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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN">
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-<html>
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+<html>
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<head>
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<head>
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-<meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=windows-1252">
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-<meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
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-<meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
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-<title>Boost Discussion Policy</title>
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+ <meta name="generator" content=
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+ "HTML Tidy for Cygwin (vers 1st September 2004), see www.w3.org">
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+ <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=us-ascii">
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+ <meta name="GENERATOR" content="Microsoft FrontPage 5.0">
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+ <meta name="ProgId" content="FrontPage.Editor.Document">
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+
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+ <title>Boost Discussion Policy</title>
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</head>
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</head>
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
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<body bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000">
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+ <table border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2">
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+ <tr>
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+ <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF"><img src="../boost.png" alt=
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+ "boost.png (6897 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
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+
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+ <td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color=
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+ "#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td>
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+
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+ <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color=
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+ "#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td>
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+
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+ <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color=
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+ "#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td>
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+
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+ <td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color=
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+ "#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td>
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+
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+ <td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color=
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+ "#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td>
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+ </tr>
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+ </table>
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+
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+ <h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
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+
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+ <p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a
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+ community. If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community
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+ thrives. If the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the
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+ community withers and dies.</p>
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+
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+ <h2>Contents</h2>
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+
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+ <dl>
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+ <dt><a href="#acceptable">Acceptable Topics</a></dt>
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+
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+ <dt><a href="#unacceptable">Unacceptable Topics</a></dt>
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+
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+ <dt><a href="#effective">Effective Posting</a></dt>
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+
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+ <dt><a href="#behavior">Prohibited Behavior</a></dt>
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-<table border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2">
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- <tr>
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- <td bgcolor="#FFFFFF">
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- <img src="../boost.png" alt="boost.png (6897 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
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- <td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td>
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- <td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td>
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- <td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td>
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- <td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td>
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- <td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td>
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- </tr>
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-</table>
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-
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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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-the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
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-and dies.</p>
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-
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-<h2>Contents</h2>
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-<dl>
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- <dt><a href="#acceptable">Acceptable Topics</a><dd>
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- <dt><a href="#unacceptable">Unacceptable Topics</a><dd>
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- <dt><a href="#effective">Effective Posting</a><dd>
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- <dt><a href="#behavior">Prohibited Behavior</a><dd>
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- <dt><a href="#culture">Culture</a><dd>
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- <dt><a href="#lib_names">Library Names</a><dd>
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- </dl>
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-
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-<h2><a name="acceptable"></a>Acceptable topics</h2>
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-<ul>
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- <li>Queries to determine interest in a possible library submission.</li>
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- <li>Technical discussions about a proposed or existing library, including bug
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- reports and requests for help.</li>
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- <li>Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.</li>
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- <li>Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.</li>
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- <li>Boost administration or policies.</li>
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- <li>Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost libraries.</li>
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-</ul>
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-<p>Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable, at the discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post. The moderators
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-will let you know.</p>
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-<h2><a name="unacceptable"></a>Unacceptable Topics</h2>
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-<ul>
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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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+ <dt><a href="#culture">Culture</a></dt>
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+
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+ <dt><a href="#lib_names">Library Names</a></dt>
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+ </dl>
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+
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+ <h2><a name="acceptable" id="acceptable"></a>Acceptable topics</h2>
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+
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+ <ul>
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+ <li>Queries to determine interest in a possible library submission.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Technical discussions about a proposed or existing library, including
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+ bug reports and requests for help.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Boost administration or policies.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost libraries.</li>
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+ </ul>
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+
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+ <p>Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable, at the
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+ discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post. The moderators will
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+ let you know.</p>
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+
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+ <h2><a name="unacceptable" id="unacceptable"></a>Unacceptable Topics</h2>
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+
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+ <ul>
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+ <li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your
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+ compiler. Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
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+
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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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newsgroup instead.</li>
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- <li>Job offers.</li>
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- <li>Requests for solutions to homework assignments.</ul>
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-<h2><a name="effective"></a>Effective Posting</h2>
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+ <li>Job offers.</li>
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-<p>Most Boost mailing lists host a great deal of traffic, so your post
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-is usually competing for attention with many other communications.
