What you're describing was my first reaction as well, but in the Hacker School Manual [1] they bring up a smart point that I hadn't considered: 'almost nobody s

What you're describing was my first reaction as well, but in the Hacker School Manual [1] they bring up a smart point that I hadn't considered: 'almost nobody sets out to be a jerk or annoying, so telling people not to be jerks isn't a very productive strategy'. Which is why they need the sort of lightweight rules/guidelines for specific types of behavior.