Christian Montoya wrote:
> Please send Clear Blue Day another e-mail and ask them if they have
> any dinosaurs in their office.
This is not intended as an attack on Christian, nor anyone else. Not at
all. I'm dead serious on that
However, the comment above has reminded me of an attitude I see growing
on this list and I want to put forward my point of view
It is easy to get on a moral high-horse just because we know about standards
The members of this list are no better than any of the developers at
Clear Blue Day. Some work we produce may (or may not) be better than
work they produce. There are many measures of worth. You have to be
pretty damn good to top the scale across the board. This has no bearing
of whether or not you treat them as politely and respectfully as any
other person
One of the main tenets behind adoption of standards is equality, not
just of technology but of people. They're for everyone. That includes
developers or development companies who may not appreciate the benefits
immediately
Standardista: "Hey, development company, you should use standards!"
Development company: "Nah, we don't get it. I don't want to."
Standardista: "Oh, well, then you're obviously scum. I'll not bother you
further except to malign you"
This doesn't strike me as the way to advocate successfully
I appreciate standards because of the opportunities for access and
growth they offer. I appreciate (oh boy, do I appreciate!) how hard they
can be to learn
I also appreciate that changing 6 or 8 or 10 years of coding practice
and philosophy of web development is incredibly difficult
These are the kinds of people we should be reaching out to. We shouldn't
be dismissing them. We should be bringing them into the fold
Maybe you write some company an email asking if they know about
standards and they tell you to get stuffed. Fair enough. We all know
about flogging dead horses
Kat's response from Clear Blue Day doesn't seem to indicate that to me
though. It just indicates to me that they don't get it
Surely, if someone doesn't get it, you try to establish a conversation?
You try to help them?
That's the attitude that I would like to see prevalent on this list. One
of helpful conversation, not scornful condemnation (even in jest)
Regards
Lachlan
PS If anyone feels the urge to flame me vehemently for this post, please
do so off-list. Otherwise, I'd love to discuss my views with everyone
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