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@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
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</table>
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<h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
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<p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a community.
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-If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
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+If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
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the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
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and dies.</p>
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<h2>Acceptable topics</h2>
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@@ -41,24 +41,25 @@ will let you know.</p>
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<li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
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<li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your compiler.
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Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
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- <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
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+ <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
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newsgroup instead.</li>
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<li>Job offers.</li>
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+ <li>Requests for solutions to homework assignments
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</ul>
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<h2>Prohibited behavior</h2>
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-<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
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+<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
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postings by abusers.</p>
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<h3>Flame wars</h3>
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<p>Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all the other
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behaviors which fall into the "flame war" category are
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-prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
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+prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
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personality traits or motives of participants.</p>
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<h3>Third-party attacks</h3>
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<p>Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware vendors, or any
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-other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
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+other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
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entire C++ community, not to disparage the work of others.</p>
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<p>Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry remark about a
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-troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
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+troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
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<h3>Off-topic posts</h3>
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<p>Discussions which stray from the acceptable topics are strongly discouraged.
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While off-topic posts are often well meaning and not as individually corrosive
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@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ as other abuses, cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
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discussion.</p>
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<h2>Culture</h2>
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<p>In addition to technical skills, Boost members value collaboration,
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-acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
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+acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
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membership is very international, and ranges widely in age and other
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characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among colleagues in a widely read forum, rather
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than among a few close friends.</p>
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@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ Re-read your message before submitting it.</p>
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<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
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degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
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<ul>
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- <li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
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+ <li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
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will work, then replying with a question like "will that compile?"
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or "won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?" is a
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lot smoother than "That's really stupid - it won't compile."
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@@ -95,22 +96,22 @@ degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
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<li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to talk
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a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be preventing
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discussion closure.</li>
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- <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
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- about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
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+ <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
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+ about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
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discussion so far."</li>
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</ul>
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-<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
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-to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
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+<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
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+to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
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items - when to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to
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-ensure nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial.
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+ensure nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial.
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Nuclear safety was discussed for only
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an hour - it was so complex, scary, and technical that even
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-among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
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+among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
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spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the parking lot would
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be a modern equivalent) because everyone
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understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them. </p>
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<hr>
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-<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->24 September, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39337" -->
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+<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->10 October, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39337" -->
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</p>
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</body>
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