>A flame war written in unformatted plaintext on a public list serve actually makes me nostalgic for simpler times.

As a vi user I'll avoid taking sides on an issue I know nothing about, but when the author stated "...there is also a convention of treating eachother with respect on the mailing lists. Sadly this convention is superficial, and seems only to mean things like not using swear words..." it hit me right in the gut.

It's an issue in many OS projects. Heck, it's a problem in the larger policy world -- a similar sentiment is why I stopped doing technology policy, a childhood dream of mine.

There are two kinds of respect: "Treat me like an equal" and "Treat me like I have twenty years of experience and you don't."

These are not the same concept, and it's easy for people to use the same word and fail to realize they aren't the same semantics.

I wouldn’t say those are mutually exclusive.

All humans deserve respect, but a lack of respect for expertise - particularly scientific - is a major problem globally and why our “intelligent” species isn’t doing anything about climate change.

Oh, policy has always been a blood sport. You need a taste for conflict to enter the arena in the first place.

(Been working on tech policy for a very long time, with scars to prove it!)