|
@@ -0,0 +1,108 @@
|
|
|
|
|
+<html>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+<head>
|
|
|
|
|
+<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
|
|
|
|
|
+<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 4.0">
|
|
|
|
|
+<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
|
|
|
|
|
+<title>Boost Discussion Policy</title>
|
|
|
|
|
+</head>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+<table border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2">
|
|
|
|
|
+ <tr>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="../c++boost.gif" alt="c++boost.gif (8819 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td>
|
|
|
|
|
+ </tr>
|
|
|
|
|
+</table>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a community.
|
|
|
|
|
+If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
|
|
|
|
|
+the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
|
|
|
|
|
+and dies.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h2>Acceptable topics</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Queries to determine interest in a possible library submission.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Technical discussions about a proposed or existing library, including bug
|
|
|
|
|
+ reports and requests for help.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Boost administration or policies.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost libraries.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable, at the discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post. The moderators
|
|
|
|
|
+will let you know.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h2>Unacceptable topics</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your compiler.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
|
|
|
|
|
+ newsgroup instead.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h2>Prohibited behavior</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
|
|
|
|
|
+postings by abusers.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h3>Flame wars</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all the other
|
|
|
|
|
+behaviors which fall into the "flame war" category are
|
|
|
|
|
+prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
|
|
|
|
|
+personality traits or motives of participants.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h3>Third-party attacks</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware vendors, or any
|
|
|
|
|
+other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
|
|
|
|
|
+entire C++ community, not to disparage the work of others.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry remark about a
|
|
|
|
|
+troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h3>Off-topic posts</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Discussions which stray from the acceptable topics are strongly discouraged.
|
|
|
|
|
+While off-topic posts are often well meaning and not as individually corrosive
|
|
|
|
|
+as other abuses, cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
|
|
|
|
|
+discussion.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h2>Culture</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>In addition to technical skills, Boost members value collaboration,
|
|
|
|
|
+acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
|
|
|
|
|
+membership is very international, and ranges widely in age and other
|
|
|
|
|
+characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among colleagues in a widely read forum, rather
|
|
|
|
|
+than among a few close friends.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<h2>Guidelines for effective discussions</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
|
|
|
|
|
+degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
|
|
|
|
|
+ will work, then replying with a question like "will that compile?"
|
|
|
|
|
+ or "won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?" is a
|
|
|
|
|
+ lot smoother than "That's really stupid - it won't compile."
|
|
|
|
|
+ Saying "that fails to compile for me, and seems to violate section
|
|
|
|
|
+ n.n.n or the standard" would be yet another way to be firm without
|
|
|
|
|
+ being abrasive.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>If most of the discussion has been code-free generalities, posting a bit
|
|
|
|
|
+ of sample code can focus people on the practical issues.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to talk
|
|
|
|
|
+ a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be preventing
|
|
|
|
|
+ discussion closure.</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+ <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
|
|
|
|
|
+ about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
|
|
|
|
|
+ discussion so far."</li>
|
|
|
|
|
+</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
|
|
|
|
|
+to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
|
|
|
|
|
+items - when to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to
|
|
|
|
|
+ensure nuclear safety. Tea was was disposed of quickly as trivial.
|
|
|
|
|
+Nuclear safety was discussed for only
|
|
|
|
|
+an hour - it was so complex, scary, and technical that even
|
|
|
|
|
+among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
|
|
|
|
|
+spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the parking lot would
|
|
|
|
|
+be a modern equivalent) because everyone
|
|
|
|
|
+understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them. </p>
|
|
|
|
|
+<hr>
|
|
|
|
|
+<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->28 December, 2000<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="38518" -->
|
|
|
|
|
+</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+</body>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+</html>
|
Beman Dawes