RE: [discuss] Individual representation

["Roeland M.J. Meyer" <rmeyer@mhsc.com>]

I agree and further state that these arguments, Kent is making, are
red-herrings.

> [mailto:owner-discuss@dnso.org]On Behalf Of
> Cthulhu's Little Helper
> Sent: Sunday, June 27, 1999 8:40 AM
>
> On 26 June 1999, Kent Crispin <kent@songbird.com> wrote:
> >
> >In fact, what is absolutely striking about all this is how few
> >people participate.
>
> [...snip!]
>
> >
> >So, I disagree -- the capture scenario is very possible, and all the
> >REAL evidence indicates that the number of people who will
> >participate individually is very low.
>
> That's not real evidence.  First, you are not allowed to
> count physical
> participation at all.  At least, not until you manage to pay for
> transportation for every individual wishing to attend these
> meetings in
> person.  I would argue that the people physically present in
> any meeting
> are a proper subset of the mailing lists, and should not be
> counted twice.
>
> Second and most important:  The reason participation
> worldwide is so low
> isn't because of a global case of apathy, or because we're
> the only ones
> on the planet who care about this.  It's because we're invisible!  No
> effort whatsoever has been made to explain any of this in layperson's
> terms to those it affects and who may be qualified to participate.  No
> hand has been extended to them in an attempt to get them to join.  Not
> a word about this has passed beyond the passive advertisement of these
> proceedings on a few web pages.  In short, nobody's bothered to tell
> the world this exists.  Until that time, you cannot make any
> assumptions
> about the reasons behind the current levels of participation.