On 21/12/2013 08:32, Lester Caine wrote:
I know I will get my head chewed off, but I'm going to speak out anyway ...
Hi Lester,
Rather than accepting a negative reaction as inevitable, perhaps you should think how you can improve your chances of a positive engagement. The PHP website links to a few "house rules" for these mailing lists [1], but beyond that a few things occur to me that would have improved your post (at least in my personal opinion):
- Don't use inflammatory language. "Censorship" is a very loaded term, and using it too readily may well put people on the defensive, or create unnecessary controversy. (perhaps see also Rule 2: "Do not post when you are angry.")
- Pick an accurate subject/title for your post. Your points were specifically about the new layout on the php.net website, but your subject line gives no clue to that.
- Be clear on what point you are trying to discuss, and don't try to discuss several things at once. Part of your message is about a problem with the new php.net layout, but part is about the process of reporting that problem; it's not at all clear which you are expecting to be discussed.
- Ask in the right place (see Rule 2: "Make sure you pick the right mailinglist for your posting."). There is a list of all the PHP mailing lists with descriptions [2] and you can click through to see the archives to get a feel for the topics discussed on each. If you're not sure of the right list, be honest and ready for someone to point you in the right direction.
- Don't jump to accuse others (see Rule 1: "Respect other people working on the project."). You accuse "all these little cliques" of "dump[ing] the results on us" because you haven't seen the discussion which went into the layout change, but you give no details of where you looked for that discussion or where you expected it to take place.
- Request improvements, don't demand them. Rather than saying that the current situation is "unacceptable", explain where you think the problem lies and the kind of things you would like to see to improve it.
- Look for solutions as well as stating problems. You might not know an exact solution, but you could say what you think a better solution might look like - beyond a broad statement that the old layout worked better for you.
- Be open to compromise. Others may have different opinions, or there may be technical impediments to what you would like to see. Compromise here might be in the form of multiple "themes", as you suggest, but that tends to have technical costs, so attempting to incorporate different ideas into one layout will always be preferable.
In short, as the Wikipedia guidelines put it "Assume Good Faith" - approach mailing lists, forums, etc with the assumption that people will want to understand your concerns, and work with you to solve them, and you are more likely to find that assumption come true.
[1] http://git.php.net/?p=php-src.git;a=blob_plain;f=README.MAILINGLIST_RULES;hb=HEAD
[2] http://www.php.net/mailing-lists.php
Regards,
--
Rowan Collins
[IMSoP]