Wednesday 16 November 2011

The magic of the "Tone" in a text

I've been busy lately trying to figure out how to contribute to the Python Project. Because of this, I have come across Python Mentoring, a fantastic project and idea!

One thing that struck me as outlandish, but which I received very benevolently; Their Code of Conduct:


  • We ask everyone to be welcoming, friendly, and patient.
  • Flame wars and insults are unacceptable in any fashion, by any party.
  • Anything can be asked, and "RTFM" is not an acceptable answer.
  • Neither is "it's in the archives, go read them".
  • List archives are available only to subscribers, but subscription is open to everyone.
  • Since the archives are "closed" - cross posting to public mailing lists is discouraged.
  • Statements made by core developers can be quoted outside of the list.
  • Statements made by others can not be quoted outside the list without explicit permission.
    • Anonymised paraphrased statements "someone asked about..." are ok - direct quotes with or without names are not appropriate.
  • We endorse the PSF's Diversity statement.
  • The list administrators reserve the right to revoke the subscription of members (including mentors) that persistently fail to abide by this Code of Conduct.
    • All mentors are signed up as administrators.

This is rather nice, as so far it was quite daunting to even dare to write a question at the danger of not being elite enough. The amount of times I read RTFM lmao, is actually countless times.

Here is a counter example of someone who means it nice but his tone of voice basically says: "Dude, it's probably best you don't bother." This here is the text, I spoke about.

I like how the author tries to make suggestions in how to get the right answer, but his writing style kinda suggests that it is the wild west out there. He does not make any amends for a rather anti social community of people who just want to be left alone with their code ;)

The python mentoring guys have truly noticed that this is a problem. Well, at least it worked with me. I've now submitted my first issue and hopefully will do more in the near future :)

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