[Python-ideas] How to respond to trolling

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Wed, Jan 11, 2017 at 02:23:06PM +0900, Stephen J. Turnbull wrote:
> Steven D'Aprano writes:
> 
>  > Giving a newcomer the Silent Treatment because they've questioned some 
>  > undocumented set of features not open to change is not Open, Considerate 
>  > or Respectful (the CoC). Even if their ideas are ignorant or ill-thought 
>  > out, we must give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they are 
>  > making their comments in good faith rather than trolling.
> 
> Honest question: do you think that response has to be done in public?

"Has to be done in public" in the sense of being mandatory? No. There 
are pros and cons to both public and private messaging.

But in the sense of preferred, yes, I do think so.

Private responses could be the idiosyncratic response of a single weirdo 
who doesn't speak for the community. Public responses that don't get 
contradicted demonstrate community aggreement, and offer the OP a way 
to engage if they are willing to ask questions, learn from the answers, 
and moderate their tone.



-- 
Steve