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Re: [PATCH] Improve adherance to the GNU Kind Communication Guidelines
- From: Joseph Myers <joseph at codesourcery dot com>
- To: Matthew Garrett <mjg59 at google dot com>
- Cc: <rms at gnu dot org>, <carlos at redhat dot com>, <libc-alpha at sourceware dot org>
- Date: Tue, 25 Feb 2020 23:14:27 +0000
- Subject: Re: [PATCH] Improve adherance to the GNU Kind Communication Guidelines
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- References: <20181022155515.105302-1-matthewgarrett@google.com> <E1gFB5y-0006Kz-St@fencepost.gnu.org> <a5fc99d8-1895-b573-5314-a04eeea60a3d@redhat.com> <alpine.DEB.2.21.1812062011230.571@digraph.polyomino.org.uk> <E1gWByU-0005MI-Kb@fencepost.gnu.org> <CACdnJutZtsEk_cR_kAPknNXpw=03ngkUS05v7mPpVfQvJvn92w@mail.gmail.com>
On Tue, 25 Feb 2020, Matthew Garrett wrote:
> On Sun, Dec 9, 2018 at 7:11 PM Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> wrote:
> > That is a good example of the sort of general issues that we should
> > decide, because the decisions about them will be the basis for
> > deciding what to do about the abortion censorship joke. I don't
> > see any reason not to take up this issue next.
>
> It's been over a year. Is there any update that can be shared?
This was referring to the question:
> * When is content that involves or depends on some country-specific
> context suitable for inclusion in the technical parts of GNU manuals?
> (This issue only concerns the technical parts of the manuals, not the
> content of the Invariant Sections.)
The GNU Coding Standards now say:
Remember that the audience for a GNU manual (and other GNU
documentation) is global, and that it will be used for years, maybe
decades. This means that the reader could have very different cultural
reference points. Decades from now, all but old folks will have very
different cultural reference points; many things that "everyone knows
about" today may be mostly forgotten.
For this reason, try to avoid writing in a way that depends on
cultural reference points for proper understanding, or that refers to
them in ways that would impede reading for someone that doesn't
recognize them.
Likewise, be conservative in your choice of words (aside from technical
terms), linguistic constructs, and spelling: aim to make them
intelligible to readers from ten years ago. In any contest for
trendiness, GNU writing should not even qualify to enter.
It is ok to refer once in a rare while to spatially or temporally
localized reference points or facts, if it is directly pertinent or as
an aside. Changing these few things (which in any case stand out) when
they no longer make sense will not be a lot of work.
By contrast, it is always proper to refer to concepts of GNU and the
free software movement, when they are pertinent. These are a central
part of our message, so we should take advantage of opportunities to
mention them. They are fundamental moral positions, so they will
rarely if ever change.
--
Joseph S. Myers
joseph@codesourcery.com