It is absolutely a bad thing to be negative and snarky. It sews resentment within the community and taints potentially valid points. One can express legitimate concerns and be heard without putting oneself on a pedestal or diminishing the self-worth of others. We as a community must take responsibility for fostering a merit-based discourse, and reject pettiness and snark.
What sews resentment is being repeatedly dismissive of serious problems, as we're seeing with this hackish use of 'unsafe' features - that's an attitude that diminishes the self-worth of others, if I ever saw any. If anything, a bit of irony and snark can be helpful in underlining a sharp, pointed critique, while de-escalating the sorts of petty, antagonizing attitudes that we've seen in this case.
I think I understand what you are getting at. Though there may be disagreement on exactly where the lines should be drawn, I think it’s important to underscore the value of patience on the part of everyone in the conversation.
The rust community has a position on these things, but perhaps it isn’t as well-documented or refined as it could be.
No doubt, having to contend with this issue is frustrating for all parties. I think it’s important however to help people feel heard and respected even if we don’t agree with them. One of the burdens as a pillar of the community is the necessity to rise above that frustration (articulating it in an emotionally intelligent manner when necessary) – to focus on educating, and hearing constructive criticism.
That said, candidly it’s not helpful to talk about using snark as a means of being heard. It’s like saying “I’ll put down my weapons after you put down yours”
Let’s not bury the lede here: people are coming to Rust because they see, and are excited by its potential. They are passionate about making the language better. I think we should hear them, search for patience, and disagree without being disagreeable. We will go a LOT further together through collaboration than we can through divisive rhetoric.
