From: trog@midiline.la.ca.us (Ralph Stempel)
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth
Subject: Re: RENAME: Those against name change PLEASE READ!
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 92 22:22:41 PST
Organization: MIDILine BBS - Altadena, CA - (818) 797-3285

rsk@gynko.circ.upenn.edu (Rich Kulawiec) writes:

     (stuff deleted)


>....If you did not understand what was wrong with your voting attempt 
>(after re-reading the instructions, which I presume you did: if not, why 
>not?), why didn't you ask someone (via mail or news)? Or why didn't you 
>try again--the call -for-votes was posted to rec.music.synth several 
>times?

   As I said, I don't know what was wrong with my ballot. I did not see 
another CFV, although there may well have been one. As I told you by 
mail, the one I replied to had scrolled off here. There was thus no way 
for me to ell what was wrong with the ballot that bounced. As I also told 
you by mail, I politely requested another copy of the ballot. You said 
you didn't get that request. Fine.


>BTW, thanks so much for mentioning lynching. That really seems like an 
>appropriate reaction. I'll keep it firmly in mind the next time I get
>the idea to go through the trouble of three rounds of concensus-building 
>discussion, a formal vote, and the post-mortem debate...in order to try 
>to bring together musicians and musical discussion under one roof. (Note 
>that 4 of the 5 proposals involved bringing discussion from alt.* groups 
>or mailing lists into the Usenet mainstream.)

   I really hope you do keep it firmly in mind the next time you get the 
urge to line everything up in neat little rows.

(sarcasm off)

   I was moved to some extent by your description in another post of how 
you are an actual R.M.S. reader. I've read this group for a few years 
now, and never having seen your name before now assumed that it had 
nothing to do with you. On the other hand, I doubt you read it very much 
if you seriously thought that people here would want, "Maker," crammed 
into the group name.
   From the point of view of the R.M.S. readers, you did not build 
concensus regarding the name change. I accept your contention that you 
had no wish to sneak it through. None-the-less, that's what happened.
   It is pointless to oppose all change. It is worse than pointless to 
support change without reason. If you go fixing things that aren't 
broken, you should be DAMN sure that you have a concensus. You did not. 
Because you did not, many thousands of dollars of comm-time have been 
wasted, and you have probably had your feelings hurt. We all learn from
our mistakes.
   I'd also like to address a broader issue. The huge majority of net 
participants are not computer wankers. The net would be a pathetic little 
nothing if all it attracted were systems people and CS students. The net 
is strong and useful BECAUSE it attracts people with a variety of 
knowledge and skills. The less technical crap that the average user has 
to learn about the net itself, the more people that will use the net. The 
main strength of the net is the diverse knowledge of the participants. 
Compared to that knowledge, the technical operation of the net is a wart 
on the ass of a flea.
   It is not the, "Duty," of the net.folk to study the net itself. It may 
be a religion to some people, but most of the rest of us have lives. When 
the technicians decide to re-shuffle the news-groups, it's up to them to 
do so in a way that is clear to the users. If the technicians cannot do 
so, they have no business trying to pass off what they do as democratic.
   Lots of other people have renamed lots of other groups before without 
the sort of objection that this rename has caused. Why do you suppose
that is?

-----
trog@midiline.la.ca.us (Ralph Stempel) 
MIDILine BBS (midiline.la.ca.us) - Altadena CA - (818)797-3285
Newsgroups: rec.music.synth,rec.music.marketplace