Path: news.mathworks.com!not-for-mail
From: "Matthew Simoneau" <matthew@mathworks.com>
Newsgroups: comp.soft-sys.matlab
Subject: Re: FEX: the ML file exchange censored and stifled by the makers of MATLAB (TMW)
Date: Mon, 6 Apr 2009 19:17:01 +0000 (UTC)
Organization: The MathWorks Inc
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We've been paying close attention to all the feedback.  We were surprised that the contest triggered this reaction, but welcome the chance to discuss these deeper issues.

I&#8217;d like to clarify a couple of things.  We try really hard not to censor contributions to the File Exchange.  Openness is one of our guiding principles on MATLAB Central.  There are two types of contributions to consider, submissions and comments.

Generally, any file submission related to the use of MathWorks products is allowed.  There are occasional exceptions to this for business or legal reasons, but these are rare and we think hard about each one.  We&#8217;ve taken some heat for this policy of inclusiveness, but we don&#8217;t want to make ourselves the judge of what is and is not allowed.  See Ned&#8217;s post for more detail:
http://www.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/newsreader/view_thread/248182

However, we pull comments and ratings fairly regularly.  We don&#8217;t allow comments that are attacks on the contributors, for example.  We&#8217;ve developed these policies after receiving feedback from many hurt, confused, or annoyed contributors.  If we think we&#8217;re making a judgment call, we now contact the commenter to let him know that we&#8217;re pulling the comment and why.  From the feedback we&#8217;ve been getting, it sounds like we need a more explicit and consistent set of guidelines for comments.  We&#8217;d like to hear more from those who participate in the File Exchange about what sort of comments should and should not be allowed so we can craft a better policy.  What would you use as criteria for deleting a comment?

We want the File Exchange to grow in usefulness for everyone by increasing participation.  One of my biggest influences is Wikipedia&#8217;s &#8220;Please do not bite the newcomers&#8221;.  I encourage everyone to give it a read:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Please_do_not_bite_the_newcomers