[gentoo-dev] Interesting article from the Times Magazine

[Denis Dupeyron]

From the Times Magazine :

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/03/magazine/03trolls-t.html

It mostly doesn't apply to us as a community (hopefully), but one
paragraph is especially interesting.

<< In 1981, [Jon Postel] formulated what's known as Postel's Law: "Be
conservative in what you do; be liberal in what you accept from
others." Originally intended to foster "interoperability," the ability
of multiple computer systems to understand one another, Postel's Law
is now recognized as having wider applications. To build a robust
global network with no central authority, engineers were encouraged to
write code that could "speak" as clearly as possible yet "listen" to
the widest possible range of other speakers, including those who do
not conform perfectly to the rules of the road. The human equivalent
of this robustness is a combination of eloquence and tolerance — the
spirit of good conversation. Trolls embody the opposite principle.
They are liberal in what they do and conservative in what they
construe as acceptable behavior from others. You, the troll says, are
not worthy of my understanding; I, therefore, will do everything I can
to confound you. >>

I'd add that trolling isn't always conscious, so everyone of us is
potentially somebody else's troll. My personal trick is that I always
re-read my posts as if they were addressed to myself on a bad hair
day.

Denis.