On 07/02/2013 07:24 PM, Steven D'Aprano wrote: >[...] > On the other hand, I've certainly learned a lot in my newbie days from > being told off quite harshly by some of the Python community alphas, like > the Effbot Fredrik Lundh, and Alex Martelli. It hurts to be told you're > an idiot by one of the alphas, but sometimes you need to be told you're > an idiot[1]. Even if you're not, realising that others think you are > builds character[2].
True, for some people, some times. As your [2] footnote admits it can be damaging as well. I have noticed that the ratio of female to mail posters here (at least as I can guess from names) seems far lower than the same ratio of programmers where I've worked. I asked a female programmer once why she didn't use groups like c.l.p. and she cited harshness and bickering as the main reason. Obviously a sample of one doesn't prove anything but... Effbot was around when I first started reading c.l.p and although I immediately recognized his contributions to and knowledge of python, I always questioned whether his positive contributions weren't negated by his negative ones. (Consider how many positive things he contributed <i>that wouldn't have been mentioned by someone else had he not posted them</i>, versus the disruption caused in reaction to his attitude.) >[...] > [2] Sometimes it builds stronger, better character. Sometimes it builds > weaker, broken character. It's all character. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
