[Noisebridge-discuss] Bylaws committee

[Sai Emrys]

On Wed, Feb 24, 2010 at 10:02 PM, Jeffrey Malone
<ieatlint at tehinterweb.com> wrote:
> Also, could I ask you to not simply tell others to "review the
> archives" before participating?  I feel it comes off as hostile, and
> inhibits discussion.  It also goes against what I have personally seen
> as a policy of inclusion at Noisebridge, no matter long you've been
> around.

+1 on this; I've perceived this kind of suggestion as hostile before.

On a more practical point: if you remember a particular discussion -
one that you think the other person doesn't, presumably, or you
wouldn't be referencing it - it's a LOT faster for you to look up an
actual thread link in the archives than for them to do slog through
all of it in search of something you've only poorly referred to.

IMO asking someone to read a specific previous thread (or threads) is
reasonable and even helpful (though certainly amenable to more or less
tact). If they're not taking something into account that's been hashed
out in detail before, it's entirely appropriate to tell them to RTFM
so that you don't have to repeat it, and so they can understand
context they might not know.

But asking someone to read the entire newslist archive is not
reasonable or helpful (or, more pragmatically, useful in arriving at a
good consensus decision), and implies that people who weren't around
Back Then™ are at an inherent disadvantage in their opinions or
suggestions.

I would like to think that our (hacker) culture puts a premium on the
logical sway of arguments over tradition or social status.

- Sai