Community faults

Posted Sep 26, 2007 15:23 UTC (Wed) by mjg59 (subscriber, #23239)
In reply to: Community faults by peace
Parent article: My Fabulous Geek Career (O'ReillyNet)

Which is more likely to result in a correct version of the patch being posted - ridicule or a polite response with a link to a description of the coding style and a request that the patch be tidied up to conform to that?

It's pretty straightforward. Supply constructive criticism, not plain criticism. Tell people what's wrong with their code and show them the resources they'll need to fix it. Act like you want their code, not like you'd be happier if they never submitted anything again. It's basic politeness, not political correctness gone mad.