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And this is what happen when two dicks-wannabe nerds meet online. I'm tired of watching argues like this.

DanBC 13y ago
There is a problem with developer communication. It's an unsolved problem. There's probably some interesting research to be done about it. You have people who don't have English as a first language talking to people. You have people with varying levels of interpersonal skills - some pretty poor. For example, people with Asperger's can be pretty blunt when talking to others. And they don't always have best modern help to sort that out. People tend to be protective of work they've done. Especially when it's being "attacked". And people can be unconstructive in their criticism - "that sucks!" "You're an idiot for doing it like that!" People can be very attached to certain models. These combine into a massive clusterfuck. The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable. As to fixing this stuff: 1) Create clear divides between technical lists and things that anyone can comment on. 2) Create clear rules about expected behaviour. ("Only technical comments"; "patches get attention, whines don't"; "comment on the code, not the coder"; "polite is good, constructive is essential, flames get you banned".) 2a) Have people to enforces those 3) Have some kind of comment limiting mechanism to prevent flames breaking out. Mostly this is user behaviour, but slowing comments might help to prevent a few flames turning into a forest fire. 4) Have experienced community members acting as mediators. Often flames happen when two people mostly agree with each other but are mis-interpreting a small point, or there are language problems, or some such.
- alcuadrado 13y ago
  I don't get what you mean with "The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable". Could you clarify? I also think that big part of the problem with developer communication comes from the fact that many/most of us taught ourselves how to code when young. That gives you a very high self-pride, as you were doing complicated stuff while your friends were watching DBZ. If you are lucky enough then you find out that you don't know a shit about programming, but that's not always the case.
  - DanBC 13y ago
    > I don't get what you mean with "The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable". Could you clarify? Some online environments are hateful, toxic, places that contribute to burn out and developer churn. Yet these same places manage to turn out excellent software.

DanBC 13y ago

There is a problem with developer communication. It's an unsolved problem. There's probably some interesting research to be done about it. You have people who don't have English as a first language talking to people. You have people with varying levels of interpersonal skills - some pretty poor. For example, people with Asperger's can be pretty blunt when talking to others. And they don't always have best modern help to sort that out. People tend to be protective of work they've done. Especially when it's being "attacked". And people can be unconstructive in their criticism - "that sucks!" "You're an idiot for doing it like that!" People can be very attached to certain models. These combine into a massive clusterfuck. The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable. As to fixing this stuff: 1) Create clear divides between technical lists and things that anyone can comment on. 2) Create clear rules about expected behaviour. ("Only technical comments"; "patches get attention, whines don't"; "comment on the code, not the coder"; "polite is good, constructive is essential, flames get you banned".) 2a) Have people to enforces those 3) Have some kind of comment limiting mechanism to prevent flames breaking out. Mostly this is user behaviour, but slowing comments might help to prevent a few flames turning into a forest fire. 4) Have experienced community members acting as mediators. Often flames happen when two people mostly agree with each other but are mis-interpreting a small point, or there are language problems, or some such.

alcuadrado 13y ago
I don't get what you mean with "The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable". Could you clarify? I also think that big part of the problem with developer communication comes from the fact that many/most of us taught ourselves how to code when young. That gives you a very high self-pride, as you were doing complicated stuff while your friends were watching DBZ. If you are lucky enough then you find out that you don't know a shit about programming, but that's not always the case.
- DanBC 13y ago
  > I don't get what you mean with "The fact the world runs on so much open source software really is remarkable". Could you clarify? Some online environments are hateful, toxic, places that contribute to burn out and developer churn. Yet these same places manage to turn out excellent software.