website2022/community/policy.html

---
title: Boost Discussion Policy
copyright: Beman Dawes, Rob Stewart, David Abrahams, 2000-2005.
revised: 
---


Boost Discussion Policy



Boost Discussion Policy
=======================

Email discussion is the tie that binds boost members
 together into a community. If the discussion is stimulating and
 effective, the community thrives. If the discussion degenerates
 into name-calling and ill will, the community withers and
 dies.


* [Acceptable Topics](#acceptable)
* [Unacceptable Topics](#unacceptable)
* [Effective Posting](#effective)
	+ [Well-Crafted Posting is Worth the Effort](#well-crafted)
	+ [Put the Library Name in the Subject Line](#subject-line)
	+ [Don't Use Tabs](#tabs)
	+ [Limit Line
	 Length](#longlines)
	+ [Don't Overquote, Don't Top-Post, and Do 
	 Use Inline Replies for Readable Quotations](#quoting)
	+ [Keep the Formatting of Quotations Consistent](#formatting-quotations)
	+ [Summarizing and Referring to Earlier Messages](#summarizing-referring)
	+ [Maintain the Integrity of Discussion Threads](#discussion-threads)
	+ [Keep The Size of Your Posting Manageable](#max-size)
* [Prohibited Behavior](#behavior)
	+ [Flame wars](#flame-wars)
	+ [Third-party attacks](#third-party-attacks)
	+ [Off-topic posts](#off-topic-posts)
* [Culture](#culture)
* [Guidelines for Effective Discussions](#effective-discussions)
* [Library Names](#lib_names)


Acceptable
 topics
------------------


* Queries to determine interest in a possible library
 submission.
* Technical discussions about a proposed or existing
 library, including bug reports and requests for help.
* Formal Reviews of proposed libraries.
* Reports of user experiences with Boost libraries.
* Boost administration or policies.
* Compiler specific workarounds as applied to Boost
 libraries.


Other topics related to boost development may be acceptable,
 at the discretion of moderators. If unsure, go ahead and post.
 The moderators will let you know.


Unacceptable
 Topics
--------------------


* Advertisements for commercial products.
* Requests for help getting non-boost code to compile with
 your compiler. Try the comp.lang.c++.moderated newsgroup
 instead.
* Requests for help interpreting the C++ standard. Try the
 comp.std.c++ newsgroup instead.
* Job offers.
* Requests for solutions to homework assignments.


Effective
 Posting
------------------


Most Boost mailing lists host a great deal of traffic, so
 your post is usually competing for attention with many other
 communications. This section describes how to make sure it has
 the desired impact.


### Well-Crafted Posting is Worth the Effort


Don't forget, you're a single writer but there are many
 readers, and you want them to stay interested in what you're
 saying. Saving your readers a little time and effort is usually
 worth the extra time you spend when writing a message. Also,
 boost discussions are saved for posterity, as rationales and
 history of the work we do. A post's usefulness in the future is
 determined by its readability.


### Put the Library Name in the Subject Line


When your post is related to a particular Boost library,
 it's helpful to put the library name in square brackets at the
 beginning of the subject line, e.g.
> 
> Subject: [Regex] Why doesn't this pattern match?
> 
> 
> 


The Boost developers' list is a high-volume mailing list,
 and most maintainers don't have time to read every message. A
 tag on the subject line will help ensure the right people see
 your post.


### Don't Use Tabs


If you use tabs to indent your source code, convert them to
 spaces before inserting the code in a posting. Something in the
 processing chain usually strips all the indentation and leaves
 a mess behind.


### Limit Line
 Length


If you put source code in your postings and your mailer
 wraps long lines automatically, either keep the code narrow or
 insert the code as an (inline, if possible) attachment. That
 will help ensure others can read what you've posted.


### Don't Overquote, Don't 
 Top-Post, and Do Use Inline Replies for Readable Quotations


Please **prune extraneous quoted text** from
 replies so that only the relevant parts are included. It will
 save time and make your post more valuable when readers do not
 have to find out which exact part of a previous message you
 are responding to.


Don't [top-post](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style#Top-posting);
 inline replies are the appropriate [posting style](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posting_style)
 for Boost lists.


The common and very useful inline approach cites the small
 fractions of the message you are actually responding to and
 puts your response directly beneath each citation, with a blank
 line separating them for readability:
```
Person-you're-replying-to wrote:

> Some part of a paragraph that you wish to reply to goes 
> here; there may be several lines.

Your response to that part of the message goes here.  There may,
of course, be several lines.

> The second part of the  paragraph that is relevant to your 
> reply goes here; again there may be several lines.

Your response to the second part of the message goes here.
...

```

For more information about effective use of quotation in
 posts, see [this helpful guide](http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html).


### Keep the Formatting of Quotations Consistent


Some email and news clients use poor word wrapping
 algorithms that leave successive lines from the same quotation
 with differing numbers of leading "`>`"
 characters. **Microsoft Outlook** and
 **Outlook Express**, and some web clients, are
 especially bad about this. If your client offends in this way,
 please take the effort to clean up the mess it makes in quoted
 text. Remember, even if you didn't write the original text,
 it's *your* posting; whether you get your point across
 depends on its readability.


The Microsoft clients also create an unusually verbose
 header at the beginning of the original message text and leave
 the cursor at the beginning of the message, which encourages
 users to write their replies before all of the quoted text
 rather than putting the reply in context. Fortunately, Dominic
 Jain has written a utility that fixes all of these problems
 automatically: [Outlook Quotefix](http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/outlook-quotefix/) for Outlook Users and [OE QuoteFix](http://home.in.tum.de/~jain/software/oe-quotefix/) for users of Outlook Express.


