[Python-Dev] How far to go with user-friendliness

[Paul Moore]

On 20 July 2015 at 08:15, Stephen J. Turnbull <stephen at xemacs.org> wrote:
> Every one needs to be considered carefully,

It's very hard to pick out snippets like this out of context,
particularly in a thread that has already caused a lot of turmoil, but
I think this point is worth addressing. And my apologies in advance if
I don't word my point well enough and cause offence. None is intended.

As a new core dev, although one who has been on this list for many
years, I can attest to Nick's point that threads like this are a huge
barrier to new contributors - I personally am pretty reluctant to
commit changes on my own judgement, purely because of the risk that "I
might be wrong" (i.e. I might be called to justify my decision in a
thread like this).

The problem with pointing out that decisions need to be considered
carefully is that there is an implication that either the original
core dev *didn't* consider the issue carefully. But I doubt that's the
case. Extra review may help, certainly, but a thread like this quite
frankly doesn't really feel like "extra review".

Again, I'm sorry to pick on one sentence out of context, but it cut
straight to my biggest fear when doing a commit (on any project) -
what if, after all the worrying and consideration I put into doing
this commit, people disagree with me (or worse still, I made a
mistake)? Will I be able to justify what I decided? Hmm, maybe I'd
better hold off and let someone else make the decision...

Paul