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-This section describes how to make sure it has the desired impact.
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+ <li>Requests for solutions to homework assignments.</li>
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+ </ul>
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-<h3>Well-Crafted Posting is Worth the Effort</h3>
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+ <h2><a name="effective" id="effective"></a>Effective Posting</h2>
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-<p>Don't forget, you're a single writer but there are many readers,
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-and you want them to stay interested in what you're saying. Saving
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-your readers a little time and effort is usually worth the extra time
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-you spend when writing a message. Also, boost discussions are saved
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-for posterity, as rationales and history of the work we do. A post's
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-usefulness in the future is determined by its readability.
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+ <p>Most Boost mailing lists host a great deal of traffic, so your post is
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+ usually competing for attention with many other communications. This
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+ section describes how to make sure it has the desired impact.</p>
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-<h3>Put the Library Name in the Subject Line</h3>
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+ <h3>Well-Crafted Posting is Worth the Effort</h3>
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-<p>When your post is related to a particular Boost library, it's
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-helpful to put the library name in square brackets at the beginning of
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-the subject line, e.g.
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+ <p>Don't forget, you're a single writer but there are many readers, and you
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+ want them to stay interested in what you're saying. Saving your readers a
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+ little time and effort is usually worth the extra time you spend when
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+ writing a message. Also, boost discussions are saved for posterity, as
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+ rationales and history of the work we do. A post's usefulness in the future
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+ is determined by its readability.</p>
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-<blockquote>
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- Subject: [Regex] Why doesn't this pattern match?
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-</blockquote>
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+ <h3>Put the Library Name in the Subject Line</h3>
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-The Boost developers' list is a high-volume mailing list, and most
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-maintainers don't have time to read every message. A tag on the
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-subject line will help ensure the right people see your post.
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+ <p>When your post is related to a particular Boost library, it's helpful to
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+ put the library name in square brackets at the beginning of the subject
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+ line, e.g.</p>
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-<p><a name="tabs"></a>
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+ <blockquote>
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+ Subject: [Regex] Why doesn't this pattern match?
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+ </blockquote>The Boost developers' list is a high-volume mailing list, and
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+ most maintainers don't have time to read every message. A tag on the
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+ subject line will help ensure the right people see your post.
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-<h3>Don't Use Tabs</h3>
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+ <p><a name="tabs" id="tabs"></a></p>
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-If you use tabs to indent your source code, convert them to spaces
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-before inserting the code in a posting. Something in the processing
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-chain usually strips all the indentation and leaves a mess behind.
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+ <h3>Don't Use Tabs</h3>If you use tabs to indent your source code, convert
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+ them to spaces before inserting the code in a posting. Something in the
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+ processing chain usually strips all the indentation and leaves a mess
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+ behind.
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-<p><a name="longlines"></a>
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+ <p><a name="longlines" id="longlines"></a></p>
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-<h3>Limit Line Length</h3>
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+ <h3>Limit Line Length</h3>If you put source code in your postings and your
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+ mailer wraps long lines automatically, either keep the code narrow or
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+ insert the code as an (inline, if possible) attachment. That will help
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+ ensure others can read what you've posted.
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-If you put source code in your postings and your mailer wraps long
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-lines automatically, either keep the code narrow or insert the code as
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-an (inline, if possible) attachment. That will help ensure others can
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-read what you've posted.
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+ <p><a name="quoting" id="quoting"></a></p>
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-<p><a name="quoting"></a>
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+ <h3>Don't Overquote</h3>Please <b>prune extraneous quoted text</b> from
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+ replies so that only the relevant parts are included. Some people have to
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+ pay for, or wait for, each byte that they download from the list. More
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+ importantly, it will save time and make your post more valuable when
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+ readers do not have to find out which exact part of a previous message you
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+ are responding to.
