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

[Carl J. Van Arsdall]

skip at pobox.com wrote:
>     Carl> You are comparing interviews to usenet.  I somehow see a
>     Carl> disconnect.  I don't think many people are going to go to a
>     Carl> potential employer and say "hey fuck face, how the fuck are ya?"
>     ...
>     Carl> Although you mentioned impressing people etc, is it really
>     Carl> important to impress people here by watching your P's and Q's?
>     Carl> What impresses me here is someone's command of the language, I
>     Carl> could really give a rats ass how they choose to disseminate their
>     Carl> expertise.
>
> If recent news reports are to be believed (*) it would appear that companies
> are starting to check out prospective employees online.  Granted, most of
> the stuff I've seen or heard relates to use of social networking sites like
> Facebook and MySpace, but I'm sure savvy employers looking for programming
> expertise would know to check out Usenet newsgroups and/or relevant mailing
> lists.  Anything you post is fair game though.  Also, "command of the
> language" can extend to the spoken/written word.
>
> Skip
>
> (*) http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/11/us/11recruit.html?ei=5090&en=ddfbe1e3b386090b&ex=1307678400
>   
Whereas you are right about employers looking online (its happened to me 
too), that should remain the issue of the poster of those horrible 
things.  It shouldn't be the issue of "offended code monkey #12". 

As for your statement about how "command of the language" (in reference 
to python) extends to written/spoken word, I don't quite understand what 
you are saying.  Yes, there are skills in being able to explain code or 
concepts to someone, but adjective choice (at least in the way I had 
used it) hardly hinders one's ability to communicate python ideas and 
code.  Can you explain how the use of profanity affects one's ability to 
code in python or explain their code?  The only thing I really can think 
of is that someone gets over sensitive and starts complaining instead of 
taking in the deeper meaning of the "enhanced" statement. 

-c

-- 

Carl J. Van Arsdall
cvanarsdall at mvista.com
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