# Ignoring negativity

The panel session missed Q&A, this BOF is the Q&A of the panel.

Q: why does one decide to spend their energy on trolls rather than on the things they care?
If nobody challenges somebody it may become clear far too late that the distribution of opinion in the project is badly represented by list traffic
If somebody's behaviour is crossing a line it can be useful to correct them in public (sometimes also in private)

## Techniques

Read everything in the thread before replying.  Reduces volume.

Don't need to add that you think someone is wrong after saying why you disagree.

Let's just trying to imitate what Russ is doing: Russ has the unique ability to express
in written(!) language, that when you're wrong on something that you (after that) still
feel good about it. Most other people pointing out that someone is wrong, make
the "wrong" person feel bad/negative about it.
^ most of us do not have rra's ability to do this, though...

Contributing to a thread vs. winning the argument

## Areas where negativity can arise

If one is the maintainer of something, one feels a responsibility to respond, especially when you are the maintainer of something that is (seen as) core to the project (e.g., maintainer of dpkg, debhelper, policy, T.C. member)

DebConf != Debian (Debian is much much bigger than DebConf); sometimes it can appear that those not physically present (or "loud" enough at DebConfs) are not being listened to.  How can we avoid that?

Our DPL recommends:
http://www.dealingwithdisrespect.com/

Next year, remember to schedule a recorded "Lightning thanks" session