Re: Bug#296369: ITP: spin -- Powerfull model checking and softwareverification tool (OT)
On Fri, Feb 25, 2005 at 01:39:16AM +0100, Francesco Poli wrote:
> > It is the convention in most mailing-lists, newsgroups, etc. connected
> > to Free software that you identify yourself by your name, not some
> > pseudonym or 'handle'.
>
> I don't agree.
It's the convention on all technical mailing lists I'm on and have been on
in the last several years. Debian lists, sdl, usb-devel, alsa-devel,
linux-utf8, lftp-devel, lua-l, etc--it's very uncommon for someone to post
on any of these with an obvious pseudonym.
> I'm a subscriber of various Free software related mailing lists and some
> of them have a well established tradition: nicks[1], anonymous
> senders[2] and nyms[3] are welcome.
> I personally have nothing against people willing to hide their real
> identity (we care about dissidents when reviewing licenses: why
> shouldn't we care about them when ruling mailing list policies?).
If somebody has a legitimate reason to want to hide his identity (most
people really don't), then that's fine with me, though I'd hope he'd
choose a reasonable pseudonym that I can use to mentally identify the
person. I think the most common reason some people use nicks, though,
is because it *is* the convention in other places (eg. web forums, IRC),
not due to any particular desire to not identify oneself.
On a technical list, you're simply not going to be taken very seriously by
a lot of people with a goofy nickname--can *you* read a technical post
by Elvis Presley with a straight face? :)
> > I don't pretend to speak for Debian, but I
> > haven't seen a single person (apart from yourself :) that doesn't use
> > their real name on this mailing list. I would therefore surmise that
> > it is the convention here to use your real name.
>
> I don't think it's a convention: it just happens to be so...
> I didn't find this "rule" in
> http://www.debian.org/MailingLists/#codeofconduct
A convention is not a "rule". It's perfectly normal for conventions to
form which don't have the weight of "rules", and for people to gripe a
bit when those conventions are broken.
--
Glenn Maynard
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