Re: [off-topic] Re: A suggestion

[Moe <moel@xxxxxxxxxxx>]

Gary

My only comment is with your subject.  

It should have been "A Better Suggestion".

Moe
--------------------
Gary Lawrence Murphy wrote:
> 
> I remember, back in 1994, while struggling with several projects to
> open the Internet up to the Average Citizen, my collegues were aghast
> at my efforts: "Once the covered wagons come in, the next will be their
> preachers, school ma'ams and poe-leese" was the most succinct and
> poetically clear comment.
> 
> They were, of course, right on the button.  As the great unwashed
> masses bounded on to the Internet, we did indeed see Net-Nannies and
> government controls, FTP sites arrested for porn, constraints on free
> speach and exports of software, and, while most religious 'preachers'
> turned out to be a fine bunch of folks, the advertising and marketing
> 'preachers' continue to be pests to this day.
> 
> The moral of this story is, once you go mainstream, you attract all
> kinds, and, let's face it, thanks to the fine work of members of this
> list, Emacspeak is becoming mainstream.  In opensource terms, it
> "scratches an itch" and that is good news for those who want to make
> their living supporting it, and for those non-technical blind users
> who are eager to get online but cannot afford the traditional
> screen-reader box.
> 
> I submit that, as geeks, it is easier for us to move than it is for
> the newbies to move.  Internet traffic doubles every 100 days, and the
> size of the web every 50 days.  Compounding this, Emacspeak is about
> to be bundled with the top Linux distribution where the docs clearly
> point them here for support. As a result, more and more people are
> going to catch the buzz about Emacspeak, and they won't know about the
> newbies list or about the dev-only policy of this list.  You can hit
> each one with a brick bat as they poke their heads in, but very, very
> soon, there will be far too many heads poking too frequently to bop
> them all.
> 
> I propose a pro-active stance.  I propose abandoning the ground to the
> encroaching covered wagons and move technical developer discussions to
> higher ground.  It is _effortless_ for those technically proficient to
> unsubscribe from one list and to subscribe to another; most of us can
> do it in our sleep.
> 
> Since Emacspeak is now hosted on SourceForge, and since SourceForge
> offers unlimited mailing lists, I propose a new list,
> emacspeak-dev@xxxxxxxxxxx, become the exclusive developers'
> mailing list, leaving the very obvious, and much publicized,
> emacspeak@xxxxxxxxxxx as the first point of contact for _all_
> support, technical and otherwise.  Those who do not mind newbie
> questions will be free to subscribe to both lists, and those offended
> by the unwashed masses can simply unsubscribe from this list and join
> the purely technical list.
> 
> --
> Gary Lawrence Murphy <garym@xxxxxxxxxxx>: office voice/fax: 01 519 4222723
> T(C)Inc Business Innovations through Open Source http://www.teledyn.com
> M:I-3 - Documenting the Linux kernel: http://kernelbook.sourceforge.net
> Free Internet for a Free O/S? - http://www.teledyn.com/products/FreeWWW
> 
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