Has D failed? ( unpopular opinion but I think yes )

[Nierjerson]

On Friday, 12 April 2019 at 13:43:46 UTC, Chris wrote:
> On Friday, 12 April 2019 at 13:19:01 UTC, bachmeier wrote:
>>
>>> PS For D zealots: add your favorite insult here, e.g. 
>>> "entitled [...]"
>>
>> These statements would be better left on Slashdot...they don't 
>> help your case, they make it look like you're unreasonable.
>
> Ah well, damned if you do and damned if you don't. It's only 
> that I've been called names here before and often the replies 
> have been more on the esoteric side of things. But what did 
> Joakim actually post that was so weird? I think D is getting to 
> a stage where it's more of a religion than a tool. The signs 
> are there:
>
> 1. criticism is considered weird / unreasonable (blasphemous?), 
> sure we all know that Earth is a disc
>
> 2. topics are not addressed and the answers are often evasive 
> and / or of a general philosophical or anecdotal nature
>
> 3. I've said it before: personal mistakes, wrong design 
> decisions, are socialized and the whole community is "guilty" 
> and has to "learn". I have a different take on leadership.
>
> 4. "At least we're not C++!"
>
> This is usually a sign of decay. But honestly, it's all been 
> said over the years and nothing has changed...or changed for 
> the worse.

This is generally what happens when an organization grows without 
proper structural control.

Essentially it becomes a cult. A cult is created when dissenting 
opinions are shut out. It reinforces the main opinions, attracts 
cult followers(generally known as bootlickers, which are people 
who view the world not in intellectual means but in terms of 
master/slave relationships).

There is a very real positive[meaning reinforced] feedback cycle 
that takes place because the negative[meaning opposing] feedback 
cycle has been removed.  One see's this in all cults and 
fanatics. Politics and religion are the biggest cult creators. 
Unfortunately, when one becomes part of a cult, it tends to 
destroy their mind and they then bring their cult mentalities to 
other areas.

Humans are insane, they cannot judge truth properly without 
proper experiences. Since they generally seek out only 
experiences that agree with their previous experiences they 
simply reinforce previously established mentalities. Since all 
mentalities are flawed, it is an unstable process that eventually 
diverges(although in practice, with correct social and parental 
guidance it can produce good results).

Essentially anyone that disagree's with the cult is bludgeoned in 
to leaving. No truly intellectual common ground can be had. Most 
of the cult members are bootlickers and eventually the best 
bootlickers rise to become the leaders from which the cult 
becomes a cancer with no real purpose but to grow and survive.

Ultimately it is the bootlickers, who generally are extremely 
ignorant since they do not know what real intelligence is. They 
simply reinforce the authorities views since they believe 
authorities must have true intelligence. By mimicking authorities 
they believe they will become an authority and become 
intelligent[again, for them authority and intelligence are 
identical, which is the flaw in their mind].


You can always tell a cult exists when people congregate and 
reinforce a singular opinion of leaders and some of them vie for 
"leadership" through what amounts to be a popularity contest. 
Anyone against that opinion is shunned, berated, exiled, etc. 
Now, I know what you are thinking... it sounds like I'm talking 
about pretty much all human organizations... yep... pretty much. 
It's the nature of how feedback works, doesn't matter if it's 
electrical, mechanical, social, mathematical... Hell, it is how 
we train neural nets. It seems to be how nature works itself. 
It's not the bootlickers fault, so to speak, but the leadership, 
who must understand what is going on to prevent the cultism from 
occurring in a negative way. The bootlickers cannot and will not 
change, so it is up to the leaders to guide them. Bootlickers are 
simply the child mind and they are the people who have no grown 
up. They are looking for guidance and acceptance.

There are a few bootlickers in the forums. What you are 
describing is D's decent in to a cult. Most other popular 
programming languages have well established cult's. At least it's 
programming and not politics, religion, or war.