GNU bug report logs - #32578
Remove "joke" from drag events documentation

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Package: emacs;

Reported by: Chris Shea <cmshea <at> gmail.com>

Date: Wed, 29 Aug 2018 17:48:01 UTC

Severity: wishlist

Tags: patch, wontfix

Done: Eli Zaretskii <eliz <at> gnu.org>

Bug is archived. No further changes may be made.

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From: Marcin Borkowski <mbork <at> mbork.pl>
To: Chris Shea <cmshea <at> gmail.com>
Cc: 32578 <at> debbugs.gnu.org
Subject: bug#32578: Remove "joke" from drag events documentation
Date: Thu, 30 Aug 2018 09:20:03 +0200
On 2018-08-29, at 19:29, Chris Shea <cmshea <at> gmail.com> wrote:

> Hello,
>
> This patch removes an unnecessary and unwelcoming joke from the drag events
> documentation. Documentation should be informative and inclusive.

I'm a bit on the fence about this.  On the one hand, I remember seeing
the joke some time ago and finding it hilarious.  On the other hand,
I remember feeling good about removing other jokes from Emacs sources,
which were _really_ offensive.  This one seems to be far, far from
offensive anyway, and if anyone feels offended by this, they probably
well deserve it.  Disclosure: I know (and often tell myself) jokes about
groups of people _I_ belong to which are probably much more "offensive"
than this one (though obviously I may be biased).  I can provide
a sample on request.

I don't see how the relevant portion can be seen as not informative.

BTW, I am now coauthoring a book on pretty advanced mathematics
(nonlinear analysis), and we try to put quite a lot of jokes into it.
Well-placed jokes do not make a book/documentation less informative, but
more pleasant to read.  (Unfortunately, there is nothing about "drag
events" in the book.)

If I were to made a decision, I would probably (a bit reluctantly, but
still) leave it, so that Emacs does not succumb to the idiocy called
"political correctness".

Best,

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl




This bug report was last modified 6 years and 320 days ago.

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