The most important problem was omitted entirely - from article and you reasoning too

The most important problem was omitted entirely - from article and you reasoning too

Posted Oct 16, 2007 16:27 UTC (Tue) by einhverfr (guest, #44407)
In reply to: The most important problem was omitted entirely - from article and you reasoning too by khim
Parent article: Yet another male perspective on women in free software

A couple of things:

I think the more important the individual is in the community the more that public discussion
over merits is important.  For example, I have had various people tell me exactly what I did
that was stupid in public (both by men and by women).  Most of the time I listen, learn, and
appreciate the honesty.  This is especially true for communities where I have some sort of
leadership position.

However, for newcommers, I tend to go out of my way to provide guidance without being harsh.
Usually comments like "this would be better asked on a different list" are followed by "here is
a quick overview."  I tend to do the same when directing people to the documentation (some
people *have* looked in the documentation and don't know how to get answers from that-- and
yes, sometimes it happens to me).

Finally, there is such a thing as criticism overload.  I have watched it happen to lots of
people (men and women).  Especially when you work with refavtoring *horrible* codebases, it
happens.  Look for it in yourself and watch for it in others.

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