profanity on comp.lang.python (was Re: Pyro stability)

[Carl J. Van Arsdall]

Paddy wrote:
> Aahz wrote:
>   
>> In article <1162997345.277966.31860 at h48g2000cwc.googlegroups.com>,
>> Beliavsky <beliavsky at aol.com> wrote:
>>     
>>> If this is supposed to justify using bad language in a public forum,
>>> it is poorly reasoned. Having heard "f***" does not mean they were not
>>> annoyed. 100% of people have seen trash on the street, but that does
>>> not justify littering. If a group of people don't mind profanity, there
>>> is no harm in their swearing to each other. But Usenet is read by a
>>> wide range of people, and needlessly offending some of them is wrong.
>>> The OP used "f******" just for emphasis. English is a rich language,
>>> and there are better ways of doing that.
>>>       
>> Oh, gimme a f****** break.  Do a simple Gooja search to find out how
>> often people already use "f***" around here.  I think you're the one who
>> needs to justify your position.
>> --
>> Aahz (aahz at pythoncraft.com)           <*>         http://www.pythoncraft.com/
>>
>>     
> I too know your wrong Aahz. The written word is not the same as that
> spoken. People should make an effort to put across their meaning in a
> clear manner. If I were going to an interview I would be very careful
> about swearing and most likely not do it. People complain about the
> friendliness and tone of groups, and mention it when talking about
> programming languages.
>
> Not everyone swears like Eddy Murphy in Beverley Hills Cop, and a lot
> of those that do, would not do so when they want to impress, or
> communicate with a stranger.
>
> The tone of comp.lang.python *is* an asset, I think, to Python that
> swearing will diminish.
>   
You are comparing interviews to usenet.  I somehow see a disconnect.  I 
don't think many people are going to go to a potential employer and say 
"hey fuck face, how the fuck are ya?"  Yea, its not likely to happen, in 
most cases people might even dress up to an interview and use all of 
their professionalisms as to not appear as they would at home.  However 
communicating with people (cause that's what this is, its just people 
talking to one another about Python and the health of this forum) should 
be done as people see fit.  Although you mentioned impressing people 
etc,  is it really important to impress people here by watching your P's 
and Q's?  What impresses me here is someone's command of the language, I 
could really give a rats ass how they choose to disseminate their 
expertise. 

As its been mentioned before, its one thing for me or anyone else to get 
in someone's face and be like "listen you little fuck, use a while 
loop."  But that was clearly not the context.  Using an expletive as an 
adjective does not diminish the "friendless" of the group unless you are 
complete prude.  Granted, there are tons of them, I think that the real 
issue is that people need to learn to ignore things they don't like and 
not be so *damn* sensitive.  Meaning is clearly conveyed, people's 
sensitivity is their own issue and I think too many people have gotten 
way to used to the political correctness shoved down our throats by 
society.  Again, that's just my take on it, but those of you who would 
be offended by my statements and use of colorful language to describe my 
love of technology should probably just adjust your spam filters to scan 
for my name or emails that use words you can't handle.  Its kind of like 
not watching tv shows that bother as opposed to raising a stink and 
having them taken off the air. 

Hopefully now the count is more like 124.

/rant

-- 

Carl J. Van Arsdall
cvanarsdall at mvista.com
Build and Release
MontaVista Software