Final statement from Steering Council on politically-charged commit messages

[Karen Shaeffer]

> On Aug 19, 2020, at 8:47 AM, Tim Daneliuk <info at tundraware.com> wrote:
> 
> 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.


I lurk on this list and rarely post. I tend to agree this thread should never have started here. IMHO, any discussion of this issue should have stayed on the platform where the issue arose.

But I must say with all due respect to you Tim, in this thread, you have repeatedly engaged in the precise behavior you are now complaining about. Even further, you have, IMHO, been condescending and even arrogant in presuming you alone have perfect knowledge on these matters:

https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898274.html <https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898274.html>

Where you conclude with: "Methinks there is an ideological skunk in the parlor …”

Considering all your posts on this thread, it is reasonable to infer you have some ideological motivations.

https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898314.html <https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898314.html>

Which appears to be relatively safe and harmless, but you could have easily found clear evidence that refutes your stated point of view. In particular, this peer reviewed published research from Stanford University establishes the fact that racism and bias are alive and well in the STEM fields:

https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/17/9284.full.pdf <https://www.pnas.org/content/pnas/117/17/9284.full.pdf>


https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898280.html <https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898280.html>

Here you encourage folks to discriminate, as long as they make it “fun or biting” This is completely inconsistent with your complaint that I am responding to now.

https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898292.html <https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898292.html>
https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898293.html <https://mail.python.org/pipermail/python-list/2020-August/898293.html>

Those two posts are condescending, and presume you alone have perfect knowledge — They also represent a classic bait and switch attempt.

IMHO, your contributions to this thread have been inflammatory and likely precipitated others to continue the escalation of these issues. I’m only pointing this out to put your current complaint to the moderators of this list into its proper perspective.

humbly,
kls