From the silent community

Steven Schveighoffer schveiguy at yahoo.com
Fri Feb 19 09:49:00 PST 2010


On Fri, 19 Feb 2010 11:59:39 -0500, Andrei Alexandrescu  
<SeeWebsiteForEmail at erdani.org> wrote:

> Steven Schveighoffer wrote:
>> Great ideas do not come from silence.
>
> Agreed. In particular, "good" silence creates the issue that a small  
> vocal group can make their opinion appear much more consensual than it  
> really is. I recall the case with @property: it seemed like everybody  
> and their dog was pro- at property, but it turned out that at the poll a  
> silent majority thought otherwise.

I too thought my dog was pro- at property, but it turns out he has trouble  
expressing himself on the newsgroup.  I was disappointed when I put a  
@property in front of him, and he made his feelings clear by sniffing and  
then peeing on it.

All joking aside, this isn't the kind of silence I was talking about  (and  
how dare you imply that @property isn't good!).  What I mean is people  
being silent instead of expressing a previously unexplored idea :)  The  
"me too" posts usually come out of the woodwork when a vote is called  
for.  When someone is advocating for my side, I usually hold back until an  
important point isn't being addressed or an important problem with the  
opposing view isn't being exploited.

> I think that phenomenon has a name in politics (large but not organized  
> majority with interests hurt by a small, focused, and motivated group).  
> Well fortunately that's not the case for us :o).

I agree.  I feel the environment here is mostly positive and brings out  
good ideas from everyone.

-Steve



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