Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!mailrus!uflorida!novavax!hcx1!hcx2!bill
From: bill@hcx2.SSD.HARRIS.COM
Newsgroups: comp.lang.fortran
Subject: Re: FORTRAN 88
Message-ID: <44400028@hcx2>
Date: 31 Oct 88 15:03:00 GMT
References: <669@convex.UUCP>
Lines: 24
Nf-ID: #R:convex.UUCP:669:hcx2:44400028:000:1247
Nf-From: hcx2.SSD.HARRIS.COM!bill    Oct 31 10:03:00 1988


As regards representation of users:

How many times have your Senator or Congressman asked you PERSONALLY
what your opinion is on an issue coming up for a vote in the Senate
or the House?  (I would wager the number is very small, close to
zero.)  Yet, they purport to represent you on each of those issues.

My point is that no member of X3J3, vendor or otherwise, can ask EVERY
user his/her opinion on every issue, or even a significant subset of
the issues.  Most of us have tried, through surveys, user groups,
various discussion forums, etc., to get a "representative" sample of
opinions.  Unless a user is totally alone in his stand on a particular
issue, theoretically his/her voice has been heard by someone somewhere
sometime.  Just because you haven't been asked personally, that doesn't
mean you are unrepresented.

Remember: a good democratic government requires participation by the
electorate, via letters to Congressmen as well as at the ballot box.
The same applies to ANSI standards: YOU are responsible for getting
your voice heard.  Don't wait for someone else to do it for you; if
you do, don't be surprised that your views aren't incorporated.

"Ask not what the Standard can do for you, ask what you can do for
the Standard."