A user's guide for the people API

Posted Apr 27, 2023 20:06 UTC (Thu) by flussence (guest, #85566)
Parent article: A user's guide for the people API

A large part of the misanthropic brainrot in tech (and FOSS in particular) today stems from the “How To Ask Questions The Smart Way” essay, and I maintain the opinion it needs to be flushed out of the internet zeitgeist for good. There's a certain type of crowd that *eat up* self-help/combat manuals like this, and it shows.

We really could use a fresh alternative - something that collects the more well-adjusted ideas from articles like this one and others written this century in a similar format (i.e. an url to refer to in the middle of a thread). It might even already exist but I'm not aware of it if so.

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A user's guide for the people API

Posted Apr 28, 2023 15:37 UTC (Fri) by jwarnica (subscriber, #27492) [Link] (1 responses)

From Wikipedia:
> In computing, the robustness principle is a design guideline for software that states: "be conservative in what you do, be liberal in what you accept from others". It is often reworded as: "be conservative in what you send, be liberal in what you accept". The principle is also known as Postel's law, after Jon Postel, who used the wording in an early specification of TCP.

I think the “How To Ask Questions The Smart Way” essay is fine, and a good resource.... To learn how to ask smart questions; to learn how to be conservative in what you send. It isn't permission to be an asshole in what you receive.

Going meta is a good way to derail a conversation and "read this guide before talking to me" is a great way to derail a conversation.

A user's guide for the people API

Posted Apr 28, 2023 18:05 UTC (Fri) by Wol (subscriber, #4433) [Link]

I remember being rung up once for computer advice. Thirty seconds into the call, I thought I knew the answer. Twenty minutes into the monologue I put the phone down.

Conversation is TWO WAY. Language is there TO BE UNDERSTOOD. When you're dealing with someone who either (a) ignores the proverb "God gave you two ears and one mouth, use them in that proportion", or who insists on redefining language as per Humpty Dumpty, the best thing to do is walk away.

Postel's law has proven to be a nightmare in practice. If you don't call out rubbish, people never learn. Let's replace it with Lennart's law - "Be strict in what you accept, but gentle in your error messages". From what I know of him, he's quite happy to go the extra mile to make sure you understand PROVIDED you treat him with the respect he shows you.

That's why I get very upset when people go on about "correct", or "proper", English. But I'm quite happy to insist on "standard" English. Without an agreement on what words mean (or their pronounciation), there can be no communication or understanding.

And "How to ask smart questions" is a very good resource. Just don't throw it into the middle of a helpdesk call :-)

Cheers,
Wol