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-<h3>Don't Overquote</h3>
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-Please <b>prune extraneous quoted text</b> from replies so that
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-only the relevant parts are included. Some people have to pay for, or
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-wait for, each byte that they download from the list. More
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-importantly, it will save time and make your post more valuable when
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-readers do not have to find out which exact part of a previous message
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-you are responding to.
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+ <h3>Use a Readable Quotation Style</h3>
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-<h3>Use a Readable Quotation Style</h3>
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-<p>A common and very useful approach is to cite the small fractions of
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-the message you are actually responding to and to put your response
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-directly beneath each citation, with a blank line separating them for
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-readability:
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+ <p>A common and very useful approach is to cite the small fractions of the
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+ message you are actually responding to and to put your response directly
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+ beneath each citation, with a blank line separating them for
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+ readability:</p>
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-<blockquote>
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-<pre>
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+ <blockquote>
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+ <pre>
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<i>Person-you're-replying-to</i> wrote:
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<i>Person-you're-replying-to</i> wrote:
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@@ -140,183 +169,199 @@ Your response to the second part of the message goes here.
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...
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...
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</pre>
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</pre>
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-</blockquote>
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-
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-For more information about effective use of quotation in posts, see <a
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-href="http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html">this helpful
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-guide</a>.
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-
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-<h3>Keep the Formatting of Quotations Consistent</h3>
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-<p>
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-Some email and news clients use poor word wrapping algorithms that
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-leave successive lines from the same quotation with differing numbers
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-of leading "<tt>></tt>" characters. <b>Microsoft
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-Outlook</b> and <b>Outlook Express</b>, and some web clients, are
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-especially bad about this. If your client offends in this way, please
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-take the effort to clean up the mess it makes in quoted text.
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-Remember, even if you didn't write the original text, it's <i>your</i>
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-posting; whether you get your point across depends on its readability.
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-<p>
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-The Microsoft clients also create an unusually verbose header at the
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-beginning of the original message text and leave the cursor at the
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-beginning of the message, which encourages users to write their
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-replies before all of the quoted text rather than putting the reply in
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-context. Outlook Express users can fix all of these problems
|
|
|
|
|
-automatically by installing
|
|
|
|
|
-<a href="http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/">OE
|
|
|
|
|
-QuoteFix</a>. Unfortunately there's no similar utility for Outlook
|
|
|
|
|
-Users; they will have to clean up their posts manually.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h3>Summarizing and Referring to Earlier Messages</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>A summary of the foregoing thread is only needed after a long
|
|
|
|
|
-discussion, especially when the topic is drifting or a result has been
|
|
|
|
|
-achieved in a discussion. The mail system will do the tracking that
|
|
|
|
|
-is needed to enable mail readers to display message threads (and every
|
|
|
|
|
-decent mail reader supports that).
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>If you ever have to refer to single message earlier in a thread or
|
|
|
|
|
-in a different thread then you can use a URL to the <a
|
|
|
|
|
-href="mailing_lists.htm#archive">message archives</a>. To help to
|
|
|
|
|
-keep those URLs short, you can use <a
|
|
|
|
|
-href="http://www.tinyurl.com">tinyurl.com</a>. Citing the relevant
|
|
|
|
|
-portion of a message you link to is often helpful (if the citation is
|
|
|
|
|
-small).
