jeffd@ficc.uu.net (jeff daiell) (02/08/90)
Karen Valentino has suggested that "misc" is for things that
defy categorization. That's true, but that's not the only
reason for misc. A misc category can also be invoked when
one only wants/needs to have a certain number of 'named'
categories. For instance, it may have been thought (I
don't know, as I wasn't on the net back then), that the categories
created (sci, comp, et alia) were the only ones that deserved
their own hierarchies, and that everything else, regardless of
quality or quantity, could be placed under misc.
Or let's say that the University of Podunk has been charged with
discriminating in its admissions policies against African-Americans
and Asian-Aamericans. Since there is no charge of discrimination
against European-Americans, North American-Americans, South American-
Americans, Australian-Americans, or Antartican-Americans, when one
is categorizing the students for the investigation, one can justifiably
have just three categories: African-American; Asian-American; and
Miscellaneous.
Still, there may be the sort of disdain for misc that there is for
talk; net.veterans can answer that better than I can. If that's
the case, I can understand the desire to break out certain subjects
and create new hierarchies.
That said, let's it on with creating the hum hierarchy.
Jeff Daiell
--
Thank you for not coercing.