Subject: Re: Understanding #:substitutable? and #55231

From: Felix Lechner <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 10 Feb 2025 07:45:13 -0800

Hi Maxime,

On Sun, Feb 09 2025, Maxime Devos wrote:

> It _is_ on track. I replied to someone making a negative remark about
> my behaviour, and defended myself.

> If defending oneself is a form of 'off track', then 'off track' is a
> good thing to do.

> Sometimes, being dismissive, is a perfectly reasonable response. As
> long as it's for the right reasons, well-founded, and with evidence.
>
> Also, the 'dismissiveness to [others with different viewpoint]' is the
> other way around (see: previous points).

> This is, again, a mischaracterisation

> It's not a great place. Every so often I have to defend myself against
> false insinuations and sometimes people conveniently ignore previously
> mentioned issues.

> I wasn't doing any derailing.

> Like, if you a going to criticize someone's defense, at least bother
> to look up their evidence ...

> If the act of defending oneself against an accusation is,
> intrinsically, a form of derailing, then derailing sometimes is a good
> thing.
>
> Having to ever so often defend myself, is one of the reasons I avoid
> Guix nowadays.

This kind of thing happens on technical lists from time to time.  It's
not good to use perseverance, which is great when solving bugs, to
address social issues.  Goodwill (or silence) are better for those.

Sometimes we just have to laugh at ourselves---and at all the compulsive
behavior that makes us human.  Be friends, everyone!

Peace,
Felix

P.S. Your last message was in HTML format, so it was hard for me to sort
out who replied to whom (and the quotes above may be misattributed).