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h3>Maintain the Integrity of Discussion Threads</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p><b>When starting a new topic, always send a fresh message</b>,
|
|
|
|
|
-rather than beginning a reply to some other message and replacing the
|
|
|
|
|
-subject and body. Many mailers are able to detect the thread you
|
|
|
|
|
-started with and will show the new message as part of the original
|
|
|
|
|
-thread, which probably isn't what you intended. Follow this guideline
|
|
|
|
|
-for your own sake as well as for others'. Often, people scanning for
|
|
|
|
|
-relevant messages will decide they're done with a topic and hide or
|
|
|
|
|
-kill the entire thread: your message will be missed, and you won't get
|
|
|
|
|
-the response you're looking for.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>By the same token, <b>When replying to an existing message, use
|
|
|
|
|
-your mailer's "Reply" function</b>, so that the reply shows
|
|
|
|
|
-up as part of the same discussion thread.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p><b>Do not reply to digests</b> if you are a digest delivery
|
|
|
|
|
-subscriber. Your reply will not be properly threaded and will
|
|
|
|
|
-probably have the wrong subject line. Instead, you can reply through
|
|
|
|
|
-the <a href="http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel">GMane
|
|
|
|
|
-web interface</a>.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h3>Keep The Size of Your Posting Manageable</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>The mailing list software automatically limits message and
|
|
|
|
|
-attachment size to a reasonable amount, typically 75K, which is
|
|
|
|
|
-adjusted from time-to-time by the moderators. This limit is a
|
|
|
|
|
-courtesy to those who rely on dial-up Internet access.
|
|
|
|
|
-</p>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h2><a name="behavior"></a>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><a name="culture"></a>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>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>Always remember that the cumulative effort spent by people reading
|
|
|
|
|
-your contribution scales with the (already large) number of boost
|
|
|
|
|
-members. Thus, do invest time and effort to make your message as
|
|
|
|
|
-readable as possible. Adhere to English syntax and grammar rules such
|
|
|
|
|
-as proper capitalization. Avoid copious informalism, colloquial
|
|
|
|
|
-language, or abbreviations, they may not be understood by all readers.
|
|
|
|
|
-Re-read your message before submitting it.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h2>Guidelines for Effective Discussions</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
|
|
|
|
|
-degenerating into a shouting match, and to actively encourage the cooperation
|
|
|
|
|
-upon which Boost depends.</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 of 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 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>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<h2><a name="lib_names"></a>Library Names</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>In order to ensure a uniform presentation in books and articles, we
|
|
|
|
|
-have adopted a convention for referring to Boost libraries. Library
|
|
|
|
|
-names can either be written in a compact form with a dot, as
|
|
|
|
|
-"Boost.<i>Name</i>", or in a long form as "the
|
|
|
|
|
-Boost <i>Name</i> library." For example:
|
|
|
|
|
-<blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
-<b>Boost.Python</b> serves a very different purpose from <b>the Boost Graph library</b>.
|
|
|
|
|
-</blockquote>
|
|
|
|
|
-Note that the word "library" is not part of the name, and as such isn't capitalized.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>Please take care to avoid confusion in discussions between
|
|
|
|
|
-libraries that have been accepted into Boost and those that have not.
|
|
|
|
|
-Acceptance as a Boost library indicates that the code and design have
|
|
|
|
|
-passed through our peer-review process; failing to make the
|
|
|
|
|
-distinction devalues the hard work of library authors who've gone
|
|
|
|
|
-through that process. Here are some suggested ways to describe
|
|
|
|
|
-potential Boost libraries:
|
|
|
|
|
-<ul>
|
|
|
|
|
- <li>the proposed Boost <i>Name</i> library</li>
|
|
|
|
|
- <li>the Boost.<i>Name</i> candidate</li>
|
|
|
|
|
- <li>the <i>Name</i> library</i> (probably the best choice where applicable)</li>
|
|
|
|
|
-</ul>
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>Note that this policy only applies to discussions, not to the
|
|
|
|
|
-documentation, directory structure, or even identifiers in the
|
|
|
|
|
-code of potential Boost libraries.
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
-<hr>
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->28 May, 2005<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" i-checksum="38549" endspan -->
|
|
|
|
|
-</p>
|
|
|
|
|
-<p>© Beman Dawes, Rob Stewart, and David Abrahams 2000-2005</p>
|
|
|
|
|
-<p> Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0.
|
|
|
|
|
-(See accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or
|
|
|
|
|
-copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)
|
|
|
|
|
-</p>
|
|
|
|
|
-
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
+ </blockquote>For more information about effective use of quotation in
|
|
|
|
|
+ posts, see <a href="http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html">this
|
|
|
|
|
+ helpful guide</a>.
