Re: Hello fdclose

On Fri, 2014-03-21 at 17:54 +0100, Dag-Erling Smørgrav wrote:
> Warren Block <wblock_at_wonkity.com> writes:
> > Dag-Erling Smørgrav <des_at_des.no> writes:
> > > I mean the FreeBSD project, and the reason is as John stated: all
> > > sentences must start with a capital letter.  I've gotten so used to
> > > this over the past 15 years that I even do it in email and other
> > > non-FreeBSD written material.
> > "Because it's been that way for 15 years" is not always a
> > justification (consider BIND in base, for example :).
> 
> "I don't like your answer, so I will ignore it" is not a justification
> either.  It's kindergarden behavior and beneath the dignity of a FreeBSD
> committer.
> 
> We have a rule that sentences must always start with a capital letter.
> The fact that this rule was instituted 15 years ago does not
> automatically invalidate it, and neither does the fact that Joe Random
> Committer disagrees with it.
> 
> DES

Just as the age of a moronic "rule" such as this doesn't in any way
justify the idea that it could never be changed.  Especially when the
"rule" appears to be an undocumented prejudice.

People love to throw around assertions about "rules" of the English
language.  It doesn't have many rules (subject has to agree in number
with the verb, that's about it for unbreakable rules), but it has as
many opinions on proper style as there are readers and writers.

-- Ian