From db8d297bac3cc7a23ee3fa3c5a5a556b56734bb7 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Dave Abrahams <dave@boostpro.com>
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2001 11:23:18 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Added prohibition against requesting help with homework.
[SVN r11371]
---
discussion_policy.htm | 31 ++++++++++++++++---------------
1 file changed, 16 insertions(+), 15 deletions(-)
diff --git a/discussion_policy.htm b/discussion_policy.htm
index 6aa41c8..dae13e7 100644
--- a/discussion_policy.htm
+++ b/discussion_policy.htm
@@ -21,7 +21,7 @@
</table>
<h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
<p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a community.
-If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
+If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
and dies.</p>
<h2>Acceptable topics</h2>
@@ -41,24 +41,25 @@ will let you know.</p>
<li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
<li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your compiler.
Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
- <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
+ <li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
newsgroup instead.</li>
<li>Job offers.</li>
+ <li>Requests for solutions to homework assignments
</ul>
<h2>Prohibited behavior</h2>
-<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
+<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
postings by abusers.</p>
<h3>Flame wars</h3>
<p>Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all the other
behaviors which fall into the "flame war" category are
-prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
+prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
personality traits or motives of participants.</p>
<h3>Third-party attacks</h3>
<p>Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware vendors, or any
-other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
+other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
entire C++ community, not to disparage the work of others.</p>
<p>Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry remark about a
-troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
+troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
<h3>Off-topic posts</h3>
<p>Discussions which stray from the acceptable topics are strongly discouraged.
While off-topic posts are often well meaning and not as individually corrosive
@@ -66,7 +67,7 @@ as other abuses, cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
discussion.</p>
<h2>Culture</h2>
<p>In addition to technical skills, Boost members value collaboration,
-acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
+acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
membership is very international, and ranges widely in age and other
characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among colleagues in a widely read forum, rather
than among a few close friends.</p>
@@ -83,7 +84,7 @@ Re-read your message before submitting it.</p>
<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
<ul>
- <li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
+ <li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
will work, then replying with a question like "will that compile?"
or "won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?" is a
lot smoother than "That's really stupid - it won't compile."
@@ -95,22 +96,22 @@ degenerating into a shouting match.</p>
<li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to talk
a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be preventing
discussion closure.</li>
- <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
- about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
+ <li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
+ about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
discussion so far."</li>
</ul>
-<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
-to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
+<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
+to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
items - when to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to
-ensure nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial.
+ensure nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial.
Nuclear safety was discussed for only
an hour - it was so complex, scary, and technical that even
-among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
+among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the parking lot would
be a modern equivalent) because everyone
understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them. </p>
<hr>
-<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->24 September, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39337" -->
+<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->10 October, 2001<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" endspan i-checksum="39337" -->
</p>
</body>