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<title>Boost Discussion Policy</title>
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<table border="1" bgcolor="#007F7F" cellpadding="2">
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<img src="../c++boost.gif" alt="c++boost.gif (8819 bytes)" width="277" height="86"></td>
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<td><a href="../index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Home</big></font></a></td>
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<td><a href="../libs/libraries.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>Libraries</big></font></a></td>
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<td><a href="../people/people.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>People</big></font></a></td>
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<td><a href="faq.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>FAQ</big></font></a></td>
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<td><a href="index.htm"><font face="Arial" color="#FFFFFF"><big>More</big></font></a></td>
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</tr>
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</table>
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<h1>Boost Discussion Policy</h1>
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<p>Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members together into a community.
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If the discussion is stimulating and effective, the community thrives. If
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the discussion degenerates into name calling and ill will, the community withers
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and dies.</p>
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<h2>Contents</h2>
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<dl>
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<dt><a href="#acceptable">Acceptable Topics</a><dd>
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<dt><a href="#unacceptable">Unacceptable Topics</a><dd>
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<dt><a href="#quoting">Quoting and Message Size</a><dd>
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<dt><a href="#behavior">Prohibited Behavior</a><dd>
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<dt><a href="#culture">Culture</a><dd>
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</dl>
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<h2><a name="acceptable"></a>Acceptable topics</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Queries to determine interest in a possible library submission.</li>
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<li>Technical discussions about a proposed or existing library, including bug
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reports and requests for help.</li>
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<li>Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.</li>
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<li>Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.</li>
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<li>Boost administration or policies.</li>
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<li>Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost libraries.</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable, at the discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post. The moderators
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will let you know.</p>
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<h2><a name="unacceptable"></a>Unacceptable topics</h2>
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<ul>
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<li>Advertisements for commercial products.</li>
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<li>Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with your compiler.
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Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup instead.</li>
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<li>Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the comp.std.c++
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newsgroup instead.</li>
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<li>Job offers.</li>
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<li>Requests for solutions to homework assignments.</ul>
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<h2><a name="quoting"></a>Quoting and Message Size</h2>
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<p>Please <b>limit the amount of quoted text</b> in replies to this
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list. Some people have to pay for, or wait for, each byte that they
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download from the list. More importantly, it will save time and make
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your post more valuable when readers do not have to find out which
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exact part of a previous message you are responding to.
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<p>A common and very useful approach is to cite the small fractions of
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the message you are actually responding to and to put your response
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directly beneath each citation, with a blank line separating them for
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readability:
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<blockquote>
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<pre>
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> Some part of a paragraph that you wish to reply to goes
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> here; there may be several lines.
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Your response to that part of the message goes here. There may,
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of course, be several lines.
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> The second part of the paragraph that is relevant to your
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> reply goes here; agiain there may be several lines.
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Your response to the second part of the message goes here.
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...
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</pre>
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</blockquote>
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For more information about effective use of quotation in posts, see <a
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href="http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html">this helpful
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guide</a>.
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<p>A summary of the foregoing thread is only needed after a long
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discussion, especially when the topic is drifting or a result has been
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achieved in a discussion. The mail system will do the tracking that
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is needed to enable mail readers to display message threads (and every
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decent mail reader supports that).
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<p>If you ever have to refer to single message earlier in a thread or
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in a different thread then you can use a URL to the <a
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href="mailing_lists.htm#archive">message archives</a>. To help to
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keep those URLs short, you can use <a
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href="http://www.tinyurl.com">tinyurl.com</a>. Citing the relevant
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portion of a message you link to is often helpful (if the citation is
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small).
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<p>Don't forget, it's a single writer but there are many readers.
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So, saving some time for the readers is worth spending extra
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time when writing a message.
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<p>The mailing list software automatically limits message and
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attachment size to a reasonable amount, typically 75K, which is
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adjusted from time-to-time by the moderators.. This limit is a
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courtesy to those who rely on dial-up Internet access.
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</p>
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<h2><a name="behavior"></a>Prohibited behavior</h2>
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<p>Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators will ban
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postings by abusers.</p>
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<h3>Flame wars</h3>
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<p>Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all the other
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behaviors which fall into the "flame war" category are
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prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical arguments, not the
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personality traits or motives of participants.</p>
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<h3>Third-party attacks</h3>
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<p>Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware vendors, or any
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other organizations, are prohibited. Boost exists to unite and serve the
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entire C++ community, not to disparage the work of others.</p>
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<p>Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry remark about a
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troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of overdoing it.</p>
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<h3>Off-topic posts</h3>
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<p>Discussions which stray from the acceptable topics are strongly discouraged.
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While off-topic posts are often well meaning and not as individually corrosive
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as other abuses, cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
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discussion.</p>
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<h2><a name="culture"></a>Culture</h2>
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<p>In addition to technical skills, Boost members value collaboration,
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acknowledgement of the help of others, and a certain level of politeness. Boost
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membership is very international, and ranges widely in age and other
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characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among colleagues in a widely read forum, rather
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than among a few close friends.</p>
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<p>Always remember that the cumulative effort spent by people reading
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your contribution scales with the (already large) number of boost
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members. Thus, do invest time and effort to make your message as
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readable as possible. Adhere to English syntax and grammar rules such
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as proper capitalization. Avoid copious informalism, colloquial
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language, or abbreviations, they may not be understood by all readers.
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Re-read your message before submitting it.</p>
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<h2>Guidelines for effective discussions</h2>
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<p>Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical discussion from
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degenerating into a shouting match, and to actively encourage the cooperation
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upon which Boost depends.</p>
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<ul>
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<li>Questions help. If someone suggests something that you don't think
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will work, then replying with a question like "will that compile?"
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or "won't that fail to compile, or am I missing something?" is a
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lot smoother than "That's really stupid - it won't compile."
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Saying "that fails to compile for me, and seems to violate section
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n.n.n of the standard" would be yet another way to be firm without
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being abrasive.</li>
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<li>If most of the discussion has been code-free generalities, posting a bit
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of sample code can focus people on the practical issues.</li>
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<li>If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific code, try to talk
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a bit about hidden assumptions and generalities that may be preventing
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discussion closure.</li>
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<li>Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me think
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about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to digest the
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discussion so far."</li>
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</ul>
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<p>Avoid Parkinson's Bicycle Shed. Parkinson described a committee formed
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to oversee design of an early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda
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items - when to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to
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ensure nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial.
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Nuclear safety was discussed for only
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an hour - it was so complex, scary, and technical that even
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among experts few felt comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then
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spent discussing where to put the bicycle shed (the parking lot would
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be a modern equivalent) because everyone
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understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them. </p>
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<hr>
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<p>Revised <!--webbot bot="Timestamp" S-Type="EDITED" S-Format="%d %B, %Y" startspan -->02 October, 2003<!--webbot bot="Timestamp" i-checksum="38549" endspan -->
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</p>
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<p><EFBFBD> Beman Dawes 2000</p>
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<p> Use, modification, and distribution are subject to the Boost Software
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License, Version 1.0. (See accompanying file <a href="../LICENSE_1_0.txt">
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LICENSE_1_0.txt</a> or copy at <a href="http://www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt">
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www.boost.org/LICENSE_1_0.txt</a>)</p>
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</body>
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