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

[Antoon Pardon]

Op 03-07-13 19:11, rurpy at yahoo.com schreef:
> On 07/03/2013 03:21 AM, Antoon Pardon wrote:
>> Op 03-07-13 02:30, rurpy at yahoo.com schreef:
>>> If your going to point out something negative about someone
>>> then do so politely.  Ask yourself if you were pointing out 
>>> incompetence to your boss (or anyone else where impoliteness
>>> could have real consequences for you) if you would say, 
>>> "you're incompetent." 
>> And so we shift from no problem speaking bluntly or clearly
>> to wording it in a way that wouldn't antagonize your boss
>> too much.
> As I pointed out, emotionally-loaded, judgmental language 
> *is not* clear.

Well that is true, but mostly in the trivial sense that
language is rarely clear even when you are talking facts.

When I meet someone new and I talk about my love of spaghetti
and the other inivites me to the spaghetti evening the next
day, that can turn out to be a big disappointment because
when I talk about spaghetti, I mean a carbonarra while I
was invited to a bolognaise-evening.


>  And yes, I think "wouldn't antagonize your
> boss" is not a bad heuristic for judging the politeness of 
> your response.

That may be true for you personnally, but you are unsufficiently
clear for anyone else to be of any help. The problem is that
when you wrote this, you had a specific kind of boss in mind
who would react in certain ways to certain kinds of treatment.
However it would be extremely unlikely that other people
would come up with the same idea of boss. And not everybody
is in the same situation, some people can't afford to lose
there job, others are in a less desperate situation, for
some people their priority is their career, while for others
it is the service to their clients. All these people are going
to come up with wildly different answers.


> Again I ask, what does his web site admin skills or lack
> thereof have to do with python?
>
> If you want to decline providing Python help to someone 
> because you don't like some real-world behavior of the 
> person, fine.  But when you attack him over it, and 
> publicly engage in a long, noisy discussion here in 
> which you trumpet your moral and technical superiority,
> then you should not be surprised when the target takes 
> offense and responds in kind.
>
> If someone from Wikileaks posts here seeking Python help, 
> should we engage in a long discussion about the morality 
> of Wikileaks and how they aid US fugitives from justice?
>
> How about someone who lets slip he's just been released 
> from prison for child sexual abuse? 
>
> How about someone who's writing software for bulk mailing?
>
> How about someone who is writing membership management 
> software for the American Nazi Party?

Are you saying we should either help the person with his
(python) problem or decline any help no matter how nefarious
the goals he wants to accomplish or are you saying these
examples are not serious enough so people should show some
tolerance in these cases?



>>> Please use non-emotional, neutral, factual descriptions
>>> and only do so when it is actually relevant.  IOW, please 
>>> resist your desire to "tell off" the poster -- it usually
>>> just produces more responses in kind.
>> This is often not workable. Limiting to factual description
>> means that you often can't summarize a list of such factual
>> descriptions into a conclusion. You can list 8 examples of
>> someone betraying the trust of his customers but you can't
>> summarize it into: "is/behaves untrustworthy to his customers,"
>> even if all signs point to this person going to continue in the
>> same vein.
>>
>> It is limiting yourself into pointing out all the trees
>> without being allowed to call it a forest.
> You can summarize while being polite and non-judgmental.

Somethings are not expressable in a way that is acceptable
to who you are talking too, simply because they find the
fact or opinion to be hurtful/insulting in itself.


> You do not have state your belief on every off-topic 
> inflammatory subject that happens to come up.

So what do you suggest? That we simply let those who
bring up an off-topic inflammatory subject, go on
about it whithout challenge?

-- 
Antoon Pardon