[Python-Dev] Dealing with tone in an email

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Fri, May 04, 2018 at 03:21:28PM -0400, Terry Reedy wrote:
> On 5/4/2018 11:43 AM, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
> 
> >I'm not defending Ivan's initial email. His tantrum *was* annoying,
> >unreasonable, and unfair to those who do care about tkinter.
> 
> Ivan's email was a disinformation troll intended to jump the attention 
> queue of core developers.  He is proud of its apparent success, and 
> seemingly unconcerned about equally apparent side-effects.

Terry, please, to persist in attacking Ivan's past behaviour when he has 
not repeated it is not open, considerate or respectful. At this point, 
*our reaction* to Ivan's transgression has been much worse and more 
disruptive than anything he has done.

People had already jumped down Ivan's throat long before he rationalised 
the tone of his initial email as necessary to get people's attention. 
Whether that rationalisation was an excuse he came up with afterwards, 
or a deliberate plan he started with, is impossible to tell. I wouldn't 
even expect Ivan to be 100% in his own mind which it was. Psychology 
isn't that cut and dried.

But it doesn't matter. *One* impolite email, even if deliberate, 
should not be enough to condemn a newbie. If he persists with this 
pattern of behaviour, that is a different story.

I understand your concern about deliberate disinformation, but even if 
your worst fears come true and "someone somewhere, in a blog, talk, or 
SO answer, quotes Ivan as a reason to not use tkinter", that hardly 
makes giving the opinion "tkinter is broken" an unforgiveable sin. As 
you point out yourself, that opinion is hardly new or rare.

And frankly, people are allowed to be wrong. Let's not have thought 
police here, please.

Everyone, can we *PLEASE* stop attacking this newbie now, and give him a 
chance to show by his future actions that he either has or hasn't 
changed his ways? Wrongly suggesting that nobody uses a software package 
should not be a Zero Tolerance offense.


-- 
Steve