hubert@entropy.UUCP (Steve Hubert) (06/05/84)
I am the person who proposed the net.stat group a couple of weeks ago. I went ahead and created the group last week, based on all the mail I had received. The overwhelming consensus was to name the group net.stat and not net.math.stat. This is because statistics is no more related to math than are physics or astronomy. Apparently Mark Plotnick and/or Brian A. Ehrmantraut decided they should create a net.math.stat group at the same time I was creating net.stat. They must have based their decisions solely on the small discussion in net.news.group as they were not cc'd in any of the mail responses I received. Since net.math.stat made it to most sites before net.stat did, I guess we are stuck with that inappropriate newsgroup title. This is not a big deal, but will cause some interested people to miss the group because of its unlikely name. One of the ideas behind net.news.group is that people mail to the proposer their ideas about the new group. This plan is not workable if non-proposers decide to create the groups in whatever fashion they see fit without having seen the full discussion. Since most of you have already done so, let's go ahead with the removal of net.stat. Steve Hubert Dept. of Stat., U. of Wash, Seattle decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!entropy!hubert hubert%entropy@uw-beaver
mp@whuxle.UUCP (Mark Plotnick) (06/06/84)
I'm sorry for jumping the gun. It's not too late to change the name, if people want. Newsgroup names have been successfully changed even several months into groups' lives. Perhaps we can settle this before we reach even half a dozen messages in the new group(s). Mark
alb@alice.UUCP (Adam L. Buchsbaum) (06/06/84)
net.math.stat is the correct group. If statistics isn't a branch of mathematics, I don't know what is. Let's not play ping-pong with group names.
hubert@entropy.UUCP (Steve Hubert) (06/06/84)
I would be more inclined to say that stat is a superset of math than the opposite though I would actually say neither. Math is a tool used by statisticians just as math is a tool used by astronomers. Nobody would suggest that astronomy be a subset of math, I think. Nevertheless, I have calmed down considerably and no longer care much what the name is. If others still care, I am in favor of net.stat but at this time I don't feel it is worth the trouble to change it. I apologize for publicly maligning mp and bae. Let's start the serious submissions, like that of Gary Perlman. Actually, a discussion about whether statistics is or is not a subset of math could be quite enjoyable. Steve Hubert Dept. of Stat., U. of Wash, Seattle decvax!microsoft!uw-beaver!entropy!hubert hubert%entropy@uw-beaver