www/philosophy kind-communication.html

[Dora Scilipoti]

CVSROOT:        /web/www
Module name:    www
Changes by:     Dora Scilipoti <dora>   19/10/26 12:51:02

Modified files:
        philosophy     : kind-communication.html 

Log message:
        Improve readability (www-discuss 10/23/2019).

CVSWeb URLs:
http://web.cvs.savannah.gnu.org/viewcvs/www/philosophy/kind-communication.html?cvsroot=www&r1=1.12&r2=1.13

Patches:
Index: kind-communication.html
===================================================================
RCS file: /web/www/www/philosophy/kind-communication.html,v
retrieving revision 1.12
retrieving revision 1.13
diff -u -b -r1.12 -r1.13
--- kind-communication.html     20 Feb 2019 19:57:45 -0000      1.12
+++ kind-communication.html     26 Oct 2019 16:51:02 -0000      1.13
@@ -2,11 +2,22 @@
 <!-- Parent-Version: 1.86 -->
 <title>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines
 - GNU Project - Free Software Foundation</title>
+<style type="text/css" media="print,screen"><!--
+@media  (min-width: 57em) {
+   h2, h3, hr.thin, .byline { margin-left: -5% }
+}
+--></style>
  <!--#include virtual="/philosophy/po/kind-communication.translist" -->
 <!--#include virtual="/server/banner.html" -->
+
+<div class="reduced-width">
 <h2>GNU Kind Communications Guidelines</h2>
 
-<p>by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/";>Richard Stallman</a></p>
+<p class="byline">by <a href="http://www.stallman.org/";>Richard 
Stallman</a></p>
+<hr class="thin" />
+
+<div class="article">
+<h3>Purpose</h3>
 
 <p>The GNU Project encourages contributions from anyone who wishes to
 advance the development of the GNU system, regardless of gender, race,
@@ -26,99 +37,108 @@
 
