FOM: citation

[Robert Tragesser]

M.Detlefsen wrote:
"Re. Robert Tragesser's question re. citation:

My view is that anything taken from fom postings ought to require mention
of the authors of those postings.

M Detlefsen"


        Certainly!
        What worries me is -- because of the
exploratory and sometimes combatative etc.
character of FOM exchange,  I'm not sure
that people should be quoted without checking
with them first.  Am I wrong to worry about this?
        On the other hand,  I don't imagine anyone
would object to citing their postings as the source
of this or that idea.
        But in any case what was worrying me was this:
the beneficial and stimulating effect of reading hundreds 
of FOM postings that shapes one's thinking in ways that
can't be pinned on this or that poster.  It is a powerful
thing for someone who lives rather isolated to
see what moves and interests others.. . .to see how
vast the distances are from where one is to where others
are. . .where the very activity of trying to shrink those
distances produces cascades of unexpected ideas. etcetc.
So it seemed important to have some form (which Steve provided)
to acknowledge FOM in a broad way.
rt