[Python-Dev] Bloody FAQ (Was: [Python-ideas] itertools.chunks(iterable, size, fill=None))

[Paul Boddie]

Stefan Behnel wrote:
> anatoly techtonik, 05.07.2012 21:41:
> >
> > Make the bloody FAQ and summarize this stuff? Why waste each others
> > time?
>
> Yes, that is exactly the question.
>
> It takes time to write things up nicely. I mean, once someone has pointed
> out to you that this has been discussed before, you could just go, look it
> up (or search for it), and then put it into a Wiki or blog post yourself,
> or sum it up and send it to the mailing list as a reply. Why rely on others
> to do it for you?

To be fair, Anatoly has done quite a bit of maintenance on some of the Wiki 
content around various aspects of the project, so it's not as if he's 
demanding anything out of the ordinary or asking for others to do things that 
he isn't already doing in some sense. My experience is that there usually 
needs to be some willingness on the other end of the transaction, and if it 
takes repetition to encourage it amongst those who don't see the current 
situation as a problem for them, then so be it.

Of course, this kind of documentation activity, where one gathers together 
historical decisions and the consensus from long-forgotten discussions, is 
pretty thankless work. I occasionally regard it as worthwhile if only to 
bring up something someone said as an inconvenient interruption in any 
current discussion, but that's a pretty minimal reward for all the effort 
unless one has such work as part of one's daily routine.

Paul