Marc Riddell wrote:
On 10/14/07, David Gerard dgerard@gmail.com wrote:
Anyone can draft proposals - that's what the workshop page is for (and to keep idiots occupied somewhere relatively harmless, of course).
This is the kind of language that is destructive to the culture of this project.
Perhaps generally, but in this case it's probably not so bad. It would be hard to deny that some of the people who show up are idiots. But David's unlikely to cause offense here, as all concerned will be sure that the idiots are those *other* guys.
Don't get me wrong; I'm a big advocate of treating any vaguely serious contributor with respect. But in trying to build open communities on the Internet, you have to be prepared for people who are looking to vent, who come with an agenda, or who are just so lacking in clue that they are unable to make any useful contribution. If you don't give them an outlet, they'll just cram their opinions into any input field or email inbox they can find, disrupting normal business. And heck, some of them will get a clue eventually, so it's best to involve them in ways that help with that.
But definitely be careful applying your off-line intuitions here. As many have observed, the Internet is, sadly, different. [1]
William
[1] E.g., Gabriel's Theory: http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/03/19