Jon Pretty

The problem is offended/offender is so subjective. In a public space we can't prevent someone talk because you argue to be offended even more in a situation where you just talk about programming.

I don't think people should be under pressure to present themselves as not offensive. That's just Fascism Lite, it still has the same result, and the arguments just need to be adjusted a little: "you were trolling" -> "you didn't make sure we knew you weren't trolling". Bad idea.

In an ideal society, where people's brains have turned into proof assistants and our words become sequents and tactics, I agree. Until then, we have to swim in the waters of casual human conversation where every conversation is a chaotic process. Endeavor to not perturb.

here's the thing: people make errors of judgment all day long. they do not escalate them beyond arguing. the mods in question, as well as Lightbend and EPFL apparently, have decided to use their power to go beyond that. This means they must, but cannot, handle their power.

If you're just a regular old person posting a comment, you don't have a lot of power, and the worst thing that can happen is you post things people don't like. But when you accept more power over other users, you better damn know how to use that responsibly. There's no excuse.

> There's no excuse Actually there is, it's called "ownership" which in the real world is about "property", protected by law. Online properties are different and governed by different laws, but the same concept more or less applies. And FOSS in general is not "public domain"

The /r/scala channel is one that requires maintenance and has moderators that devote their time to it. Personally I couldn't do it b/c Reddit in general is filled with vitriol (not just /r/scala, which is actually nice). I don't know the story, I rarely go to Reddit, but ...