[erlang-questions] Announcing Erlang.org Code of Conduct

[Loïc Hoguin]

Hello,

I see little need for a code of conduct that basically says "be nice". 
It's common sense after all.

However I detect an issue in the document you linked, that probably also 
shouldn't be in a code of conduct.

 > It is pointless to send a message that only warns about posting style.
 > If you are trying to point someone to correct posting style
 > guidelines, please do so while at least honestly attempting to answer
 > their questions or comments. It is generally unhelpful to give only a
 > warning related to posting style, as newcomers may feel unwelcome,
 > only to leave. And that is exactly what we do not want.

That's what you'll inevitably get now that you made a number of official 
"rules" for posting style. And you'll also get the associated frame wars 
about top and bottom posting.

 > 4.  Top posting is discouraged.*** Hence, try to put the quoted content
 >     first, so that people can know what you are replying to before
 >     they read the reply.

In a world where the most used clients use top posting by default, this 
rule makes little sense.

 > 5.  Try to break your lines at around 74 characters. This makes
 >     printing and reading e-mail on many clients easier and more
 >     consistent with how you intended the message to be.

Same here, the most used clients don't exactly show you the column 
number, this can't apply to HTML emails and many don't give you an 
option to control the formatting, whether text is the main type or the 
fallback to HTML.

I know a few people are attached to their console clients and 80 
character windows but at some point you have to be pragmatic and keep in 
mind what the majority of people use.

Please don't start a flame war over this post. :-)

Cheers,

-- 
Loïc Hoguin
http://ninenines.eu