On Fri, Jul 01, 2005 at 08:21:33AM -0500, Kent West wrote: > Geoff Thurman wrote: > > >But isn't he right, at the end of the day, to be concerned about > >software patents? > > > Yes. > > >And I would have thought this list was exactly the > >right place for a discussion of these issues. > > > Not so much, no. A better place would be debian-legal > (http://lists.debian.org/debian-legal/). > > > Why is it not? > > > > > Because this list is for "Support for Debian users who speak English" > (http://lists.debian.org/debian-user/). Political issues are not really > support issues. > > The general consensus has been that short-lived off-topic threads are > acceptable as long as they don't stray too far from the interests of the > list members (and they should be marked "OT" in the subject line). > Guillaume's original posting was probably considered by most members as > perfectly acceptable, even raising our conciousness of the issue. But > when no one responded, he went semi-ballistic, and now the whole thread > has just become, for lack of a better term, "trollish". His lack of > grammar/spelling didn't help (see recent "Hackers, Spelling, and > Grammar?" link on Slashdot > (http://ask.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=05/06/30/1532238&tid=215&tid=4) > for relevant discussion)). > > Again, the occasional off-topic side discussion about software patents > is probably perfectly acceptable on this list (although it more better > belongs on debian-legal), Guillaume just needs to learn "how to win > friends and influence people" rather than bullying them into his way of > thinking. >
Okay, I see what you mean. The only point I would quibble with was the reference to grammar/spelling: on this list I tend to ignore such things, especially when the name suggests that English is not the first language. I must confess I have no former knowledge of Guillaume Tessier, I don't know whether I'm alone in that. I've had a quick look at the first few parts of that Slashdot link - it looks interesting, but too long to look at tonight. Incidentally, if I seemed to be condoning bad language on the list this is not what I meant to do, exactly. It isn't that I think bad language is somehow okay, more that I am so angered by what I perceive to be going on all around us that I fear swearing should be the least of our worries. I confess to being prone to the occasional swearword myself (not openly on list), which probably clouds my judgement. But swearing on this list is not okay and I didn't mean to imply that it was. Thank you Kent, and also Adam, for your measured and informative replies. Cheers, Geoff -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]
