hollombe@ttidcc.UUCP (Jerry Hollombe) (12/04/84)
I'm the one who started all this a few weeks ago, and I've been watching
the discussion (and my mail) with some interest. At the moment, I've
compiled the following statistics:
In favor of net.mensa: 7
Against net.mensa: 7
Neutral/thoughtful: 21
Members responding: 18
Non-members responding:17
These figures may not be exact as some people did not state whether they
were members or not and the pro/con/neutral divisions are based on my
interpretations.
One valid point that was brought up was the use of Mensa's trademark in a
news group name. I've called Mensa's New York office to ask them about it
and they told me to send them a letter explaining what exactly was being
proposed. This I will do. If they decide against the use of Mensa in
net.mensa, the group could be called something like net.hi-iq. There are a
number of similar organizations in existence, most of which set higher
standards than Mensa, who would also be included. (Most of these groups
have relatively tiny memberships. Mensa is the largest.)
The question of creating this group still remains. Frankly, at this point
even I am not convinced one way or the other. The aggregate feeling I seem
to get from the net is one of ambivalence. I'm relatively new to the net,
so I'm not sure on what basis groups have been created or removed in the
past.
I do note that simply bringing up the subject has already started some
discussions going and some of my mail indicates a desire to discuss/flame
"elitist" organizations. In view of this, I propose moving the discussions
of Mensa and similar organizations per se to net.misc (or net.flame, as
appropriate (-: ) to see how much interest/traffic is actually generated.
That would seem to be a reasonable "real world" test of the need for such a
group (and would provide an opportunity to correct some common
misconceptions about Mensa, if anyone cares).
--
The Polymath
(Jerry Hollombe) Opinions expressed here are my own
Transaction Technology, Inc. and unrelated to anyone else's.
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