[Python-ideas] How to respond to trolling

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Tue, Jan 10, 2017 at 07:29:12AM -0800, Guido van Rossum wrote:
> Was it really necessary for all the usual folks on this list to engage with
> the "Python review" threads? I think a much more effective response would
> have been a resounding silence.

Giving a newcomer the Silent Treatment because they've questioned some 
undocumented set of features not open to change is not Open, Considerate 
or Respectful (the CoC). Even if their ideas are ignorant or ill-thought 
out, we must give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are 
making their comments in good faith rather than trolling.

Shunning is a particularly nasty form of passive-aggression, as the 
person being shunned doesn't even get any hint as to what they have done 
to bring it on. It's one thing to ignore an unrepentant troublemaker or 
troll after numerous warnings -- that's the old Usenet "plonk" or 
kill-file treatment -- but greeting a newcome who has inadvertently (we 
must assume good faith) crossed a line in that way is hostile behaviour.

I don't think it is necessary for somebody to explicitly say the magic 
words "I propose this as a change..." for it to be obvious that the OP 
was suggesting his "review" to initiate a discussion for ways Python 
should change.

I don't know whether the OP has learned anything from his treatment 
here. But I know he wouldn't learn anything except that the Python 
community is closed-minded and unwelcoming if he had been greeted with 
silence.


-- 
Steve