On Mon, Oct 26, 2015 at 9:56 AM, Jacob Champion <champio...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On 10/24/2015 09:32 PM, Kurtis Rader wrote: > >> People reviewing changes to the existing code base have to be hard-nosed >> assholes. >> > > Kurtis, > > I agree with everything you said except this. IMHO, you've traded one bad > extreme (where few people care about the quality of the codebase) for > another (where the people who care about the codebase are rude and > uncooperative). You can be hard-nosed about code standards without being a > jerk. > > Maybe you didn't mean it like that, but I feel like there are way too many > people in open source communities who take an "I have to be an asshole" > mantra to heart. Asshole was probably not the best term. I meant it in the sense that you shouldn't be afraid to tell someone in plain language what the problems are with their proposed change. Yes, the reviewer should be polite. No, they should not sugar-coat their feedback. I've seen way too many instances (not limited to this project) of ill-advised or badly implemented changes being accepted because no one was willing to be the "bad guy" and say "No, that change will not be accepted." This has been a major problem with the Zsh project, for example. To the point where I'm seriously considering switching shells. I'd hate to see that happen to this project. -- Kurtis Rader Caretaker of the exceptional canines Junior and Hank
