Consider for a moment that "being rude" is a lot more about the recipient than about the speaker. What constitutes "rude" is not a universal item.

So you're saying that either (a) more people err on the side of caution, actually missing opportunities to impact and make a difference, or (b) everyone is a lot more psychic than I am, and does the right thing magically?

I'd rather be in the category of (c) I'll say things as I see them, and as I'd want to be treated, and if that's seen as rude by the recipient, I'll acknowledge that and mop up the mess.

I've not done ONE thing here that I wouldn't be the willing recipient of. I really do believe in that golden rule thing, in case you get the reference.

Maybe this is also driven by personal history. I believe there were many times that people withheld knowledge from me because they were "being nice". I have evidence that this has done more damage to me than good. I am vowing never to make that mistake for others. I promise it. I'm commited to it. I will communicate straightly about what is going on, even if initially it is seen as "rude". Because to me, "wanting to be liked" does not trump "wanting to make a difference", like it does for some^Wmost people.

-- Randal L. Schwartz, Perl hacker
Be sure to read my standard disclaimer if this is a reply.

In reply to •Re^4: A modest request of Merlyn by merlyn
in thread A modest request of Merlyn by delirium

Title:
Use:  <p> text here (a paragraph) </p>
and:  <code> code here </code>
to format your post, it's "PerlMonks-approved HTML":


  • Posts are HTML formatted. Put <p> </p> tags around your paragraphs. Put <code> </code> tags around your code and data!
  • Titles consisting of a single word are discouraged, and in most cases are disallowed outright.
  • Read Where should I post X? if you're not absolutely sure you're posting in the right place.
  • Please read these before you post! —
  • Posts may use any of the Perl Monks Approved HTML tags:
    a, abbr, b, big, blockquote, br, caption, center, col, colgroup, dd, del, details, div, dl, dt, em, font, h1, h2, h3, h4, h5, h6, hr, i, ins, li, ol, p, pre, readmore, small, span, spoiler, strike, strong, sub, summary, sup, table, tbody, td, tfoot, th, thead, tr, tt, u, ul, wbr
  • You may need to use entities for some characters, as follows. (Exception: Within code tags, you can put the characters literally.)
            For:     Use:
    & &amp;
    < &lt;
    > &gt;
    [ &#91;
    ] &#93;
  • Link using PerlMonks shortcuts! What shortcuts can I use for linking?
  • See Writeup Formatting Tips and other pages linked from there for more info.