Re: Thanks, and a Brief Survey

[Philip Van Hoof <pvanhoof gnome org>]

On Fri, 2010-01-15 at 14:38 +0100, Xavier Bestel wrote:

Hi Xavier,

> On Fri, 2010-01-15 at 13:02 +0100, Philip Van Hoof wrote:
> > I disrespect people who claim that this last survey has intentional
> > bias. For me they are being intellectually dishonest.
> 
> Giving one definition of a word, 

Lefty gave accurate definitions for the words he used. For example the
word "illegitimate": Richard clearly questioned the legitimacy of
proprietary software and asked us to mirror this statement. This is
archived if you don't believe me.

Firstly:

The only person who here might have intentionally created the ambiguity
is the person who first used the word to describe proprietary: Richard.

I use "might" wisely, I'm not saying this was the intention.

Pointing to Lefty for being guilty of intentionally creating ambiguity
is nothing more than either being a moron, or being so disinterested
that you don't know who said what first.

Moron:

1. a person who is (notably stupid or) lacking in good judgment.
                                       ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
 
Secondly:

Lefty's last survey's exact words:

"Legitimate" means both "not contrary to existing law" and "in accordance
 with recognized or accepted standards or principles". Do you believe
 that proprietary software is "illegitimate"?

Possible meanings according to an English dictionary:

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/illegitimate


1. born of parents who are not
married to each other; born out of
wedlock: an illegitimate child. 

	-> Not relevant here


2. not legitimate; not sanctioned by
law or custom.

3. unlawful; illegal: an
illegitimate action. 

	-> Relevant, Richard used "illegitimate" within the context of
           laws and legality. When talking about the proprietary nature
	   of a work, you are discussing legal aspects of its license.


4. irregular; not in good usage.

	-> Somewhat relevant, it's clear that "proprietary" sets the
	   context firmly to law systems and legality. Richard could
	   have used less ambiguity if he meant this. He didn't.


5. Logic. not in accordance with the
principles of valid inference.

	-> Logic is not relevant here.


6. Obsolete

a.
of or pertaining
to stage plays in
which musical
numbers were
inserted because
of laws that gave
only a few
theaters the
exclusive right to
produce straight
dramas.
b.
acting in or
producing such
productions.

	-> Not relevant, it's not about music, dramas or theaters. Also
	   like point #4 is it clear that "proprietary" sets the context
	   firmly to law systems and legality in case you insist on
	   skewing #6 until it suits you.


I know people claimed that with illegitimate Richard meant unethical. To
be honest doesn't "illegitimate" mean "unethical". Not according to the
English dictionaries that I own, nor the online ones that I know about.

Nonetheless has Lefty, being unbiased, added morality to his surveys'
questions. The results for those questions aren't ambiguous either.

> then asking if someone else's sentence
> containing that word is true is at best partial.

> Feel free to disrespect me.

You didn't illustrate Lefty's intent to put a bias in the survey, nor
are you intellectually proving that there is any in it. If that's your
claim then I indeed feel myself free to disrespect you for it.

I don't see why I need to respect people who falsely accuse others.

-- 
Philip Van Hoof, freelance software developer
home: me at pvanhoof dot be 
gnome: pvanhoof at gnome dot org 
http://pvanhoof.be/blog
http://codeminded.be