[Clev-jug] [ANN] erubycon - Enterprise Ruby Conference, February 2007

[David P. Caldwell]

Rob Biedenharn wrote:
> Apparently you didn't take the time to read it.  Do you never use any 
> other language in your Enterprise Java projects?  Of course, the 
> question is rhetorical because you most certainly use XML.
>
> If any of your members are interested in learning how Ruby might be a 
> good addition to one's toolkit, they just might be interested in what 
> the speakers at this conference have to say since they know a thing or 
> two about Java.
>
> [snip]
>
> I'm sorry that you feel that a single announcement about a conference 
> that is certainly relevant to some of you members is SPAM, but I won't 
> apologize for attempting to inform you and your other members.
Hi, Rob.

No need to get snippy -- the poster has a point.  The fact that this is 
"relevant to some of you [sic] members" is not sufficient.  /Some/ of 
the list members might well be interested in, say, information about 
candidates in the upcoming election in Ohio.  Or my poetry (they'd have 
extraordinarily poor taste if they were, but I digress).  But this list 
is not the place for those things, and I assume you would agree.  The 
fact that the speakers "know a thing or two about Java" is also not 
sufficient -- I know a thing or two about Java, but I didn't invite this 
list to my recent training on how to win an election campaign, because 
it's not related to the purpose of the list.

You lose points for self-promotion, since you're involved with the 
conference -- someone who had no self-interest would have a stronger 
argument for bringing up "hey, I heard about this thing -- I know it's a 
little off-topic, but I'm going, and it looks like Bruce Tate is 
coming.  I've read his books and they're interesting."

So the question is, is it relevant enough?  My vote would actually be 
"no."  Then I would add that opening any list to be a vehicle for 
self-promotion would, I fear, quickly cause self-promotion to outrun 
ordinary list traffic, so I'd especially vote "no" here. 

That said (writing to everyone else here), there are really no rules on 
the use of this list (that I know of) -- maybe we could make some?

-- David.


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