Re: [boost] Re: first sight

From: Beman Dawes (bdawes_at_[hidden])
Date: 2002-01-18 15:31:38

At 10:18 AM 1/18/2002, terekhov wrote:

 >--- In boost_at_y..., "David Abrahams" <david.abrahams_at_r...> wrote:
 >[...]
 >> > bad_cast, for example, has REALLY BAD MEANING. Do
 >>                               ^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^
 >> {You may not know this, but ALL CAPS is generally accepted as the
 >email
 >> equivalent of shouting. As such, frequent use of all caps is one of
 >the
 >> inflammatory styles of posting, I'm trying to discourage people
 >from using
 >> at boost. Please refrain. If you need to emphasize, you can do it
 >like
 >> *this*, like /this/, or like _this_, for example. Thanks -mod/dwa}
 >
 >http://groups.google.com/groups?as_umsgid=782ohi%24o373%
 >40nntp.cig.mot.com
 >
 >"The "Netiquette rule" about caps as shouting
 > refers to (most by example) to complete articles,
 > paragraphs, sentences, and clauses; and not so
 > much to individual words or terms or concepts.
 > IMHO, if there are people out there with the
 > impression that all caps ALWAYS means shouting,
 > then we need to let them know that is not the
 > case. But I don't think it would be right to
 > refrain from caps altogether because of folks
 > that had the misfortune of having only ever
 > seen them used for more inflammatory statements.
 > They serve many good non-inflammatory uses that
 > I would not be amenable to throwing out along
 > with the abuses."

Alexander, please don't quibble.  Dave's a Boost moderator.  The discussion 
was edging close to the line between an acceptable technical disagreement 
and an unacceptable shouting match.  Dave was trying to move the discussion 
back onto more productive ground.  Please help!

In lots of organizations, deteriorating email discussions get resolved by 
personal meetings, telephone calls, or some other means.  We don't have 
those options on Boost.  We have to make the email discussions work.  That 
means more courtesy than is usual on broad-based mailing lists.  Thus 
Dave's message.

--Beman