Final statement from Steering Council on politically-charged commit messages

[Tim Daneliuk]

On 8/19/20 8:35 AM, Alexandre Brault wrote:
> I've not seen anyone objecting to the idea of removing the reference to Strunk and White in favour of the underlying message of "be understandable by others who may read your comments" (there were at most a few philosophical "what is understandable") . In fact, that is how the topic was initially presented.
> 
> What people *are* complaining about is the use of a commit message to stand on a soapbox and preach. The time to preach was when debating the change; commit messages, in many people's opinions, is not the time to espouse non-technical opinions

I would argue that these highly polarizing political discussions never have
a place at any point in the lifecycle of technology improvement.  Once you
open this door in any way, no end of mischief ensues.

You already see this in this very thread.  People are determined to flog
their particular political theory, virtue signal, and generally misappropriate
a technical forum to their own ends.

The right answer here is: No politics, no social commentary, no demands for
redress of perceived historical inequities ... none of that.  The sole relevant
demand should be civility.