From: Dale Thorn <dthorn@gte.net>
Date: Thu, 23 Jan 1997 06:28:06 -0800 (PST)
To: Igor Chudov <ichudov@algebra.com>
Subject: Re: Thoughts re moderation, filtering, and name changes
Message-ID: <199701231428.GAA15793@toad.com>
MIME-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain


Igor Chudov @ home wrote:
> Dale Thorn wrote:
> > hjk wrote:
> > > On Mon, 20 Jan 1997, Dale Thorn wrote:
> > Most of the erstwhile elite types do the ordinary things in a quite
> > ordinary way.  Get dressed, eat, collect and send e-mail, and so on.
> > The un-ordinary things (for example) are the thought processes which
> > take place while typing out a post.  Those thought processes don't
> > generally intersect directly with the mundane things such as operating
> > the computer, unless the operations themselves are unusual and demand
> > the full attention of the person involved.

> So what?

The so what is that hjk believed that since cypherpunks were "elite",
it followed that they would notice certain administrative messages more
than non-elite people, and also remember those messages better.

I had no contention with the remember-better part, assuming that was
stated somewhere, but my argument is that greater intelligence does
not necessarily lead to paying better attention to mundane everyday
things like administrative messages and notices. The specific example
was whether most cypherpunks subscribers would take more than momentary
notice of the new list arrangements, and whether they would consciously
think about whether they should change their status (subscription), and
if so, why.  My contention is that most would not give it any serious
amount of attention.  This is no different IMO than whether erstwhile
"intelligent" people pay greater attention to road signs while driving
than people of average mental power do.