/etc/pki

[Kristian Høgsberg]

David Woodhouse wrote:
> On Wed, 2007-05-09 at 13:51 -0700, Jesse Keating wrote:
>> David, one thing that seems hard for you to grasp is that it does not matter 
>> what _you_ think, it matters what readers read into your words.  All it takes 
>> is a smallest of efforts to avoid calling people or companies things 
>> like 'moronic' or 'idiotic' or other such things.  A small step will make a 
>> big difference. 
> 
> But I didn't call people or companies 'moronic'; certainly not anyone
> here. I called a _policy_ moronic.
> 
> That's almost an oxymoron, in my book -- since 'policy' is so often just
> a euphemism for not actually having to think.

This is just splitting hairs.  But I'll concede that Richards signature is 
excessive and I think it's fair game to point that out to him.  It would be a 
fine thing to do if you were otherwise replying to his email, for example, you 
could say at the end of your reply "Btw, your signature is a bit excessive, 
would you mind trimming it?".  Replying to his mail to point it out is just 
noise and it looks like you're going out of your way to police the mailing list.

> There's a _very_ big jump between "that policy is moronic" or "that law
> is moronic" or whatever I may have said, and your claimed inference 
> "I am better than everyone". Please don't put words in my mouth.

Let's look at the words that you did put in your reply, then:

 > Please don't pollute public mailing lists with this nonsense -- keep
 > your .sig to 4 lines at a maximum.
 >
 > If you must put the above information in every email you send, at least
 > put it in a header, not the body of the mail -- and you certainly don't
 > need to include the full list of directors.
 >
 > You're welcome to an account @infradead.org if your employer imposes
 > moronic policies on public-facing mail, btw.  :)

I'm sure you have the best intentions, but the wording here is insulting.  Do 
you not agree that calling somebody's email 'pollution' is insulting?  That 
calling somebody's signature 'nonsense' is insulting?  Calling somebody's 
employer 'moronic'?  Surely you could have chosen less inflammatory words 
without compromising the message.

This is not about enforcing political correctness.  It's about not insulting 
random people over petty details in a community that's supposed to be friendly 
and constructive.

I'm just trying to help.
Kristian