Good Thing: Difference between revisions

539 bytes added ,  28 July 2004
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What is a '''Good Thing'''?  It is the opposite of a '''Bad Thing'''.  Every group of people has their own list of what they consider to be unambiguously '''Good''' and accordingly a list of opposing Bad principles.
What is a '''Good Thing'''?  It is the opposite of a '''Bad Thing'''.  Every group of people has their own list of what they consider to be unambiguously '''Good''' and accordingly a list of opposing Bad principles.
''In general, we do not care if something discussed here "is or is not a '''Good Thing'''".  We care if it is [[good enough]].  This applies to both our own software designs and requirements statements, and [[corporate practice]]s we are here to expose and change.  If it's good enough, we aren't fighting it, because we can't fight everything, at least, not everything at once!''
''The rest of this is about the general struggle to define [[w:goodness and value theory|goodness]] within the frame of our [[Consumerium Services]]:''


In every [[language]], and every [[glossary]] within that language, there are certain terms that are invoked as a means of '''not arguing about their value'''.  For instance, to say something is "[[fair]]" is to say it is good enough and should not be investigated or changed or disputed any more.  In other words, it is a '''Good Thing''' to be "[[fair]]" whatever fair means in this context:  no one uses "fair" to mean "unacceptable" though they might use it to mean "barely acceptable", e.g. the scale [[poor, fair, good, very good, excellent]] in which just being fair is not very '''good''', but '''good enough'''.  Likewise, "[[to be]] '''unfair'''" is necessarily always a '''Bad Thing'''.  Using these words is not debating:  it is just restating [[dogma]].
In every [[language]], and every [[glossary]] within that language, there are certain terms that are invoked as a means of '''not arguing about their value'''.  For instance, to say something is "[[fair]]" is to say it is good enough and should not be investigated or changed or disputed any more.  In other words, it is a '''Good Thing''' to be "[[fair]]" whatever fair means in this context:  no one uses "fair" to mean "unacceptable" though they might use it to mean "barely acceptable", e.g. the scale [[poor, fair, good, very good, excellent]] in which just being fair is not very '''good''', but '''good enough'''.  Likewise, "[[to be]] '''unfair'''" is necessarily always a '''Bad Thing'''.  Using these words is not debating:  it is just restating [[dogma]].
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