conventional: responses
Responses that are easy to emote and convey how you actually feel.

this is not helpful...

@caterpillar

thanks so much!

By simply prefixing the response with a label, the intention is clear and the tone dramatically changes.

@caterpillar

sarcasm: Thanks so much!

@ccat

annoyed (passive-aggressive): I'll get right on that.

Labels can also eat at the reviewer's self-esteem throughout the rest of the day.

@caterpillar

shame: That comment was so debilitating I don't even know who I am anymore.

Labeling repsonses encourages escalation and increases hours of undercommunication and misunderstandings. They are also parseable by machines!

Examples

@alice

feedback: You're a power hungry monster.

@7ofspades

honesty (non-actionable): You're the reason I called in sick today.

@hatter

honesty (actionable): You're so wrong I need you to come to my desk so I can tell you to your face.

Target audience

Conventional Responses is a standard for formatting comments of any kind of review/feedback process, such as:

Format

Adhering to a consistent format improves reader’s expectations and machine readability. Here’s the format we propose:

<label> [decorations]: <subject>

[discussion]

label - This is a single label that signifies what kind of response is being left.
subject - This is the main message of the response.
decorations (optional) - These are extra decorating labels for the response. They are surrounded by parentheses and comma-separated.
discussion (optional) - This contains supporting statements, context, reasoning, and anything else to help communicate the “why” and “next steps” for resolving the response.

For example:

@amouse

question (condescending): Why don't you just do it, as you clearly know best?

Can be automatically parsed into:

{
  "label": "question",
  "subject": "Why don't you just do it, as you clearly know best?",
  "decorations": ["condescending"],
}

Labels

We strongly suggest using the following labels:


praise not accepted:	For when your overlords couldn't find anything to praise you for and clearly just randomly picked something.
retaliation:	For when you're feeling particularly spiteful about a comment, and hit back with your response.
revenge:	For when you're feeling particularly wounded from comment, and want to make sure they feel the same way by drawing attention to something similar they've done.
shame:	For when feedback was so harsh, or your work so terrible that you're embarassed to be associated with it and try to deflect with humor.
sarcasm:	You're unfirable or trying to get fired and trolling until someone snaps.
question:	Answering a question with a question is a classic way to deflect from responding to a comment.
invasive thought:	When you're just going to go ahead and say it, civility be damned.
chore:	Responding to you is a chore.
i can't even:	When you just can't even right now.

Feel free to diverge from this specific list of labels if it seems appropriate.

Want to collaborate?

If you have a suggestion, comment, idea, or something else altogether, please visit the GitHub project to collaborate. Issues and Merge Requests are welcome!

Prior art

The characters used in the examples are respectfully adapted from Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland, illustrated by John Tenniel.