Postel's Law taken out of context.

While I'm on the subject of Unix philosophy, I'd like to speak for a minute about Postel's Law. Postel was instrumental in the development of the Internet. Specifically, he was involved in the creation of communication protocols. He Law, if I remember it correctly, was that programs dealing with communication over a network should be conservative in what they send out, and liberal in what they accept. In other words, they be careful to "speak" in formalized and well-formed languages, but they should know how to "listen" and interpret any old garbage sent their way. Good idea. It informed a lot of the philosophy behind early Web browsers, among other things, and made it possible for a lot of poorly coded Web sites to still be seen. That may sound like a criticism, but it's not. The idea that communication wouldn't totally break down because of one or a group of sloppy programmers was instrumental in the development of the Internet. And we owe it, in large part, to Postel.

Today I would like to very intentionally take Postel's Law out of context, with apologies to Postel himself, may he rest in peace. I think we have to be careful about taking specific, technical concepts in a way that's broader than intended. That being said, I think this one works. As social, moral creatures, we human beings, when interacting with the human "network" should be conservative about what you say and do, and liberal about what we accept in other people's speech and actions. This principle seems to apply to all sorts of situations, from an attention to personal grammar, combined with an ear tolerant to dialects and misspeaks, to larger, broader, and deeper moral situations like adultery, addiction and criminal behavior. Generally speaking, we should mindful of ourselves and our own conduct, but sympathetic and understanding of others and their situations.