you intended, and I *know* I've reached a point with this thread where I'm over-sensitive to such implications, but it's a good illustration of how even a well-meaning comment can be perceived very differently than it was intended by the recipient.
For something which is a hobby for me, I'd rather feel more joy in what I achieve, and less burden of responsibility. Changing code that affects I-don't-even-want-to-know-how-many people and businesses is quite enough responsibility without also having to put up with only hearing from people who disagree with what I do, and never from people who are grateful...
End of unnecessarily emotional outpouring, we now return you to your regular scheduled flamewars :-)
Paul
[1] That's doubt, not mistakes. People make mistakes. The big problem here is python-dev is becoming pretty hostile to people who (are perceived to) make mistakes. That is, ultimately, all of us.