Re: THe OverRelational Manifesto (ORM)

On 20 Apr 2006 11:19:12 -0700, "Marshall Spight" <marshall.spight_at_gmail.com> wrote:

>Gene Wirchenko wrote:
>> Marshall Spight wrote:
>>
>> >I am the champion only of politeness.
>>
>> I go to technical newsgroups for technical correctness.
>> Without that, they are useless.
>
>Since the two are independent, and each is good individually,
>I would then expect you would want to maximize both, yes?

     The two are not independent. Some of the rudest treatment I have received in general has been from people who do not know (but act as if they do).

>> I like a technical newsgroup to have technically correct data.
>
>Me, too.

>> >Politeness. Civil discourse. An end to ad hominem attacks, and
>> >a return to on-topic, substantive discussion of data management.
>> >I do not particularly expect this to happen, but I have some
>> >modest hope.
>>
>> And since anyone can talk BS without getting effectively called
>> on it by your standards, [...]
>
>Incorrect. This is in fact the opposite of what I advocate.
>
>Let me make it very, very simple:
>
>1) Insulting people: bad
>2) Refuting bad ideas on technical merit: good
>
>I ask everyone to please do 2, and please do not do 1.
>
>I *encourage* people to debunk bad ideas on the basis of
>technical arguments. I have been quite consistent on this
>point. I do it myself often.

     A side-effect of that is that BS gets better coverage (since there is more of it) than good stuff does.

Sincerely,

Gene Wirchenko Received on Thu Apr 20 2006 - 22:34:43 CEST