Decorators, Identity functions and execution...

[Roy Smith]

Steven D'Aprano <steve at REMOVETHIScyber.com.au> wrote:

> On Sun, 09 Apr 2006 08:52:18 -0700, Carl Banks wrote:
> 
> > it's more important
> > to respect community standards than to stick to some silly preference
> > you have.
> 
> What happens when the community standard is a silly preference? I object
> to the suggestion that "community standards" (that is, a standard not even
> designed by a committee, merely evolved by a mob) is necessarily worthy of
> respect.

Design by committee has far from a stellar track record.  On the Internet, 
most of the really good stuff has come from the mobs.

> As it turns out, regarding this particular "silly preference" (community
> or private), I always remember that communication is the purpose of email
> (and, believe it or not, Usenet), and the use of tabs in some buggy
> news readers can cause the failure of communication. Hence I use spaces
> when posting code.

As you should.  It matters not whether news readers that can't handle tabs 
are buggy or not.  The fact is that they exist.  One of the most basic 
maxims on the Internet has always been, "Be liberal in what you accept, be 
conservative in what you produce".