[Python-ideas] Hijacking threads [was: Changing the meaning of bool.__invert__]

[Guido van Rossum]

On Thu, Apr 7, 2016 at 11:08 PM, Ethan Furman <ethan at stoneleaf.us> wrote:
> On 04/07/2016 07:17 PM, Alexander Belopolsky wrote:
>
>> You greatly expanded the scope of the discussion.  The original thread
>> was focused on a single feature, and a not so widely used one.  You
>> asked 6-7 (rhetorical?) questions below that have nothing to do with the
>> original topic.
>
>
> Thank you, Alexander.  I appreciate the feedback.
>
> It's entirely possible I'm talking to myself, but in case anyone is
> listening:
>
> Guido, it felt to me that you were being a jerk.  I was definitely an ass in
> response.  For that I apologize.

Thanks for that. I didn't mean to be a jerk, just to prevent the
thread from derailing way out of scope. And I was on my cell phone,
where I can't be as eloquent as when I have a real keyboard. So I
apologize for sounding like a jerk.

> As for broadening the scope of the discussion I will say this:
>
> So far I have authored or helped with three successful PEPs;  The first was
> to amend an incomplete feature (raise from None), and the third was to add
> back a feature that had been ripped out (%-interpolation with bytes).
>
> Why were those two even necessary?  I suspect because the folks involved
> were only thinking about their own needs and/or didn't have the relevant
> experience as to why those features were useful.
>
> Perhaps I am only flattering myself, but I think I try hard to see all sides
> of every issue, and the only way I can do that is by asking questions of
> those with more or different experience than I have.
>
> I think the current pathlib discussions are a fair indicator:  I don't
> particularly care for it, and might never use it -- but I hate to see it
> tossed and Antoine's work and effort lost; so I'm working to find a
> reasonable way to keep it, and not just in asking questions and offering
> ideas -- I volunteered my time to write the code.
>
> I'm starting to ramble so let me close with this:  I'm not sorry for asking
> questions and trying to look at the broader issues, and I'm not going to
> stop doing that -- but I will stop pursuing any particular issue when asked
> to do so... but please don't be insulting about it.

Starting a new thread with a broader (or different) scope is always
totally fine. Bringing up a whole bunch of contentious things that
distract from a relatively simple issue is not.Thanks for asking for
feedback!

-- 
--Guido van Rossum (python.org/~guido)