Re: [tlug] ADMIN: Second Warning (was: Japanese Encoding - which one?)

[Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com>]

On 11/26/05, Josh Glover <jmglov@example.com> wrote:

> I believe I asked once that this thread be returned to technical
> topics only. Flaming is definitely  not that.

I have been asked to illuminate this comment farther by explaining
just where I think this thread got off into unfriendly ground. Here is
my attempt.

The thread started with one guy asking for help with his webpages: it
appeared that Japanese encoding issues were preventing Google AdSence
from detecting Japanese appropriately. Several people responded, and
the outcome of this was that the OP became excited (and rightly so)
about UTF-8, and said that he had just switched his MUA over to UTF-8.

So far, so good.

Then someone else replies that (and I quote) "[u]sing UTF for for
Japanese email breaches RFCs, you are supposed to use 2022-JP".
Several people act surprised and ask, "which RFC, where?" At which
point there is some clarification, but also some defensiveness.

Problem. When you say something that is factually incorrect on this
list, chances are, you are going to get called on it. Simply agreeing
that you were mistaken and apologising if you mislead anyone is the
proper path to take here.

We all make mistakes and get things a bit wrong from time to time. The
problem is, on this list, when people make a remark like "aluminum is
a poor conductor", a lot of others who might not know better take that
for The Truth. That makes it all the more important for the person who
made the counter-factual statement to put his foot firmly in his mouth
and correct it.

Please do not get all pissed off and mistake pedantry (which is a big
part of being a geek, right?) for hostility. That has happened before
on this list, and led to bad things happening.

So anyway, I made a post at that point to the effect of "no real harm
done, but please try to keep the conversation technical and leave out
the name-calling". Things seemed to settle down a bit, and then there
was some fresh nastiness over the matter of what the person who
originally claimed that UTF-8 breaches email RFCs had actually said. A
lot of people have their MUAs archiving, so it really doesn't make
much sence to argue over something that can be quoted verbatim.

So this whole long post can be boiled down to a few dos and don'ts. DO
continue to contribute to this thread and others like it; I have
learned a lot. DON'T take it personally when someone asserts that you
have stated something incorrectly; instead, go to the original sources
and figure out what is actually correct. DO correct someone else when
they state something that is counter-factual. DON'T call them a moron
for getting it wrong.

-Josh