Re: Bad/Good ideas and damage control by experienced participants

[Nick Hilliard <[e-mail]>]

Brian E Carpenter wrote on 14/06/2022 23:37:
> On 15-Jun-22 02:47, John Levine wrote:
>> It appears that Miles Fidelman  <[e-mail]> said:
>>> On the other hand, is it really a negative when someone is snarky with a
>>> snot-nosed kid who doesn't appreciate being told that their "great new
>>> idea" is a retread of something folks learned not to do decades ago?
>>
>> Depends.  If your goal is to make sure nobody new ever comes to the 
>> IETF, sure, do that.
>>
>> On the other hand, if someone new goes to the effort to write up an 
>> I-D and ask us
>> to look at it, there are a lot better ways to see if you can redirect 
>> their interest
>> to something that might be useful.  Sometimes they may go off in a 
>> sulk, but sometimes
>> a little politeness and specific references to prior work they should 
>> read about can
>> go a long way.
> 
> I think it is also a very effective sieve. Newcomers who respond positively
> to this are much more likely to become genuine contributors than people
> who won't listen and learn. The ones who don't listen are unlikely to
> succeed anyway.

Brian, John,

thank you for speaking up for the values of courtesy and politeness.

The freedom to be "snarky with a snot-nosed kid" also includes the 
freedom not to be snarky, and given that the latter almost always 
produces a better outcome, this is what we need to collectively spire to 
on IETF mailing lists.

Nick