On 10/7/08, adam hodgkin <adam.hodg...@gmail.com> wrote: > I also support Jean-Claude's view on this, and like Andy Powell, I find it > mildly disconcerting to see summaries and extensively interpolated > commentary. Could it be that this is more convenient for the author of the > reply than the reader? More suited to a one:one correspondence than to one > which is widely shared. It is particularly hard to follow interpolated > comments when they are several layers deep.
This is a different issue, and let me state my position very explicitly: You may vote on whether or not you want me to continue to moderate this Forum, and if there is a plurality against me, I will step down. But if I receive a vote of confidence, I will not change the terms of posting, for either the moderator or any other poster: Any poster, including the moderator, may quote, comment, criticize, elaborate, rebut or summarize as he sees fit, as long as it is on-topic and not ad-hominem. (Ad hominem means about a person, rather than about their ideas and text.) Those who do not wish to follow quote/commentary may skip it, but I will not censor it. On the contrary, I strongly believe that quote/commentary will emerge with OA as an important new form of scholarly/scientific communication: Harnad, S. (1990) Scholarly Skywriting and the Prepublication Continuum of Scientific Inquiry Psychological Science 1: 342 - 343 (reprinted in Current Contents 45: 9-13, November 11 1991). http://cogprints.org/1581/ Harnad, S. (1992) Interactive Publication: Extending American Physical Society's Discipline-Specific Model for Electronic Publishing. Serials Review, Special Issue on Economics Models for Electronic Publishing, pp. 58 - 61. http://cogprints.org/1688/ Harnad, S. (1995) Interactive Cognition: Exploring the Potential of Electronic Quote/Commenting. In: B. Gorayska & J.L. Mey (Eds.) Cognitive Technology: In Search of a Humane Interface. Elsevier. Pp. 397-414. http://cogprints.org/1599/ Harnad, S. (2003/2004) Back to the Oral Tradition Through Skywriting at the Speed of Thought. Interdisciplines. Retour a la tradition orale: ecrire dans le ciel a la vitesse de la pensee. Dans: Salaun, Jean-Michel & Vendendorpe, Christian (dir). Le deis de la publication sur le web: hyperlectures, cybertextes et meta-editions. Presses de l'enssib. http://eprints.ecs.soton.ac.uk/7723/ > This is merely a personal preference but it may not be a minority one. It is > offered as a request of the moderator, rather than a criticism of him. What I recommend for those who don't like quote/commentary is to skip it, not to try to disallow it. And I repeat, unless I am voted out as moderator, I shall continue to allow it, practice it, and encourage both quote/commentary and summarizing by any and all contributors to the Forum. Stevan Harnad