Filtering discussion.

[Marc Meola]

A straw man position is one that is easier to attack than the one actually
held by an opponent in an argument. So I don't think the analogy in
question below is a straw man. I think the term you want is false analogy.

I think the analogy is clever, intriguing, and apt. 
Dowling says "Web4Lib has a stated purpose, audience, and topical scope." 
Isn't this also true of libraries?

Marc Meola


On Wed, 24 Jun 1998, Thomas Dowling wrote:

> > >
> > >Let us please keep whatever discussion we have on this topic
> > on this list
> > >at the highest possible level possible!
> > >
> > >Thank you.
> >
> > So, Kirk, what I hear you saying is -- without even getting
> > into issues of
> > right or wrong - there are some things -- some types of communication --
> > some forms of information if you please --- that it is simply
> > inappropriate
> > to display\provide in some settings.
> >
> > BINGO! - that is exactly what many of us are trying to say about
> > obscenity\pornography in the library - or at least those parts of the
> > library accessible to children.
> 
> 
> This analogy is a pretty tired strawman.  Listservs are push; web sites
> are pull.  Web4Lib has a stated purpose, audience, and topical scope; the
> web as a whole is a free-for-all.  Feel free to argue your points about
> filtering--feel free to argue that the discussion belongs on Web4Lib, if
> you want--but don't exaggerate the implications of a call for focus in one
> professional forum.
> 
> 
> Thomas Dowling
> OhioLINK - Ohio Library and Information Network
> tdowling at ohiolink.edu
>