Re: Debates/back and forths

[Chris Peters]

Open debate is essential =)

But sometimes threads get drowned by Excessive Participation (TM) from one or two people
replying to every sub-thread and sub-sub-thread.

Eg, "Fedora Workstation and disabled by default firewall" thread has 25+ people
and 100+ replies, but a quarter of the replies are from a single person.

Maybe the code of conduct could politely nudge people towards *quality* over quantity (so
that voices don't get drowned and big threads aren't so tiresome to keep up with)

Chris

Debates/back and forths

[John Harris]

On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 9:27:56 AM MST Chris Peters wrote:
>  Maybe the code of conduct could politely nudge people towards
> *quality* over
>  quantity (so that voices don't get drowned and big threads aren't so
>  tiresome to keep up with) 
Such a rule would make it very difficult indeed to address all concerns.

-- 
John M. Harris, Jr. <johnmh(a)splentity.com&gt;
Splentity
https://splentity.com/

Debates/back and forths

[Chris Peters]

Aug 29, 2019, 00:23 by johnmh(a)splentity.com:

>  On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 9:27:56 AM MST Chris Peters wrote:
>
> > Maybe the code of conduct could politely nudge people towards *quality* over
> > quantity (so that voices don't get drowned and big threads aren't so
> > tiresome to keep up with)
> >
>
>  Such a rule would make it very difficult indeed to address all concerns.
>  
There are large threads where it would be natural for one person to answer questions and
provide rebuttals, such as a Change owner.

In other large threads, healthy debate doesn't usually look like one person
"addressing all concerns". A dominant voice is usually someone so passionate
they inadvertently drown a debate with their opinion without realizing it might be
inconsiderate.

 There's good reasons why moderated debates don't let the loudest person keep hold
of the microphone. I'm not advocating moderation, but just saying it's possible to
be passionate, objectively correct, and considerate all at the same time.  =)

Chris

PS I won't take this thread any further. The irony of a back and forth in the back and
forth thread doesn't escape me!

Debates/back and forths

[John Harris]

On Thursday, August 29, 2019 2:54:57 AM MST Chris Peters wrote:
>  PS I won't take this thread any further. The irony of a back and
> forth in
>  the back and forth thread doesn't escape me! 
I couldn't disagree with that any more!!!!!!!

-- 
John M. Harris, Jr. <johnmh(a)splentity.com&gt;
Splentity
https://splentity.com/

Debates/back and forths

[Gerald B. Cox]

On Thu, Aug 29, 2019 at 6:55 AM Chris Peters <cxpeters(a)tutanota.com&gt; wrote:

>  PS I won't take this thread any further. The irony of a back and forth in
>  the back and forth thread doesn't escape me!
>
>  
That's hilarious and true.  I was thinking the exact same thing...

Debates/back and forths

[Florian Weimer]

* John Harris:

>  On Wednesday, August 28, 2019 9:27:56 AM MST Chris Peters wrote:
> > Maybe the code of conduct could politely nudge people towards *quality* over
> > quantity (so that voices don't get drowned and big threads aren't so
> > tiresome to keep up with)
>
>  Such a rule would make it very difficult indeed to address all
>  concerns. 
In some cases, it may be necessary to refute something every time it is
brought up.  But most matters are not *that* critical, and you can
assume that anyone reviewing the thread will read it in context, and not
just a single message with an dubious (but unrefuted) claim.

Thanks,
Florian

Debates/back and forths

[Matthew Miller]

On Wed, Aug 28, 2019 at 06:27:56PM +0200, Chris Peters wrote:
>  Maybe the code of conduct could politely nudge people towards
> *quality*
>  over quantity (so that voices don't get drowned and big threads aren't so
>  tiresome to keep up with) 
I don't think that's a job for the code of conduct. However, I think it's
good
advice for mailing list discussions. Remember, replying to every point is
more likely to get the entire thread muted and _fewer_ people to hear you
than if you more judiciously reply when you definitely have something new to
add.

-- 
Matthew Miller
<mattdm(a)fedoraproject.org&gt;
Fedora Project Leader