Quoting and attribution (was: Python and IDEs [was Re: Python 3 is killing Python])

[Steven D'Aprano]

On Mon, 11 Aug 2014 19:27:25 -0500, Tim Chase wrote:

> On 2014-08-12 10:11, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> It is rude to deliberately refuse to give attributes
> 
> While I find this true for first-level attribution, I feel far less
> obligation to attribute additional levels (and the verbosity they
> entail). If the reader is really that interested in who said what, then
> they can go back to previous posts to disinter that information.

I cannot disagree with that. I consider that the first-level attribution 
MUST be given, second-level SHOULD be given, and third- and subsequent 
levels MAY be given, where MUST/SHOULD/MAY have their conventional 
meanings from RFC 2119.

https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt


With one proviso: if you respond *directly* to something quoted at the 
Nth-level, for any N, (as opposed to merely leaving it in to establish 
context), then you MUST given an attribution. Even if that attribution is 
just "Sorry, I don't know who said this", you ought to make an honest 
effort to give credit to those you quote directly.



-- 
Steven