[NTLK] Economics and Diatribes

From: Sean Luke (sean_at_cs.gmu.edu)
Date: Wed Jul 31 2002 - 16:52:03 EDT


Eric writes:

> " When I saw the subject line of this post I thought to myself:
> finally, an economic analysis of the ATA situation. Sadly, this was
> not to be. :-("
>
> You are so full of dreck that I wonder if you are related to a goose!

Now, now...

> What part of my analysis did not strike you as "economic"?

It seems to me that the post was a diatribe along the lines of "quit yer
whining". There were a few parts in it that were analytical, I guess.
But most of it was quit-yer-whining-yer-lucky-to-be-getting-anything-at-all
kind of stuff.

A diatribe is a perfectly reasonable and justifiable post. I've done many
myself. ;-) But it's an apology for what Paul *is* doing, not an
analysis of what he *should* do. Its device is primarily rhetoric, not
logic.

I posted a response, by the way, knowing full well that Paul knows this
stuff already -- I happen to know his resume for reasons I won't get into.

I just wanted to move the discussion away from "the price isn't fair" vs.
"quit your whining" and more towards a spirited discussion of what
kinds of prices are plausibly settable in the Newton community. That is,
away from flamebait and towards a higher signal/noise ratio.

Sean

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