 <p>These guidelines suggest specific ways to accomplish that goal.</p>
 
-<p>Please assume other participants are posting in good faith, even if
-you disagree with what they say. When people present code or text as
-their own work, please accept it as their work.  Please do not
-criticize people for wrongs that you only speculate they may have
-done; stick to what they actually say and actually do.</p>
-
-<p>Please think about how to treat other participants with respect,
-especially when you disagree with them.  For instance, call them by the
-names they use, and honor their preferences about their gender
-identity<a href="#f1">[1]</a>.</p>
-
-<p>Please do not take a harsh tone towards other participants, and
-especially don't make personal attacks against them.  Go out of your
-way to show that you are criticizing a statement, not a person.</p>
-
-<p>Please recognize that criticism of your statements is not a
-personal attack on you. If you feel that someone has attacked you, or
-offended your personal dignity, please don't &ldquo;hit back&rdquo;
-with another personal attack.  That tends to start a vicious circle of
-escalating verbal aggression.  A private response, politely stating
-your feelings <em>as feelings</em>, and asking for peace, may calm
-things down.  Write it, set it aside for hours or a day, revise it to
-remove the anger, and only then send it.</p>
-
-<p>Please avoid statements about the presumed typical desires,
-capabilities or actions of some demographic group.  They can offend
-people in that group, and they are always off-topic in GNU Project
-discussions.</p>
-
-<p>Please be especially kind to other contributors when saying they
-made a mistake.  Programming means making lots of mistakes, and we all
-do so&mdash;this is why regression tests are useful.  Conscientious
-programmers make mistakes, and then fix them.  It is helpful to show
-contributors that being imperfect is normal, so we don't hold it
-against them, and that we appreciate their imperfect contributions
-though we hope they follow through by fixing any problems in them.</p>
-
-<p>Likewise, be kind when pointing out to other contributors that they
-should stop using certain nonfree software.  For their own sake, they
-ought to free themselves, but we welcome their contributions to our
-software packages even if they don't do that. So these reminders
-should be gentle and not too frequent&mdash;don't nag.</p>
-
-<p>By contrast, to suggest that others use nonfree software opposes
-the basic principles of GNU, so it is not allowed in GNU Project
-discussions.</p>
-
-<p>Please respond to what people actually said, not to exaggerations
-of their views.  Your criticism will not be constructive if it is aimed
-at a target other than their real views.</p>
-
-<p>If in a discussion someone brings up a tangent to the topic at
-hand, please keep the discussion on track by focusing on the current
-topic rather than the tangent.  This is not to say that the tangent is
-bad, or not interesting to discuss&mdash;only that it shouldn't
-interfere with discussion of the issue at hand.  In most cases, it is
-also off-topic, so those interested ought to discuss it somewhere
-else.</p>
-
-<p>If you think the tangent is an important and pertinent issue,
-please bring it up as a separate discussion, with a Subject field to
-fit, and consider waiting for the end of the current discussion.</p>
-
-<p>Rather than trying to have the last word, look for the times when
-there is no need to reply, perhaps because you already made the
-relevant point clear enough.  If you know something about the game of
-Go, this analogy might clarify that: when the other player's move is not
-strong enough to require a direct response, it is advantageous to give
-it none and instead move elsewhere.</p>
-
-<p>Please don't argue unceasingly for your preferred course of action
-when a decision for some other course has already been made.  That
-tends to block the activity's progress.</p>
-
-<p>If other participants complain about the way you express your
-ideas, please make an effort to cater to them.  You can find ways to
-express the same points while making others more comfortable.  You are
-more likely to persuade others if you don't arouse ire about secondary
-things.</p>
-
-<p>Please don't raise unrelated political issues in GNU Project
-discussions, because they are off-topic.  The only political positions
-that the GNU Project endorses are (1) that users should have control
-of their own computing (for instance, through free software) and (2)
-supporting basic human rights in computing.  We don't require you as a
-contributor to agree with these two points, but you do need to accept
-that our decisions will be based on them.</p>
+<h3>Guidelines</h3>
+
+<ul>
+  <li>Please assume other participants are posting in good faith, even if
+  you disagree with what they say. When people present code or text as
+  their own work, please accept it as their work.  Please do not
+  criticize people for wrongs that you only speculate they may have
+  done; stick to what they actually say and actually do.</li>
+
+  <li>Please think about how to treat other participants with respect,
+  especially when you disagree with them.  For instance, call them by the
+  names they use, and honor their preferences about their gender
+  identity<a href="#f1">[1]</a>.</li>
+
+  <li>Please do not take a harsh tone towards other participants, and
+  especially don't make personal attacks against them.  Go out of your
+  way to show that you are criticizing a statement, not a person.</li>
+
+  <li>Please recognize that criticism of your statements is not a
+  personal attack on you. If you feel that someone has attacked you, or
+  offended your personal dignity, please don't &ldquo;hit back&rdquo;
+  with another personal attack.  That tends to start a vicious circle of
+  escalating verbal aggression.  A private response, politely stating
+  your feelings <em>as feelings</em>, and asking for peace, may calm
+  things down.  Write it, set it aside for hours or a day, revise it to
+  remove the anger, and only then send it.</li>
+
+  <li>Please avoid statements about the presumed typical desires,
+  capabilities or actions of some demographic group.  They can offend
+  people in that group, and they are always off-topic in GNU Project
+  discussions.</li>
+
+  <li>Please be especially kind to other contributors when saying they
+  made a mistake.  Programming means making lots of mistakes, and we all
+  do so&mdash;this is why regression tests are useful.  Conscientious
+  programmers make mistakes, and then fix them.  It is helpful to show
+  contributors that being imperfect is normal, so we don't hold it
+  against them, and that we appreciate their imperfect contributions
+  though we hope they follow through by fixing any problems in them.</li>
+
+  <li>Likewise, be kind when pointing out to other contributors that they
+  should stop using certain nonfree software.  For their own sake, they
+  ought to free themselves, but we welcome their contributions to our
+  software packages even if they don't do that. So these reminders
+  should be gentle and not too frequent&mdash;don't nag.
+
+  <p>By contrast, to suggest that others use nonfree software opposes
+  the basic principles of GNU, so it is not allowed in GNU Project
+  discussions.</p>
+  </li>
+
+  <li>Please respond to what people actually said, not to exaggerations
+  of their views.  Your criticism will not be constructive if it is aimed
+  at a target other than their real views.</li>
+
+  <li>If in a discussion someone brings up a tangent to the topic at
+  hand, please keep the discussion on track by focusing on the current
+  topic rather than the tangent.  This is not to say that the tangent is
+  bad, or not interesting to discuss&mdash;only that it shouldn't
+  interfere with discussion of the issue at hand.  In most cases, it is
+  also off-topic, so those interested ought to discuss it somewhere
+  else.
+
+  <p>If you think the tangent is an important and pertinent issue,
+  please bring it up as a separate discussion, with a Subject field to
+  fit, and consider waiting for the end of the current discussion.</p>
+  </li>
+
+  <li>Rather than trying to have the last word, look for the times when
+  there is no need to reply, perhaps because you already made the
+  relevant point clear enough.  If you know something about the game of
+  Go, this analogy might clarify that: when the other player's move is not
+  strong enough to require a direct response, it is advantageous to give
+  it none and instead move elsewhere.</li>
+
+  <li>Please don't argue unceasingly for your preferred course of action
+  when a decision for some other course has already been made.  That
+  tends to block the activity's progress.</li>
+
+  <li>If other participants complain about the way you express your
+  ideas, please make an effort to cater to them.  You can find ways to
+  express the same points while making others more comfortable.  You are
+  more likely to persuade others if you don't arouse ire about secondary
+  things.</li>
+
+  <li>Please don't raise unrelated political issues in GNU Project
+  discussions, because they are off-topic.  The only political positions
+  that the GNU Project endorses are (1) that users should have control
+  of their own computing (for instance, through free software) and (2)
+  supporting basic human rights in computing.  We don't require you as a
+  contributor to agree with these two points, but you do need to accept
+  that our decisions will be based on them.</li>
+</ul>
 
 <p>By making an effort to follow these guidelines, we will encourage
 more contribution to our projects, and our discussions will be
 friendlier and reach conclusions more easily.</p>
 
-<h3 style="font-size:1em">Footnote</h3>
+</div>
+
+<h3 style="font-size:1.1em">Footnote</h3>
+
 <ol>
   <li id="f1">
     <p>Honoring people's preferences about gender identity includes
@@ -137,6 +157,7 @@
     </p>
   </li>
 </ol>
+</div>
 
 </div><!-- for id="content", starts in the include above -->
 <!--#include virtual="/server/footer.html" -->
@@ -196,7 +217,7 @@
 
 <p class="unprintable">Updated:
 <!-- timestamp start -->
-$Date: 2019/02/20 19:57:45 $
+$Date: 2019/10/26 16:51:02 $
 <!-- timestamp end -->
 </p>
 </div>