[Python-ideas] Clearer communication

[Ben Rudiak-Gould]

Note: none of the following is an endorsement of the r/python_ideas
idea. I'm just responding point-by-point to what you wrote.

On Fri, Feb 1, 2019 at 10:47 PM Steven D'Aprano <steve at pearwood.info> wrote:
> - I can have as many email identities as I like; I can only have one
> Reddit identity at a time.

Do you mean because your browser doesn't support per-window or per-tab
cookie jars? I'm pretty sure there are browsers that do. (I use
multiple instances of the same browser with different home directories
to solve this general problem, but I think there are other solutions.)

Also, many clients (including RES in a browser) support switching
accounts by choosing from a drop-down list.

> If I want to keep my Reddit persona seperate from my Python persona, I
> need to create multiple accounts (possibly violating the terms of
> service?) and remember to log out of one and into the other.

It isn't a violation of the TOS and it's extremely common and people
are open about it. It is a TOS violation to, for instance, up/downvote
the same post/comment with two of your accounts.

> - Too difficult (impossible?) to keep local human-readable copies of
> either the discussion thread, or even your own posts.

I agree the Reddit client situation is pretty sad compared to the
email client situation, but non-browser clients do exist. You don't
have to use Reddit in a browser.

RES lets you save things locally, but you are still stuck viewing them
in a browser.

> - I have to explicitly go to the site to see what is happening, rather
> than have the posts automatically arrive in my inbox.

Well, you can get an RSS feed of any subreddit or comment thread and
stick that in your email client. It's not perfect I agree.

>From another of your messages:

> Core developer Brett Cannon has taken up editing other people's comments
> on github if he doesn't approve of their tone.
> [...]
> Github (currently) provides the full history of edits to each post.
> Reddit just has a flag that shows you whether a post was edited or not.
> Isn't technology wonderful?

Reddit doesn't allow anyone but the original user to edit posts or
comments. Moderators (ordinary users who are selected per subreddit
like IRC ops) can only remove the entire text of a comment (or text
post) and put "[removed]" in its place. They can also make posts no
longer appear on the subreddit, but they continue to be viewable if
you have the direct url.

There was a scandal in which a Reddit co-founder admitted to editing
someone's comment. I think he was able to do that because he had
direct database access. If someone has direct database access then of
course a full edit history won't help since you can bypass that along
with everything else.

I am definitely a fan of the distributed nature of email. However, a
rogue admin of python.org or their registrar or ISP or some Internet
switch could alter emails to this list without leaving any edit
history. Proper authentication could solve a lot of that, but as long
as we're dreaming, it's only fair to make Reddit distributed and
not-for-profit too.