"Larry Brasfield" <donotspam_larry_brasfield@hotmail.com> wrote[color=blue][color=green]
> > Victor,
> >
> > Since you seem to be the self-appointed hall-monitor for
> > this forum, I have a question for you.[/color]
>
> That statement is an unmistakable sign of a problem here.
> You must be very new to Usenet since you are apparently
> ignorant of the fact that topicality is always enforced (when
> enforced) by volunteers in the unmoderated newsgroups.[/color]
Either you don't know what "enforce" means or you are new
to Usenet. It should be clear that nothing is being enforced
or we wouldn't even be having this conversation.
The only power these demi-moderators have is to encourage
or point in the right direction. And frankly, when they
become rude and whiny (as they sometimes do) they perform
a disservice, not a service to the Usenet community. If a
demi-moderator can't express their opinion politely then
they should express no opinion at all and simply ignore the
post they feel is "off-topic".
[color=blue]
> Victor does not "haunt" this newsgroup.[/color]
He most certainly does. (Take a look in a dictionary for
both "haunt" and "enforce".)
[color=blue]
> He provides good
> topical advice and helps keep it topical, a service to those who
> participate as either question posers or question answerers.[/color]
Not when he becomes pretentious.
[color=blue][color=green]
> > Exercise 1) generalize your logic to questions of the form[/color]
>
> Since Victor is not a student of yours, and has no reason to
> undertake self-improvement with your guidance, why should
> he go along with your "exercise" suggestions?[/color]
For the same reasons that you decided to go along with my
exercise.
[color=blue][color=green]
> > Q = X1 X2
> >
> > and deduce whether Q is on topic at either, both, or neither
> > of newsgroups Z1.Y1.X1 and Z2.Y2.X2.[/color]
>
> Since you seem to prefer matters simplified, and seem to have
> oversimplified the issue for purposes of argumentation, let's
> consider a concrete form of your abstract "exercise".
>
> Suppose there is a newsgroup about carpentry. Suppose there
> is another newsgroup about structural engineering. According
> to your implied reasoning, a question such as "How do I build
> a foot bridge with wood?" would be topical in either place.[/color]
Absolutely! I'm glad the exercise paid off and helped you
to see my point. Building a bridge from wood would most
definitely involve both carpentry and structural engineering.
Thus, the question would certainly be on topic at both groups
though each group would probably address only the portions of
the question relevant to their group.
Indeed, I recently saw two Nova historical reconstruction
documentaries. In one they rebuilt two medieval catapults,
in the other an ancient Chinese wooden bridge
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/lostemp...na/builds.html
The teams working on these projects had both carpenters and
structural engineers working to achieve the same goal and
answer the same questions.
Thank you for completing the exercise with such a wonderful
example!
Keith