[gentoo-dev] Re: Re: Bugzilla etiquette suggestions

[Duncan]

Simon Stelling posted <43F0D24A.6060409@g.o>, excerpted below,  on
Mon, 13 Feb 2006 19:39:06 +0100:

> Duncan wrote:
>> Consider this: INVALID is strong enough, under the wrong circumstances,
>> that it /could/ set an emotionally unstable user off, causing them to
>> commit suicide or something.
>
> Are you being serious about this? I dont' find it particularly funny in
> case it's a joke. In case it's not, i find it ridiculous. If a person is
> that emotionally unstable that he'd commit suicide because of an INVALID
> resolution, he'd probably commit suicide everytime only the slightest
> negative event occurs too. I really feel sorry for those people who are
> depressive, but I wouldn't feel guilty because I closed a bug as INVALID
> instead of WORKSFORME.

Perhaps you've never been suicidal.  It's no joke.

There was a single event in my life, over 20 years ago, where I was very
temporarily (like a day) suicidal.  Having experienced that, yes, I'm
/very/ serious, altho I understand your skepticism as well, particularly
if you've been lucky enough to have never dealt with the issue personally.

The details are personal, inappropriate, and unnecessary to the
discussion, but the very general situation was this:  I was already sick
and thus out of normal physical/mental/emotional balance as it was, when
someone made a comment that due to that unbalance, I took personally and
blew /way/ out of proportion.  Luckily, I didn't act on the impulse and as
soon as I got some sleep and recovered at least a modicum of physical
health, the whole thing looked as ridiculous as it actually was.  Having
faced those particular personal demons once, I've never had to face them
again and don't expect I ever will.

The point is, the person that made that remark had no idea the effect it
had on me -- and what the result might have been.  However, having gone
thru that once, even 20 years ago, I still remember the despondency, the
utter lack of hope, the distorted world-view that a day later seemed so
ridiculous.

The point is, to a person in that shape, even something seemingly tiny, to
someone unaffected by that distortion field, can be enough to push someone
over.

The point is, one never knows, particularly over the net dealing with a
person you've never met in real life and haven't interacted with on a
regular basis even on the net, what sort of weird personal stuff they
might be dealing with at the particular time you're interacting.

The point is, yes, it's /exactly/ "little" stuff like that "INVALID", that
if it hits at the wrong juncture in someone's  life journey, just /might/
cause them to end it.

Getting INVALID stamped across a first or second bug posting /can/ be
depressing, I /know/!  For any /normal/ person, even at its worst, it'll
be no worse than the dozens of other little irritations one experiences on
a daily basis.  However, a similar assumption on the part of that guy all
those many years ago came very close to having fatal consequences. Yes,
that /is/ serious!

I don't expect those who've never faced suicide as what appeared to be a
reasonable choice to even begin to understand.  Just be aware that it
/can/ happen, and consider what your response would be if a final note was
found that named a comment you made as the deciding factor.  It /can/
happen.  Unfortunately, a lot of folks end up asking themselves serious
questions about their last interactions with someone they were talking to
only yesterday, and how whatever they said must have looked to the poor
guy considering the act, every day.

Luckily, that's the only time it it's ever even looked like an option, to
me.  However, that once was enough.  Obviously, it has had some lasting
effects on how I choose to deal with folks, to this day.

-- 
Duncan - List replies preferred.   No HTML msgs.
"Every nonfree program has a lord, a master --
and if you use the program, he is your master."  Richard Stallman in
http://www.linuxdevcenter.com/pub/a/linux/2004/12/22/rms_interview.html


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