### Summarizing and Referring to Earlier Messages


A summary of the foregoing thread is only needed after a
 long discussion, especially when the topic is drifting or a
 result has been achieved in a discussion. The mail system will
 do the tracking that is needed to enable mail readers to
 display message threads (and every decent mail reader supports
 that).


If you ever have to refer to single message earlier in a
 thread or in a different thread then you can use a URL to the
 [message archives](groups.html#archive). To help to
 keep those URLs short, you can use [tinyurl.com](http://tinyurl.com). Citing the relevant portion
 of a message you link to is often helpful (if the citation is
 small).


### Maintain the Integrity of Discussion Threads


**When starting a new topic, always send a fresh
 message**, rather than beginning a reply to some other
 message and replacing the subject and body. Many mailers can detect the thread you started with and will show the
 new message as part of the original thread, which probably
 isn't what you intended. Follow this guideline for your own
 sake as well as for others'. Often, people scanning for
 relevant messages will decide they're done with a topic and
 hide or kill the entire thread: your message will be missed,
 and you won't get the response you're looking for.


By the same token, **When replying to an existing
 message, use your mailer's "Reply" function**, so that
 the reply shows up as part of the same discussion thread.


**Do not reply to digests** if you are a digest
 delivery subscriber. Your reply will not be properly threaded
 and will probably have the wrong subject line. Instead, you can
 reply through the [GMane web interface](http://news.gmane.org/gmane.comp.lib.boost.devel).


### Keep The Size of Your Posting Manageable


The mailing list software automatically limits message and 
 attachment size to a reasonable amount, typically 75K, which is 
 adjusted from time-to-time by the moderators. This limit is a 
 courtesy to those who rely on dial-up Internet access and let's 
 face it, no one wants to read a posting that consists of 75K of 
 error message text.


Prohibited
 Behavior
--------------------


Prohibited behavior will not be tolerated. The moderators
 will ban postings by abusers.


### Flame wars


Personal insults, argument for the sake of argument, and all
 the other behaviors which fall into the "flame war" category
 are prohibited. Discussions should focus on technical
 arguments, not the personality traits or motives of
 participants.


### Third-party attacks


Attacks on third parties such as software vendors, hardware
 vendors, or any other organizations, are prohibited. Boost
 exists to unite and serve the entire C++ community, not to
 disparage the work of others.


Does this mean that we ban the occasional complaint or wry
 remark about a troublesome compiler? No, but be wary of
 overdoing it.


### Off-topic posts


Discussions that stray from the acceptable topics are
 strongly discouraged. While off-topic posts are often well
 meaning and not as individually corrosive as other abuses,
 cumulatively the distraction damages the effectiveness of
 discussion.


Culture
-------


In addition to technical skills, Boost members value
 collaboration, acknowledgment of the help of others, and a
 certain level of politeness. Boost membership is very
 international, and ranges widely in age and other
 characteristics. Think of discussion as occurring among
 colleagues in a widely read forum, rather than among a few
 close friends.


Always remember that the cumulative effort spent by people
 reading your contribution scales with the (already large)
 number of boost members. Thus, do invest time and effort to
 make your message as readable as possible. Adhere to English
 syntax and grammar rules such as proper capitalization. Avoid
 copious informalism, colloquial language, or abbreviations,
 they may not be understood by all readers. Re-read your message
 before submitting it.


Guidelines for Effective Discussions
------------------------------------


Apply social engineering to prevent heated technical
 discussion from degenerating into a shouting match, and to
 actively encourage the cooperation upon which Boost
 depends.


* Questions help. If someone suggests something that you
 don't think will work, then replying with a question like
 "will that compile?" or "won't that fail to compile, or am I
 missing something?" is a lot smoother than "That's 
 stupid - it won't compile." Saying "that fails to compile for
 me, and seems to violate section n.n.n of the standard" would
 be yet another way to be firm without being abrasive.
* If most of the discussion has been code-free
 generalities, posting a bit of sample code can focus people
 on the practical issues.
* If most of the discussion has been in terms of specific
 code, try to talk a bit about hidden assumptions and
 generalities that may be preventing discussion closure.
* Taking a time-out is often effective. Just say: "Let me
 think about that for a day or two. Let's take a time-out to
 digest the discussion so far."


Avoid ***Parkinson's Bicycle Shed***.
 Parkinson described a committee formed to oversee design of an
 early nuclear power plant. There were three agenda items - when
 to have tea, where to put the bicycle shed, and how to ensure
 nuclear safety. Tea was disposed of quickly as trivial. Nuclear
 safety was discussed for only an hour - it was so complex,
 scary, and technical that even among experts few felt
 comfortable with the issues. Endless days were then spent
 discussing construction of the bicycle shed (the parking lot
 would be the modern equivalent) because everyone thought they
 understood the issues and felt comfortable discussing them.


Library Names
-------------


In order to ensure a uniform presentation in books and
 articles, we have adopted a convention for referring to Boost
 libraries. Library names can either be written in a compact
 form with a dot, as "Boost.Name", or in a long form
 as "the Boost Name library." For example:
> 
> **Boost.Python** serves a very different
>  purpose from **the Boost Graph library**.
> 
> 
> 


Note that the word "library" is not part of the name, and as
 such isn't capitalized.


Please take care to avoid confusion in discussions between
 libraries that have been accepted into Boost and those that
 have not. Acceptance as a Boost library indicates that the code
 and design have passed through our peer-review process; failing
 to make the distinction devalues the hard work of library
 authors who've gone through that process. Here are some
 suggested ways to describe potential Boost libraries:


* the proposed Boost Name library
* the Boost.Name candidate
* the Name library (probably the best choice
 where applicable)


Note that this policy only applies to discussions, not to
 the documentation, directory structure, or even identifiers in
 the code of potential Boost libraries.