> I'll save this link for the next time someone tries to argue that the Rust community is somehow "more welcoming" than some other X community.
It's deeply disappointing to see this outcome (and r/rust is literally divided into two halves on this drama at least for now, ugh), but I believe it is the statement about the average atmosphere. Not that I have an argument for or against the refined statement, but it doesn't automatically get rejected with a single counterexample.
Nah, it's just the usual delusion of small-but-growing communities. The Python community was great in 2001, a bit less so these days. The Lisp community was probably great at some point in the '70s too. It's just that, with size, the likelihood of attracting undesirable elements inevitably grows until their presence simply cannot be denied. At that point, you either deploy heavy-handed moderation and get branded "unwelcoming" by the assholes, or leave it free for all and get branded "unwelcoming" by the most sensitive not-assholes. Then someone or something will spawn a new community, and the cycle will repeat itself.
This process is basically inevitable, and it has been observed in internet communities for so long that it's basically a science by now. It's just the nature of the (human) beast.
Of course I don't disagree to you, I too think that that reputation is extremely hard to retain. However:
1. It seems that there are/were some language communities noted for their relatively more welcoming atmosphere. If small communities are usually great until it aren't, why don't we see many such communities? There seems to be some truth in this (albeit ultimately fragile) reputation.
2. For this reason, in order to claim that some community is no longer what it used to be, you need multiple anecdotes at the very least.
If a small community is great and the tool they push is valid, it will grow until it's not great anymore. Try mentioning any tool that has grown in popularity, stood the test of time, and still has an exemplary community.
If a small community is great but the tool is not particularly good, they will stay small and simply get ignored. That's the average scenario for most languages not pushed by a wealthy vendor: you just don't hear about them because you don't need the tool.
> you need multiple anecdotes at the very least.
Meh, this is just the first of many to come, if Rust is to keep growing in popularity. It's on the same trajectory as Go, just a bit behind because it got usable a few years later.
> Meh, this is just the first of many to come, if Rust is to keep growing in popularity. It's on the same trajectory as Go, just a bit behind because it got usable a few years later.
If you originally meant that the Rust community is on the way of becoming less welcoming, well that works for me.
Re 1, if they're small communities, you don't hear much about them in the first place. And if it's a language community, then the language is probably pitched long before the quality of the community comes into question.
That is, I've never heard anything about the communities for zig, D, beef, futhark, pony, Julia, etc.
But then, I don't think ever seen any comment on their community... Their supporters are too busy trying to justify the language's existence!
Well let me the first to mention Julia’s community. Especially on the julialang slack channel, the community is excellent. It’s incredibly friendly, welcoming and helpful.
It's deeply disappointing to see this outcome (and r/rust is literally divided into two halves on this drama at least for now, ugh), but I believe it is the statement about the average atmosphere. Not that I have an argument for or against the refined statement, but it doesn't automatically get rejected with a single counterexample.