From: William Crawford Date: 2006-09-11T18:23:00+09:00 Subject: Re: anti-advocacy advocacy Martin DeMello wrote: > http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2000/12/advocacy.html > > Interesting read, and most of the points he makes are very relevant to > the ruby community. > > martin 2 words: "Vocal Minority." Yes, in every situation, there were very vocal people who will speak their minds and give their highly ego-centric opinions. The fact that it's hard or impossible to hear anyone else over them doesn't mean they are right or in the majority. I'll even go as far as to say he's fallen into his own trap. He -expects- people to advocate, and sees that in everything that happens. His Perl linked-lists example is the perfect example. He expects people to think he's advocating and would write his FAQ accordingly. The FAQ writer (Avi) was shocked that he thought this way. The ML/Perl Typing example is another great one. The question "But what's wrong with the way Perl does it?" can be re-worded as "How is it better than Perl's way?" This is not advocacy, or expectation of advocacy, but a simple comparison to what the user already knows: Perl's way. And the last reason for this being the Vocal Minority... Why would you try to spread the word about something if you were -not- advocating it? (Or trying to persuade people not to use it, I suppose.) You wouldn't. So expectation of advocacy in a blog or presentation is not unrealistic. You have a -reason- to be letting others know about the item, and it's probably that you like it and want others to use it/know about it also. I agree about the sports fans, though. But I think it's a different reason. Fans don't pick their teams on logic. It's cultural and emotional. And in order to enjoy it fully, they heavily invest themselves in these emotional ties. They gain nothing from complacency and everything from zealotry. Expect them to truly care when they answer surveys about their sport. Even if there's no logic in the caring. -- Posted via http://www.ruby-forum.com/.