Klarinet Archive - Posting 000724.txt from 1999/12
From: Daniel Leeson <leeson0@-----.net>
Subj: [kl] A faq for klarinet
Date: Tue, 21 Dec 1999 11:28:02 -0500
The other day, a brave soul came up with a really very good idea, but
then he got dumped on. He said, "Why don't we have a FAQ for the
various topics that appear on KLARINET from time to time so that we
can direct newcomers to that document." Great idea, but then came
back the answers: "You want it. You do it." or "S'not my job man."
It shows clearly how no good deed ever goes unpunished.
All right, so I'll make a counter offer.
Pick a topic, a good one, and everybody and his brother should contrib-
ute to that topic with their views, AND I'LL WRITE THE FAQ based on
those comments.
Some caveats: it is not practical or even wise to produce a document
that is simply the sum of everybody's disparate views. It requires a
lot of editing, and even the rejection of irrelevencies, wierd theories,
bizarre ideas, and irrational crap. What comes out is a carefully
moulded brick of solid ideas that really has about n parts. One part
says, "this is the common wisdom." Another says, "this is a minority
view that needs to be known." Another part says, "these views have
been suggested but no supporting evidence has been presented to take
them out of the crazy category." ... And finally, an n-th part says,
"The sum and substance of the topic says this: ..."
I'm very good at taking disparate views presented in varying English
styles and moulding them into a single statement that represents a
composite picture in a single writing style with good spelling.
But you have to work, too! I am not going to produce a docuement
of my ideas and then propose them as a viable klarinet FAQ. It is not
that I mistrust my ideas, only that they may not (and often do not)
represent a mainstream position. Besides, I don't think there is anyone
alive with a position on any topic that all would tolerate as the
absolute and fundemental technical truth. No matter how arcane the
subject, there are invariably 6 opinions on it going in all directions.
Is this going to work? I don't know. It all depends on how you react.
How about an experiment? Take a single topic and exercize it. The
topic is: "What are the various benefits and deficiencies of the
multiple materials used to make clarinets?"
Too broad??? Try this: "Wood vs. all other materials in clarinet
manufacture."
Still too broad??? Try this: "Wood types in clarinet manufacture:
benefits and deficiencies."
Don't rush in with answers to any of these questions. That was not my
purpose in presenting this in this fasion. First let us address
if this is a worth while effort for KLARINET and who has the responsi-
bility for the FAQ after it is completed? Otherwise you wind up with
a document that gets lost 20 minutes after it is finished.
If you do not feel comfortable with me doing this, then someone else
take the responsibility to smash all the responses into a food grinder
and come out with something useful, readable, literate, and worthwhile.
Or is this group simply a collection of talkers unprepared to take
the responsibility of ensuring that what they know gets documented and
used. There are 50,000,000 ergs of knowledge on this list for any
given topic and no one is summarizing it in some useable fasion. If
you wanted to find out the KLARINET position on any topic do you think
you could do so by using the search feature? It might help a little,
but you would probably miss far too much.
OK folks. Put your money where your mouth is. And since I would have
the most difficult job, I'll nominate myself for sainthood!
--
Dan Leeson
leeson0@-----.net
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