From: mkaziz@vela.acs.oakland.edu (KHALED AZIZ)
Subject: Re: My objections to the survey... (just an opinion)
Organization: Oakland University, Rochester MI.
Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1992 18:01:58 GMT


Shakil Writes:

When the survey was first posted, I read through it, asked myself what
the point was, and decided not to participate.  I had several reasons
for it, and hence decided to abstain.  Khaled (one of the authors of
the survey questionaire), noted the fact that I had not sent in my
answers, and asked me why I was not responding to the survey.  We had
a little discussion by email, and we disagreed about the validity of
my reasons for abstaining.  He has asked me to voice my objections
publicly, and thus I will do so.  Personally, I would have been happy
keeping my reservations to myself and simply not participating, but
since I have been asked to post them, I shall do so.

        I detest pointing fingers in the net and in the past I have
        opposed strongly against personal attacks. This time however I 
        can't help making a few personal comments  before I get to the 
        point (my apologies to the readers).  
        
        Shakil, the context you've presented is deceiving.  And I will quote
        from your mail to explain :
   
        You wrote:      
        In short, these are some of my reasons for not participating in the
        survey.  Note that I didn't post an article on it, because I did not
        want you to feel that I am encouraging others to join hands with me,
        because I'm not.

        You sounded like you were doing us a big favor by not posting it.  
        So I wrote:
                (quote) I wouldn't mind talking about it in the net. Or if 
                you want we can talk about it after the project is completed.

        Your response was:
        Whatever you like.  If you want me to, I can state my opinions in
        public, but I don't think that would be good for survey.

        Again, you were suggesting that you could do a big damage to the
        survey by stating your opinion in public.  I thought most of
        the readers are looking at the survey just as a simple survey,
        nothing more.  No way it was going to hurt the survey if
        you posted your opinion.  So in my last mail I said: Go ahead and
        post it in the net if you want to.  Note I never forced you
        to post your opinion.  In your intro you sound like a 
        "good boy" listening to his parents, and that is not the case.
        
        Misrepresentation of facts can't be considered POLICEPERSON 
        like conduct 

Shakil writes:        

SCB is a free forum for anyone to post what they like.   It isn't
meant as a news service, nor as an entertainment center.  It's simply
a bulletin board.  How often does one conduct surveys of bulletin
boards?


        I don't know about others but to me SCB is lot more than just 
        an electronic bulletin board.  In a way it constitutes my social 
        life.  It is my only means to keep in touch with my culture, and I
        want to know about the people who belongs to my social network. 
        I think a lot of readers share my view.  So far the response rate
        isn't bad at all.How often does one conduct surveys is irrelevant 
        here.  Maybe nobody came-up with the dea before.  Is there any 
        rule against it?
   
  
What would such a survey accomplish?  To me it seems it is
just an ideal excuse for groups of people to fingerpoint at others as
people they dislike and hence promote some kind of "ranking" on SCB,
i.e. a possible introduction of polarization on a semi-official scale.
What would it accomplish?  So it would turn out that certain things
are liked by a number of people, and other things are not.  Will the
survey change anything?  It can't.  Does the survey say anything?  I
don't see how.

        I fail to see how the survey will let "the groups of people" the
        to chance to point finger at others.  Is there any question in 
        the survey that ask you about persons?

        The survey is not trying to accomplish anything.  I don't understand
        why are you looking at it from such a suspicious point of view.  
        The only reason we are conducting the survey is we want to know.  
        We are not going to say "this is what we found out" and have no 
        intention to add "this is what the readers want".  

        The survey is simply an attempt to sketch a picture of SCB, i.e.
        what is SCB (besides the fact that it is a bulletin board)? Who 
        reads it?  How often do they read it? What do they think about it 
        and expect from it?  etc.  It is not intended to change anything.  
        And I fail to understand why any sensible person would react 
        negatively to this.


More importantly, conducting a survey where one can specify ones
gripes and likes gives off the illusion that there is an authority to
whom one can direct such comments.  There isn't, and that wouldn't be
in the spirit of an unmoderated newsgroup.  I basically object to any
kind of bureaucratization of SCB.

        Why do you have to make things complicated for no reason?  

An organized survey, in my opinion,
cannot contribute anything good to the general status of SCB, if
anything, it could promote some negative feedback. 


        I would ask you to take a closer look at the survey.  What negative
        feedback do you fear?  I think we'll receive some very positive 
        feedback.  

Surveys are useful if they can be employed to improve upon something.  

        The primary purpose of any survey is to reveal facts, 
        not improving something.

Any attempt to do that would violate the very spirit of scb.  I've never 
seen any such survey on any other newsgroup, and I think there is a good 
reason for it...

Over email, Khaled told me that the survey will help answer the
question as to what SCB is.  The question of what SCB is, should not
be something up for debate.  It *is* a newsgroup just like every other
for the simple reason that *anyone* can post to it.  It was created in
the same manner as every other unmoderated newsgroup and there is
nothing that distinguishes it from that.

        Except for its name of course, which suggests that this newsgroup
        has some relationship to an entity called Bangladesh.  And anybody
        with some degree of common-sense would conclude that the Bangladesh 
        and related issues are discussed here.  Everybody knows SCB is an 
        electronic bulletin board and may be to you that is all what it is.  
        But SCB sure does have some degree of difference with other groups.  
        SCB's readers have some distinct characteristics.  They are either 
        Bangladeshis or the people who has some interest in Bangladesh.  
        So SCB does have a secondary identity and the survey is an attempt 
        to know more about this identity.

If you want an estimate of
the readership, you can read news.lists and get a very good estimate
with more statistics than any survey is going to give you.  As for who
reads it, again in a forum like SCB, people have the right to be
silent readers, and they will be unlikely to reply.  Those who want to
communicate, post anyway, and so you see who they are.  For me, SCB is
a WYSIWYG system! (What You See Is What You Get)

        We are not forcing anybody to respond to the survey.  Sure we're 
        trying to motivate everybody to participate in it but the final 
        choice is up to the individual.  I don't know how we are violating 
        the rights of individuals to remain silent readers.  We are not 
        asking them to post their responses in the net, are we?   

In short, my main objection is that an organized survey gives off the
illusion of a controlling authority behind SCB.  Yet the people who
are conducting the survey cannot implement any changes based on the
result.  

        And they don't have any intention to change anything!


Again, I was simply going to refrain from participating and keep
my mouth shut, but since I was asked to voice my objections...

        No comments!  I already said what I had to say.
-- 
     KHALED AZIZ            |    " Thought of going back, but all I'd see 
mkaziz@vela.acs.oakland.edu |      are strangers' faces, and all the scars
mkaziz@argo.acs.oakland.edu |      that love erases "    - NEIL DIAMOND
Newsgroups: soc.culture.bangladesh