I agree with everything all of you have said in reply to me. Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 3, 2019, at 7:34 PM, Ned Batchelder
wrote: On 2/3/19 6:01 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote: (1) Taking the group discussion off-list should be done rarely, and usually only for personal messages that shouldn't be shared publically, or by mutual agreement for off-topic discussions.
I can't see Ned's original comment in either my inbox, or at the archives, so it seems that he took the discussion off-list. I don't know why. It doesn't strike me as either personal or off-topic, so taking it off-list seems to be both unnecessary and a little rude to the rest of the group -- why were the rest of us excluded?
But since Ned apparently intended to take it off-list, it is only polite to respect that your reply.
(2) The long-standing tradition is to put "OFFLIST" at the *start* of the subject line, not the end where it is easy to overlook.
To make it even more clear, we should explicitly state that the message is off-list at the top of the message.
(Especially if you intend the message to be confidential.)
I replied to James privately because I felt that the question of "Python's decline," and James' reasons for believing it to be so, were not on-topic for a list about suggestions for improving Python. It also seemed to me that it could easily devolve into an unproductive discussion for such a large group. But, it was probably also of interest to the group, many of whom were probably wondering the same things I was, so I can see how it could have stayed in the list (where it now is.)
It also seemed to me to be a topic which could easily result in James feeling at a disadvantage, being on the other side of a subjective debate from the bulk of the group. I had hoped to discuss it with him in a setting that was less likely to get heated.
I didn't mean to be rude to anyone.
--Ned.
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