META Culture of this place [was Re: for / while else doesn't make sense]

[Wildman]

On Tue, 24 May 2016 10:44:56 -0700, Ned Batchelder wrote:

> On Tuesday, May 24, 2016 at 12:44:04 PM UTC-4, Steven D'Aprano wrote:
>> On Tue, 24 May 2016 12:19 pm, Ned Batchelder wrote:
>> 
>> > Ugh, can we please stop with the "well, actually" pedantic tangents?
>> 
>> With respect, no.
>> 
>> This is a forum with a very tolerant approach to off-topic and only-
>> slightly-on-topic discussions. If you want a forum that follows strict rules
>> for what's allowed and what's not, you're in the wrong place.
> 
> I'm not looking for strict rules.  The discussions can be good.
> 
>> There are
>> plenty of such forums available: Stackoverflow, /r/python, #python,
>> Python-Dev, etc, all with their own idiosyncrasies. This is ours: we have a
>> bunch of people here who enjoy extended discussions on computing matters
>> which are sometimes only tangentially related to Python.
> 
> Can we compromise? Try to cast these discussions in a "yes" form rather 
> than a "no" form?  This very thread got a bit contentious, primarily because
> it seemed like people weren't trying to assume the best about the others in
> the thread.  Having a discussion about the details of floating point is
> fine, but do we want to get into fights over it?  Those can be avoided,
> surely.
> 
> Once the tone gets to picking apart any detail, no matter how trivial, it's
> just turned into a contest to see who can be more right.  When Christopher
> said "8-bit ASCII," he wasn't claiming that ASCII was defined as an 8-bit
> character encoding.  He was making a light-hearted comment about the use
> of esoteric symbols.  You can accept that comment on those terms, rather
> than replying, "No, it's 7-bit."  How many bits ASCII uses is completely
> beside the point.  You don't need to correct people on every tangential
> fact.
> 
> Yes, there are a bunch of people here who enjoy and participate in the
> extended diversions.  But they can also become points of contention, which
> I hope no one wants.  We've seen people vocally not enjoying them. And
> beyond that, harder to gauge is how much they prevent people from entering
> the conversation.
> 
> All I'm asking for is tempering it a bit.  I understand we don't want or
> need strict rules.  But can we stay positive and friendly?
> 
> --Ned.

Although I agree with Steven's comments, I have to agree with what
you said also.  As an amateur programmer, I am constantly learning
new things in this type of discussion and I doubt that I am alone.
However, if/when the discussion falls into name calling and willy
waving, it is time to end the thread.  Just my 2¢.

-- 
<Wildman> GNU/Linux user #557453
"It's curtains for Windows around my house."
  -Cybe R. Wizard