python adds an extra half space when reading from a string or list

[rusi]

On Monday, July 1, 2013 8:36:53 PM UTC+5:30, Neil Cerutti wrote:
> On 2013-07-01, rusi wrote:
> > 1. Kill-filing/spam-filtering are tools for spam.
> > Nikos is certainly not spamming in the sense of automated
> > sending out of cooked mail to zillions of recipients/lists.
> > His posts are definite and intentional
> 
> I disagree. Kill-files are not only for spam. I filter out
> anything I believe I won't want to see.

I happen to be a champ in using a wrench to hammer screws into bricks.
Others do a better job I am told -- and without being champs :-)

Tools can be used right... and wrong.  Sufficiently extreme wrong use adds to the original problem/mess.

Kill-filing is a solution for one problem.  In the current context it is much more the problem than the solution.  Two cases:

1. My estimate is that about 30-40 *different* answers-ers in hundreds of different posts have expressed frustration with dealing with Nikos.  The fact that they are now silent can mean one of two cases:

a. Nikos has turned a new leaf and become a golden boy
b. The protesters have opted out of the discussion/system
(like so-called democracies where 20% of the populace vote and criminals come to power)
You can take your pick on which case (Hint: Read this thread)

2. "I am killfiling you" is bullying behavior.  It is worse than useless because
a. The problem cases couldn't care a hoot
b. Those who could contribute usefully are shut up
c. The messengers are being shot as substitute for the culprits

On the whole we techies have a penchant (may I say allure?) for solving problems technically rather than socially.
It works well up to a point:
"Thou shall indent thy programs" is a social requirement in C and technical in python.  And so we consider -- rightly -- that python advances C.

However this line cannot solve all problems.  Our belief that technology can solve all problems is directly linked to the impending fact that the planet may go up in smoke.

In short technology in its place is good but conscience is not substitutable:
the use of (tools like) kill-filing analogizes to this piece of medical logic:

Brain tumor causes headache
Aspirin cures headache
Therefore aspirin cures brain tumors

tl;dr

Nikos is not spamming/trolling/baiting/flaming.  The Nikos-threads are a more serious disease than all these.  The fact that this thread is not started by him suggests the disease is spreading.  By not speaking up one is colluding.