Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!aplcen!samsung!brutus.cs.uiuc.edu!apple!excelan!unix!maslak From: maslak@unix.SRI.COM (Valerie Maslak) Newsgroups: news.groups Subject: Re: Results of sci.aquaria vote Message-ID: <5968@unix.SRI.COM> Date: 21 Nov 89 23:49:07 GMT References: <5831@unix.SRI.COM> Reply-To: maslak@unix.UUCP (Valerie Maslak) Organization: SRI International, Menlo Park, CA Lines: 43 In article karl@cheops.cis.ohio-state.edu (Karl Kleinpaste) writes: >maslak@unix.sri.com writes: > >Job descriptions are often vague and general. A simple phrase such as > >"maintain electronic communications" covers newsgroup selection. > Does it indeed, if what we're talking about is really one person > inflicting his or her personal prejudices on an entire workspace? We're all clear that I'm not the > > and that I am the > lines, right? But from here on out, the * lines belong to Karl: *The entire workspace of email and Usenet communications is pretty much *arbitrarily defined, just like that. My (just "my," not even "the *collective staff's") personal prejudice determines what newgroup *messages get honored around here. I don't hear much complaint about *it; the once or twice someone has questioned my choice, I've explained *my decision and the questioner has walked away apparently satisfied. So, what would happen if they weren't satisfied, Karl? It's that scenario I'm concerned about, I guess. The problems with USENET don't seem to come up when everyone is in happy harmony, they come up when one or a few people are "bucking the trend." *Personal prejudice does that. No, it's not part of our job *descriptions, other than "perform sysadmin duties" (y'know, I don't *think my job description actually says one word about sysadmin in the *first place, hm), but nonetheless that's how it gets done. One could *consider at length how new system purchases get made, given that the *selection criteria for such systems usually involve highly prejudicial *outlooks on what sorts of features a new system must provide. The *list is endless. Personal prejudice (which in such cases is really *"personal experience and skill") is how most everything gets done. *Describing it as "prejudice" is, to me, just using emotionally loaded *wording. Karl, I can see that choosing a new system well could entail more than prejudice. But choosing newsgroups, in the absence of either clearly established workgroup consensus or employer guidelines? How do your "experience and skill" enter into it? Valerie Maslak