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h3>Keep the Formatting of Quotations Consistent</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>Some email and news clients use poor word wrapping algorithms that leave
|
|
|
|
|
+ successive lines from the same quotation with differing numbers of leading
|
|
|
|
|
+ "<tt>></tt>" characters. <b>Microsoft Outlook</b> and <b>Outlook
|
|
|
|
|
+ Express</b>, and some web clients, are especially bad about this. If your
|
|
|
|
|
+ client offends in this way, please take the effort to clean up the mess it
|
|
|
|
|
+ makes in quoted text. Remember, even if you didn't write the original text,
|
|
|
|
|
+ it's <i>your</i> posting; whether you get your point across depends on its
|
|
|
|
|
+ readability.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>The Microsoft clients also create an unusually verbose header at the
|
|
|
|
|
+ beginning of the original message text and leave the cursor at the
|
|
|
|
|
+ beginning of the message, which encourages users to write their replies
|
|
|
|
|
+ before all of the quoted text rather than putting the reply in context.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Fortunately, Dominic Jain has written a utility that fixes all of these
|
|
|
|
|
+ problems automatically: <a href=
|
|
|
|
|
+ "http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/outlook-quotefix/">Outlook
|
|
|
|
|
+ Quotefix</a> for Outlook Users and <a href=
|
|
|
|
|
+ "http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/">OE QuoteFix</a> for
|
|
|
|
|
+ users of Outlook Express.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h3>Summarizing and Referring to Earlier Messages</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>A summary of the foregoing thread is only needed after a long
|
|
|
|
|
+ discussion, especially when the topic is drifting or a result has been
|
|
|
|
|
+ achieved in a discussion. The mail system will do the tracking that is
|
|
|
|
|
+ needed to enable mail readers to display message threads (and every decent
|
|
|
|
|
+ mail reader supports that).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>If you ever have to refer to single message earlier in a thread or in a
|
|
|
|
|
+ different thread then you can use a URL to the <a href=
|
|
|
|
|
+ "mailing_lists.htm#archive">message archives</a>. To help to keep those
|
|
|
|
|
+ URLs short, you can use <a href="http://www.tinyurl.com">tinyurl.com</a>.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Citing the relevant portion of a message you link to is often helpful (if
|
|
|
|
|
+ the citation is small).</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h3>Maintain the Integrity of Discussion Threads</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p><b>When starting a new topic, always send a fresh message</b>, rather
|
|
|
|
|
+ than beginning a reply to some other message and replacing the subject and
|
|
|
|
|
+ body. Many mailers are able to detect the thread you started with and will
|
|
|
|
|
+ show the new message as part of the original thread, which probably isn't
|
|
|
|
|
+ what you intended. Follow this guideline for your own sake as well as for
|
|
|
|
|
+ others'. Often, people scanning for relevant messages will decide they're
|
|
|
|
|
+ done with a topic and hide or kill the entire thread: your message will be
|
|
|
|
|
+ missed, and you won't get the response you're looking for.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>By the same token, <b>When replying to an existing message, use your
|
|
|
|
|
+ mailer's "Reply" function</b>, so that the reply shows up as part of the
|
|
|
|
|
+ same discussion thread.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p><b>Do not reply to digests</b> if you are a digest delivery subscriber.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Your reply will not be properly threaded and will probably have the wrong
|
|
|
|
|
+ subject line. Instead, you can reply through the <a href=
|
|
|
|
|
+ "http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel">GMane web
|
|
|
|
|
+ interface</a>.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h3>Keep The Size of Your Posting Manageable</h3>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>The mailing list software automatically limits message and attachment
|
|
|
|
|
+ size to a reasonable amount, typically 75K, which is adjusted from
|
|
|
|
|
+ time-to-time by the moderators. This limit is a courtesy to those who rely
|
|
|
|
|
+ on dial-up Internet access.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h2><a name="behavior" id="behavior"></a>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><a name="culture" id="culture"></a>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>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>Always remember that the cumulative effort spent by people reading your
|
|
|
|
|
+ contribution scales with the (already large) number of boost members. Thus,
|
|
|
|
|
+ do invest time and effort to make your message as readable as possible.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Adhere to English syntax and grammar rules such as proper capitalization.
