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Comment by platz | Hacker News Reader

here's the github profile of the guy who made the commit to change the text. https://github.com/martinthomson. nice avatar.

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We detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10649912 and marked it off-topic.

...and how much have you contributed to HTTP/2? Are you in any position to criticize Martin based on his avatar of all things?

edit: I apologize for the ad hominem nature of this comment. I just get frustrated when people attack major contributers to open source projects. We need to keep in mind how important these projects are and how thankless contribution can be.

Martin has done a lot of work on HTTP/2 and WebRTC. If somebody wants a different message in the HTTP/2 handshake that doesn't evoke immaturity, then that person can contribute sufficient to gain stature in the community and then change that message. Criticizing Martin's avatar is just dragging us into deeper waters for nothing.

Fair enough, I admit that comment was not one of my finest and should have focused the argument on the substance of HTTP/2 itself instead of it's contributors.

Wee woo wee woo wee woo, let's call the tone police!

I thought hackers were for meritocracy, and not nitpicking silly things like avatars.

In-group behavior is not a good indicator in terms of being a meritocracy. Rather it indicates that people don't expect anyone to scrutinize them.

Say there's a summit on internet governance and someone is making a point about this statement against PRISM and wants link to his commit message. Say that someone is part of the US government and the audience is middle eastern business men. Who is taking away from the meritocracy now?

Nice avatar indeed. Are you suggesting this is an immature boy's avatar?

This guy is actually a Principal Engineer at Mozilla, working on WebRTC.

And why are you commenting on someone's avatar? Would you appreciate it if someone judged yours?

...okay.

If you're attempting to slyly suggest something, everyone would be much better off if you'd just come out and say it. Please don't waste people's time with innuendo.

That's so unprofessional, my bow-tie came off! He should be hanged! You do still have hangings in the colonies, right? Nothing gets the rabble in line like a good hanging, I always say. Oh, I'm late for my croquet game. Toodles.

Heh. Ironically, the HTTP WG (including Martin) went through a period where many of us wore bow ties, etc. to meetings. Trying to raise the sartorial standards of the IETF (under the guidance of the ever-well-turned-out Hasan).

Isn't the W3C the UN of Web Standards?

Why would you not expect programmers with strong political leanings? What kind of world do you live in where top researchers all share moderate views and modes of expressing those views?

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