Re: [ATTEND] How to act on LKML

Felipe Contreras
2013-07-17T14:27:57Z

On Tue, Jul 16, 2013 at 8:02 PM, Sarah Sharp
<sarah.a.sharp@linux.intel.com> wrote:

> I've provided examples and personal stories in an attempt to give
> incentive to change.

Those are just stories; things that happened. What you need to provide
is *evidence* that if the community changes, things will be better,
and unless you have a study of series of collaborative groups like the
Linux kernel, that demonstrates that suppressing swearing has a
positive effect in the community, I'd say all you have is an
*opinion*.

> I cannot force on anyone the will to change, nor
> would I want to. I cannot "manage" change in others. I can only
> politely point out that the current community behavior does hurt other
> people, and keep people from contributing.

Which people have been hurt? Mauro? I would like to hear that from
him. Another recipient of your stories was Rafael, and he already said
he didn't feel personally attacked. I have also been a recipient of
Linus' cursing, and I don't see any reason to change.

But the more important question is; was the cursing justified? In the
case of Mauro, it most definitely was, because as Linus mentioned; he
broke the #1 rule of Linux, and that can't be tolerated from a
lieutenant.

So no, your stories don't prove that any people were hurt, justified
or not. But even that is not important, what is important is; was the
*project* hurt? I'd say you would need more than a couple of stories
to prove that.

> I'm not demanding change. I'm merely asking to discuss the possibly of
> change at KS.

Everything is possible, the question is not "*can* it change", the
question is "*should* it change". And again, you need evidence to show
that it should.

Cheers.

--
Felipe Contreras