[python-committers] Anatoly Techtonik's contribution

[Łukasz Langa]

Wiadomość napisana przez Martin v. Löwis <martin at v.loewis.de> w dniu 7 lis 2012, o godz. 13:06:

> Am 07.11.12 09:45, schrieb Łukasz Langa:
>> I'd like to raise a concern that Anatoly's actions are disruptive and
>> largely unhelpful. His passive-agressive writing style is well known but
>> it seems this no longer satisfies him. Today, without consulting anyone
>> he edited our Wiki guidelines and removed the "Do not remove guidelines
>> you do not agree with!" note (yes, really):
>> 
>> http://wiki.python.org/moin/WikiGuidelines?action=diff&rev1=35&rev2=36
>> 
>> Should we react in any way? How do you perceive his contributions in
>> general?
> 
> I (am known to) perceive his contributions in the most negative way.
> For several times, I was close to banning him from certain systems I
> care about, but rather chose to ignore him instead.

I have been doing the same thing for quite some time, too. Lately though I gave some thought into this and I think maintaining the status quo is harmful to us as a community. I'd like us to react somehow.

I agree with Jacob Kaplan-Moss when he says [1]: "I will call out antisocial behavior, enforce professionalism in the communities where I have the power to do, and leave the communities that cannot at least offer civility."

More generally, Eliezer Yudkowsky's opinion [2] resonates with me: "good online communities die primarily by refusing to defend themselves". While this sounds overly dramatic, it describes the gist of the problem: quality goes down to the point where helpful members stop caring.

What can we do? Apart from the obligatory joke of nudging him gently towards Ruby, I think calling his behavior out is a good idea. Cory Doctorow also thinks that "many trolls are perfectly nice in real life -- sometimes, just calling them on the phone and confronting them with the human being at the other end of their attacks is enough to sober them up" [3]. If that fails, banning him would show that we care about the quality of communication and technical prowess is no excuse for abusive behavior.

All in all, is anyone of the opinion that losing him as a community member is worse than keeping him around?

[1] http://jacobian.org/writing/assholes/
[2] http://lesswrong.com/lw/c1/wellkept_gardens_die_by_pacifism/
[3] http://www.informationweek.com/how-to-keep-hostile-jerks-from-taking-ov/199600005

-- 
Best regards,
Łukasz Langa
Senior Systems Architecture Engineer

IT Infrastructure Department
Grupa Allegro Sp. z o.o.

http://lukasz.langa.pl/
+48 791 080 144

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