[Qt-creator] gerrit-speak

[Coda Highland]

On Fri, Dec 14, 2012 at 11:26 AM, André Pönitz
<andre.poenitz at mathematik.tu-chemnitz.de> wrote:
> On Thu, Dec 13, 2012 at 12:15:42PM -0500, Cristian Tibirna wrote:
>> (Rethoric: should this go to a more generic qt list?)
>>
>> Hello
>>
>> (First a side question, is there a more consequent documentation about
>> the use of gerrit?)
>>
>> Is it only me that finds the "-1" review default message in gerrit
>> rather irritating?
>>
>> "I would prefer that you didn't submit this"
>>
>> reads to my brain much like "go f*k yourself" without the raw words.
>
> It's probably not only you, but personally I see no particular reason
> to not take this kind of standard text at face value.
>
> The message is meant to transfer the idea that the reviewer would prefer
> that the submitter didn't submit this patch, and expressng that as
> "I would prefer that you didn't submit this" seems to hit the mark,
> at least for me as a non-native speaker.
>
> Having said that, I often add just a message without a score in such
> cases. The only ugly thing is that these items then still show up
> in bold on my review list.
>
> A negative score should always be accompanied by a reason (and I
> even appreciate a short message with a +1, such as "I only looked
> at the code", or "Tested, works for me").
>
>> "I would prefer that you didn't submit this"
>>
>> I get all the idea of the automating thing and all, and that machines
>> have no emotion, but, if I don't miss something obvious (this happens
>> to me though...) and if that message is configurable, how about
>>
>> "This requires more work"
>>
>> instead?
>
> Would proabably work, too.
>
> But isn't it strange that something that's formulated as a universally
> true statement should feel less offensive than something that's
> explicitly states as subjective opinion? Strange times...
>
> Andre'

As a native speaker, I feel that the nuance of "I would prefer if you
didn't submit this" comes across as "I'm being unnecessarily polite
because what I really want to say would be very rude." Specifically,
at least where I'm from "I would prefer" is code for "I can't stop you
but I think it's a really bad idea."

Meanwhile "This requires more work" comes across as "there's a way to
salvage this." -- it doesn't imply that it's a bad idea, only that the
implementation is lacking.

If you want a good balance, try "I feel that this needs improvement."

/s/ Adam