|
|
|
|
|
+ Avoid copious informalism, colloquial language, or abbreviations, they may
|
|
|
|
|
+ not be understood by all readers. Re-read your message before submitting
|
|
|
|
|
+ it.</p>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <h2>Guidelines for Effective Discussions</h2>
|
|
|
|
|
+
|
|
|
|
|
+ <p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
|
|
|
|
|
+ degenerating into a shouting match, and to actively encourage the
|
|
|
|
|
+ cooperation upon which Boost depends.</p>
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+
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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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+ will work, then replying with a question like "will that compile?" or
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+ "won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?" is a lot
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+ smoother than "That's really stupid - it won't compile." Saying
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+ "that fails to compile for me, and seems to violate section n.n.n of the
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+ standard" would be yet another way to be firm without being
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+ abrasive.</li>
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+
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+ <li>If most of the discussion has been code-free generalities, posting a
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+ bit of sample code can focus people on the practical issues.</li>
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+
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+ <li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to
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+ talk a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be
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+ preventing discussion closure.</li>
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+
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+ <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think about
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+ that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the discussion so
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+ far."</li>
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+ </ul>
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+
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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 ensure
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+ nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial. Nuclear
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+ safety was discussed for only an hour - it was so complex, scary, and
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+ technical that even among experts few felt comfortable with the issues.
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+ Endless days were then spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the
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+ parking lot would be a modern equivalent) because everyone understood the
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+ issues and felt comfortable discussing them. </p>
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+
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+ <h2><a name="lib_names" id="lib_names"></a>Library Names</h2>
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+
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+ <p>In order to ensure a uniform presentation in books and articles, we have
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+ adopted a convention for referring to Boost libraries. Library names can
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+ either be written in a compact form with a dot, as "Boost.<i>Name</i>", or
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+ in a long form as "the Boost <i>Name</i> library." For example:</p>
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+
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+ <blockquote>
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+ <b>Boost.Python</b> serves a very different purpose from <b>the Boost
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+ Graph library</b>.
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+ </blockquote>Note that the word "library" is not part of the name, and as
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+ such isn't capitalized.
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+
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+ <p>Please take care to avoid confusion in discussions between libraries
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+ that have been accepted into Boost and those that have not. Acceptance as a
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+ Boost library indicates that the code and design have passed through our
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+ peer-review process; failing to make the distinction devalues the hard work
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+ of library authors who've gone through that process. Here are some
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+ suggested ways to describe potential Boost libraries:</p>
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+
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+ <ul>
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+ <li>the proposed Boost <i>Name</i> library</li>
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+
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+ <li>the Boost.<i>Name</i> candidate</li>
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+
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+ <li>the <i>Name</i> library (probably the best choice where
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+ applicable)</li>
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+ </ul>
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+
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+ <p>Note that this policy only applies to discussions, not to the
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+ documentation, directory structure, or even identifiers in the code of
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+ potential Boost libraries.</p>
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+ <hr>
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+
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+ <p>Revised
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+ <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->28
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+ May, 2005<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" i-checksum="38549" endspan --></p>
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+
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+ <p>© Beman Dawes, Rob Stewart, and David Abrahams 2000-2005</p>
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+
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+ <p>Distributed under the Boost Software License, Version 1.0. (See
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+ accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or copy
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+ at <a href=
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+ "http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</p>
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</body>
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</body>
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-
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</html>
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</html>
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Dave Abrahams