[Python-ideas] Consistency in naming [was Re: ...ALL CAPS] (off-list)

[Steven D'Aprano]

James, Ned, and everyone else,

(I'm intentionally leaving the subject line untouched, but since James' 
message was sent to the list, I'm replying to the list.)

In another thread, you (James) asked for ways to not feel like such a 
n00b, and you attempted (with mixed success) to start a discussion about 
improving the quality of communication here.

So in the spirit of constructive criticism so that you and others can 
learn from experience and communicate better:


(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.)


(3) In the thread about improving communication, I mentioned that the 
easier it is to make comments, the more likely it is for people to make 
poor-quality comments. In my experience, posting from a phone is one of 
those tools that encourages poor-quality comments.

It is each person's responsibility to either use a better communication 
tool (better does not necessarily mean more convenient) or to manage 
their own use of the tool better. I've seen too many people blame their 
tools for their own repeated mistakes: "I can't help it, it's my phone, 
it makes it too hard to do the right thing." Who is the master, them or 
their phone?

We're all only human and therefore make mistakes, but we ought to own 
them when we do, and learn from them, not fob responsibility off to the 
tools we choose to use.


(4) Speaking of poor-quality comments, you said "Python’s decline is in 
not growing." Do you have evidence that Python is "not growing" or did 
you just make that up?



On Sun, Feb 03, 2019 at 12:34:02PM -0500, James Lu wrote:
> Python’s decline is in not growing. 
> 
> Sent from my iPhone




-- 
Steven