[FFmpeg-devel] [PATCH] doc: add a few note for sponsorship candidates.

[Ronald S. Bultje]

Hi,

On Fri, Mar 20, 2015 at 7:51 AM, wm4 <nfxjfg at googlemail.com> wrote:

> On Fri, 20 Mar 2015 10:43:55 +0100
> Stefano Sabatini <stefasab at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > On date Friday 2015-03-20 09:57:58 +0100, wm4 encoded:
> > > On Thu, 19 Mar 2015 20:43:55 -0400
> > > "Ronald S. Bultje" <rsbultje at gmail.com> wrote:
> > >
> > > > Hi,
> > > >
> > > > On Thu, Mar 19, 2015 at 4:53 PM, Nicolas George <george at nsup.org>
> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > > +If at any point you have any question, do not hesitate to ask
> them.
> > > > > +Actually, yes, hesitate a few seconds, in case this question will
> make you
> > > > > +look dump. So read on.
> > > > >
> > > >
> > > > s/dump/dumb/.
> > > >
> > > > Also, I'm not sure that's a good attitude, we surely want students
> to be
> > > > able to look up google'able stuff themselves, but asking questions
> to their
> > > > mentor should be encouraged (and if the mentor thinks it's
> goole'able, he
> > > > should feel comfortable saying so).
> > >
> >
> > > +1
> > >
> > > Sure, we require the candidates to think on their own (and experience
> > > shows that unfortunately shows that they don't always do), but this
> > > language is just offensive and also seems to discourage asking
> > > questions at all. Maybe rephrase it as something like "While GSoC
> > > attendants should be able to solve problems on their own, it's OK to
> > > ask questions if you're stuck." See, now we don't think you're dumb
> > > anymore, but yes we expect that you put some effort into it.
> >
> > I don't think this is offensive but smart candidates will figure when
> > and how to ask good questions by themselves, being told explicitly
> > would be annoying for them.
> >
> > Also the focus is not about smart/silly, it is about finding a good
> > tradeoff between mentee and mentor's time effort when asking/replying
> > to a question. In general mentors' time is precious (because they're
> > usually busy and/or are delivering their free time), so the
> > candidate/mentee should do most of the effort, and ask questions only
> > when he/she's put some efforts into trying to solve an issue, and show
> > this effort when putting out the question.
>
> Of course, but telling a candidate that his question may be interpreted
> as dumb is the wrong way to go about it. It sound dismissive and
> unfriendly. Making demands is ok, but premature "punishment" or
> prejudice is not. (Yeah, we know most candidates will probably be bad,
> but there's no reason to repel potentially good ones just out of
> pessimism.)
>
> > So, adding my two cents:
> >
> > "GSoC attendants should be able to solve problems on their own, but
> > it's fine to ask questions if you're stuck or if you are not sure
> > about your task. When asking questions, you are also expected to show
> > how are you trying to solve the related issue."
>
> Sounds ok to me.


+1 to both.

Ronald