"Being criticized by Practically Everyone
is one thing; being criticized, condemed,
flamed, and so on by a vocal few is
another. Close to half of the posts in
this forum are from 10 individuals --
myself included. I have been able to
discern from comments, signatures, and
forum "handles" that many of these 10
are OS/2 developers and users. The
complaints that have been loudest (in
some instances shrill) have been that we
threw out a poll in which OS/2 won. I'll
also remind forum participants that they
have been particularly hostile to folks
who've suggested that their enthusiasm
for trashing the poll is a bit extreme."
First off, I want to say that I don't
condone the use of flaming as a tool
here, if only for the very reason you
used - where you dismissed their
criticisms *because* they flamed. In
fact, though I haven't participated in the
flaming, I'm very sorry that it's
happened, I'm sorry you were exposed to
it.
Except of course, that's not a *valid*
excuse. Most messages contain just
criticisms and not flames, and while the
flaming is bad, and those who did it
deserve criticism for it, that doesn't
make their opinions invalid. Or do you
think it does? If so, why?
Secondly, where you focused on how
many of the respondents are OS/2 users
- is *that* a reason to dismiss their
complaints? If so, why? Can't the
opinions of OS/2 users be valid? If not,
why not?
Thirdly, where you commented on the
small sample size here - no. That won't
wash. By forum standards, you *are*
getting a lot of responses, from a lot of
different readers, including many of
whom whose OS choice cannot be
determined just from their message.
And you still didn't answer my main
question, so if you don't comment on
anything else, I'd like an answer to this,
please:
"What level of complaints *would* you
have to get before you started to think
that you might, just might, actually have
been wrong, and that your new poll was
a disaster and simply not valid?"
Is there *any* level of complaints that
would do this, Rachel?
*Is* there anything we can say or do to
make you change your mind? Or is that
simply not possible?
Again, thanks for your response.
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