On May 2, 2006, at 5:11 PM, Ray Saintonge wrote:
If someone wants to join that community, they have to learn the jargon. Even the most welcoming communities work this way.
Yes, communities do have their jargon, but a welcoming community helps guide the newbie through the jargon. In the absence of a welcome they just go away.
Okay, so we tell newbies what "cruft" means and that we don't mean it as an insult to them.
Again, what connotations does "cruft" carry other than something being low-quality or otherwise worthy of deletion?
The connotation that anything contributed by the person who put the material there is worthless.
How? "Cruft" refers to the content in question. I've contributed cruft. I have never taken it to have that connotation, and unlike many of us here, I have participated in AfD quite a bit in the past.