Re: hard working individuals

Werner Uhrig (werner@rascal.ics.utexas.edu)
Wed, 25 Nov 92 4:43:40 CST

S> Briefly -- very briefly -- the ARPANET, and later the Internet,
S> are in a very strong sense ``official''. There's a formal structure,
S> with management, paperwork, etc. Usenet is totally the opposite.
>
E> This may be the party line, but it's just plain not true....

S> Usenet is simply the collection of machines, on and off the
S> Internet, that happen to co-operate in doing the same thing.
S> Assorted individuals may or may not ``do Usenet'' as part of
S> their job, but the net as a whole isn't structured.
>
E> This is so far off as to be just laughable....

"party line" and "laughable" ?!? I don't know, Ed, your
"pronouncements" cause me to choke a little. Steve's
outline sounds just fine to me - how about you make a
small effort to understand what he is trying to say (explain
and elaborate it a little, if you feel you must) rather
than "beating your drums" in such an obnoxious manner...

Most everything you could have said without first backhand
slapping ("the party" first - whoever that might be, and then
Steve).

I don't think this is the forum for you to lecture and
grand-stand what it was, and is, all about ...

> (and yes, I know you've been around longer than I have, but I still
> thing you're wrong.)
>
> Edward Vielmetti, vice president for research, Msen Inc. emv@Msen.com
> Msen Inc., 628 Brooks, Ann Arbor MI 48103 +1 313 998 GLOB

I always come to UN-attention when confronted by titles, especially
of the VP kind. I hope I can be forgiven for not shitting in my
pants with awe and for not caring much that rather than elaborating
on Steve's explanation, you found it necessary to build on contra-
dicting and ridiculing him. Both wrong and poor style, I say !

+----------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------+
| werner@cs.utexas.edu | ..!uunet!cs.utexas.edu!werner | werner@UTXVM.bitnet |
+----------------------+--------------------------------+---------------------+

... But if we laugh with derision, we will never understand.
Human intellectual capacity has not altered for thousands of years
so far as we can tell. If intelligent people invested intense energy
in issues that now seem foolish to us, then the failure lies in our
understanding of their world, not in their distorted perceptions.
Even the standard example of ancient nonsense -- the debate about angels
on pinheads -- makes sense once you realize that theologians were not
discussing whether five or eighteen would fit, but whether a pin could
house a finite or an infinite number.
-- S. J. Gould, "Wide Hats and Narrow Minds"

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