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bug#32578: Remove "joke" from drag events documentation
From: |
Marcin Borkowski |
Subject: |
bug#32578: Remove "joke" from drag events documentation |
Date: |
Fri, 31 Aug 2018 08:08:24 +0200 |
User-agent: |
mu4e 1.1.0; emacs 27.0.50 |
On 2018-08-30, at 15:51, Chris Shea <cmshea@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Thu, Aug 30, 2018 at 3:50 AM Colin Baxter <m43cap@yandex.com> wrote:
>
>> >>>>> Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl> writes:
>>
>> > On 2018-08-29, at 19:29, Chris Shea <cmshea@gmail.com> wrote:
>>
>> >> Hello,
>> >>
>> >> This patch removes an unnecessary and unwelcoming joke from the
>> >> drag events documentation. Documentation should be informative
>> >> and inclusive.
>>
>> > I'm a bit on the fence about this. On the one hand, I remember
>> > seeing the joke some time ago and finding it hilarious. On the
>> > other hand, I remember feeling good about removing other jokes
>> > from Emacs sources, which were _really_ offensive. This one seems
>> > to be far, far from offensive anyway, and if anyone feels offended
>> > by this, they probably well deserve it. Disclosure: I know (and
>> > often tell myself) jokes about groups of people _I_ belong to
>> > which are probably much more "offensive" than this one (though
>> > obviously I may be biased). I can provide a sample on request.
>>
>> > I don't see how the relevant portion can be seen as not
>> > informative.
>>
>> > BTW, I am now coauthoring a book on pretty advanced mathematics
>> > (nonlinear analysis), and we try to put quite a lot of jokes into
>> > it. Well-placed jokes do not make a book/documentation less
>> > informative, but more pleasant to read. (Unfortunately, there is
>> > nothing about "drag events" in the book.)
>>
>> > If I were to made a decision, I would probably (a bit reluctantly,
>> > but still) leave it, so that Emacs does not succumb to the idiocy
>> > called "political correctness".
>>
>> > Best,
>>
>> > -- Marcin Borkowski http://mbork.pl
>>
>> I agree with Marcin's comments and would add that a joke is hardly a
>> bug. Perhaps the original poster should place the suggestion elsewhere,
>> maybe emacs.devel?
>>
>> Best wishes
>>
>
> To Marcin's points, I didn't bring up offensiveness, and what kinds of
"Unwelcoming" seemed to me a softer version of "offensive". Sorry if
I'm mistaken, I'm not a native English speaker.
> jokes you tell among your friends doesn't seem relevant. Would your
Quite the opposite: if I'm not bothered by this joke, and I'm bothered
by similarly offensive/unwelcoming jokes about me and/or groups of
people I belong to, someone could argue that I have double standards.
Such an argument need not be correct in general, but it might make
people ignore my email.
> reasoning be the same if the diff was the other way? Would you be arguing
> to add this joke in because you deem it inoffensive? That it adds
> information to the documentation? That the documentation for a text editor
> is the appropriate place to make the effort to add a joke (a joke which
> operates merely on the level of "this one word looks like this other word")
> as a bulwark against "political correctness"?
As I mentioned, I'm coauthoring a "serious" book on "serious"
mathematics. Many a commit exists for the purpose of adding jokes
(though not ones about drag events), pop culture references etc. Though
it does not add _information_, it adds _value_. And I don't see how
docs for a text editor might be inappropriate place for jokes/puns
(unless they make the docs difficult to understand for a non-native
ENglish speaker, but this is another story).
Even if the reason was not "as a bulwark against 'political
correctness'" (which would strengthen the argument in my book), I still
think the effort would be worth it.
Best,
--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl