[ga-roots] Making Yourself Understood

["Patrick Corliss" <patrick@quad.net.au>]

Hi Dassa

> So, the sharing of knowledge and clarification of text in this forum is
not
> a right but a courtesy extended to others.  It is something to be
> appreciated and give thanks for, it is not something to be demanded or
> criticised.

This is correct but not the full story.  It is a fundamental responsibility
of a person seeking to communicate with another to phrase the message in a
way that can be understood.  Just can into a shop and say "Can I have a
<mumble> of <mumble>, please?".  You would not be surprised that the
shopkeeper misunderstands what you want to buy.

On the other hand, people target their message at an expected audience.  The
financial newspapers will talk about "options being in the money" and expect
the reader to know roughly what was meant.  As you say our target audience
consists of people with DNS expertise.

But even people with expertise have gaps in their knowledge -- areas where
they are not at home with the subject matter.  I'll give you a simple
example and that is the concept of "service mark" in relation to
intellectual property.  I know what a Trade Mark is but what is a "service
mark"?  Is that something only found in the United States.  I haven't heard
of it in the UK and I'd be surprised if it is familiar to most Australians
(like you and I).

Certainly neither of us are lawyers (as far as I know).  We may or may not
be programmers.  If a person onlist was given the acronym "IP" it is equally
likely that their background would make them think "Intellectual Property"
or "Internet Protocol".  Not necessarily both.

The terms IPv8 and IPv16 are particularly specialised.  It is my view that
people referencing such unfamiliar terms really do have a responsibility to
make themselves understood at least to the general level of expertise
expected on a mailing list relating to domain policy.

Very few people have the ability to communicate clearly.  In fact some of
the disagreement on alt roots can be traced to a difference in
interpretation of terms like "name space".  This is why scientists and
similar professionals take care to define their terms.

The argument is then not about meaning but about the fundamental underlying
reality.

I also think this topic ought to be discussed on GA-RULES.

Best regards
Patrick Corliss











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