[gmx-developers] FW: Gromacs quotes

Mark Abraham mark.j.abraham at gmail.com
Mon Dec 17 11:04:46 CET 2012 

On Mon, Dec 17, 2012 at 10:59 AM, Anton Feenstra <k.a.feenstra at vu.nl> wrote:

> Is this why we used to have the 'Explicit content' on the cover of the
> manual ;-)
>
> Don't forget the acronyms (bromacs.dat iirc); there is one I put there
> with something about Russians and opium that should probably be taken out
> too.
>
> FWIW, 'children' refers to child processes, not living (human) beings. It
> did seem funny when I put it in so many years ago, but humour depends so
> much on context, I agree more caution is needed here.
>

Yup. Probably half of GROMACS users have never heard of a child process, or
seen such a message come up in a terminal - and it's hard for those who
have the context to anticipate the effect on those who don't.

I do think we should not get too 'politically correct' about this - just
> free speech but sensitive about other peoples sensitivities.
> If we "eliminate any quotes that can be seen as objectionable" I think
> that could become way too strict.


Indeed. I agree the criterion should be "reasonably unlikely to offend"
rather than "impossible to offend". Assuming we can construct a list and a
workable implementation, someone can pull the obvious offenders and submit
the list here for any further vetoes.

Mark

On 15/12/12 21:53, Erik Marklund wrote:
>
>> I concur. I can help look through the list too. I remember seeing a
>> quote or two that came across as sexist and that should go.
>>
>> Best,
>> Erik
>>
>> 15 dec 2012 kl. 08.45 skrev Tsjerk Wassenaar:
>>
>>  I second that. The criterium should be restrictive: if it can be
>>> insulting to some or is of questionable taste, then it shouldn't be in
>>> there. I do like the references to MD from literature, like
>>> Shakespeare and this one:
>>>
>>> "I will for a night put on the needful restraints." Ivanhoe, Sir
>>> Walter Scott
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> Tsjerk
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> On Sat, Dec 15, 2012 at 1:57 AM, Justin Lemkul <jalemkul at vt.edu
>>> <mailto:jalemkul at vt.edu>> wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>     On 12/14/12 4:27 PM, David van der Spoel wrote:
>>>
>>>         On 2012-12-14 21:55, Shirts, Michael (mrs5pt) wrote:
>>>
>>>             FYI, from my student.  We also have to turn these off in
>>>             F at H to avoid
>>>             complaints.
>>>
>>>             Might it be time to retire the quotes? Do we feel it has
>>>             that much of a
>>>             purpose?  I wonder if it's causing more trouble than it's
>>>             worth . . .
>>>
>>>         Maybe replace them with ads for the NRA?
>>>         Sorry, also bad taste.
>>>
>>>         We had discussion on it previously and the naysayers were less
>>>         vocal than the
>>>         proponents at the time.
>>>
>>>         Does it have a purpose? It can put a smile on someone's face.
>>>
>>>         Otherwise,
>>>         setenv GMX_NO_QUOTES 1
>>>         Or maybe we can make it a cmake option ;).
>>>
>>>
>>>     I don't feel particularly strongly either way, but the complaint
>>>     related to some inappropriate content is well taken.  I think
>>>     there are some quotes that probably don't belong.  I'm not easily
>>>     offended, but maybe we should make an effort to eliminate any
>>>     quotes that can be seen as objectionable, as there are a few that
>>>     may be seen as such due to foul language or other reasons.
>>>
>>>     Disabling the feature with an environment variable is fine (and
>>>     documented!) but I think, at the very least, we should clean up
>>>     the database, since the onus is on us, the developers, to produce
>>>     a user-friendly product.  I'm a big fan of witty quips, though :)
>>>      Maybe the database should simply focus on humorous quotes from
>>>     the developers and other influential people?  Just a thought.
>>>
>>>     "If I had a dime for every time I posted a link to the wiki..."
>>>     (J. Lemkul)  ;)
>>>
>>>     -Justin
>>>
>>>     --
>>>     ==============================**__==========
>>>
>>>
>>>     Justin A. Lemkul, Ph.D.
>>>     Research Scientist
>>>     Department of Biochemistry
>>>     Virginia Tech
>>>     Blacksburg, VA
>>>     jalemkul[at]vt.edu <http://vt.edu/> | (540) 231-9080
>>>     <tel:%28540%29%20231-9080>
>>>     http://www.bevanlab.biochem.__**vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin<http://vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin>
>>>     <http://www.bevanlab.biochem.**vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin<http://www.bevanlab.biochem.vt.edu/Pages/Personal/justin>
>>> >
>>>
>>>     ==============================**__==========
>>>
>>>     --
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>>> >
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>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> --
>>> Tsjerk A. Wassenaar, Ph.D.
>>>
>>> post-doctoral researcher
>>> Biocomputing Group
>>> Department of Biological Sciences
>>> 2500 University Drive NW
>>> Calgary, AB T2N 1N4
>>> Canada
>>>
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>>
>> ------------------------------**-----------------
>> Erik Marklund, PhD
>> Dept. of Cell and Molecular Biology, Uppsala University.
>> Husargatan 3, Box 596,    75124 Uppsala, Sweden
>> phone:    +46 18 471 6688        fax: +46 18 511 755
>> erikm at xray.bmc.uu.se <mailto:erikm at xray.bmc.uu.se>
>> http://www2.icm.uu.se/molbio/**elflab/index.html<http://www2.icm.uu.se/molbio/elflab/index.html>
>>
>>
>
> --
> Groetjes,
>
> Anton
>  _____________ ______________________________**_________________________
> |             |                                                       |
> |  _   _  ___,| K. Anton Feenstra                                     |
> | / \ / \'| | | IBIVU/Bioinformatics - Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam   |
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> |             | Feenstra at few.vu.nl - www.few.vu.nl/~feenstra/         |
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