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Originally Posted by KarenH
Read all of my post. It's the ATTITUDE that leads to anarchy. When people make their own choices between what is an "inconvenience" and what they "shouldn't break," they place themselves above the law. They decide which laws they will follow.
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Karen, your later reference to speeding brings up an interesting comparison. Let's say that Don the driver is driving along on the highway. The posted speed limit is 60 mph, but the average speed of the cars on the highway seems to be about 70 mph, with several drivers going as fast as 80 mph. Is it better for Don to "go with the flow" and move along at 70 mph, or is it better for him to go 55-60 mph as the speed limit states?
The answer is that Don is a safer driver at 70 mph (even if this is faster than the speed he would like to go) than he is at 60 mph. Anyone with driving experience knows that a driver going along at a significantly slower pace can cause problems for him/herself and also other drivers.
We make judgements about rules all the time, and we choose to follow them or not based on those judgements. In this case, if a FIRST rules official were to come on this thread and say that simply re-typing (in other words typing while looking at the original code) is the way to follow this rule, I would have absolutely no bad feelings about ignoring such a busywork rule. Please tell me how this would lead to anarchy.
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Originally Posted by Steve W
I am convinced that rewriting software is now bad and copy and paste is good (tongue in cheek). Now the fact that I am a builder I can use the same reasoning for using a new drive base that our students have spent all summer and fall fixing and building.
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Steve, you should re-read Dave Flowerday's postings. I think they shed some light on why these comparisons work. I'll admit that since the beginning of the discussion, I've felt that they aren't as valid as many people seem to think, but I never put words to it. Dave has made a much more persuasive case for it than I could have.
Paul