Conference turris::womannotes-v3

    You are mistaken.
    
    If you had been aware of the original posting in V1 of Womannotes,
    as vaguely referred to in the posting in V2, you would know that it
    was a response to Some People pushing analogies past their limits
    and arguing about the analogy rather than about the event/circumstance/
    whatever which the analogy was meant to illuminate.
    
    It was a method used by Some People to keep from actually discussing
    the particular ~topic of interest to women~, and to cause people to
    spend their energy on side issues instead.
    
    If sidetracking and wasting energy are what you want, by all means
    distort the analogies you read.  You may find, however, that someone
    may simply respond with "Read 87.0", and otherwise ignore your input.
    If that happens (given that the initial "If" comes up True), then
    you are not in a good position to complain without looking like a
    <term chosen by each reader>.
    
    						Ann B.

    
    
    I thought it was a way of saying that an analogy is supposed to make
    a point about a fuzzy issue clearer.  Analogies are supposed to let us 
    look at something we understand clearly and compare it to something we 
    understand less clearly.  For example, suppose you are trying to teach
    me to make homebrewed beer, and you tell me that it's bad to leave the
    wort (that's what they call beer before it's fermented) exposed to air
    while it's fermenting, and I say I don't understand why.  You say,
    "well, you wouldn't leave an open bottle of milk on the counter all
    night, would you?"  And I say, "but I have beer in my refrigerator
    that's been there for weeks, and it didn't go bad the way milk does."
    Clearly, I have missed the point you are trying to make.  If you want
    me to understand what you're trying to explain, you would do well to 
    try a different analogy.  If I want to understand you, I would do well
    to let go of the milk analogy so I don't confuse it with what we're
    really talking about.
    
    If an analogy is not understood by the reader in the way the writer
    intends it to be understood, it doesn't further understanding 
    of the original topic.  In fact, a misunderstood analogy can sidetrack a 
    discussion.  I think the analogy disclaimer lets the author say, "It was 
    in this context and in this context only that I want to apply this 
    analogy.  If you apply the analogy differently, you won't understand what 
    I mean."
    
    Anyway, the disclaimer is there for anyone who wants to use or refer to
    it.
    
    Justine                         

    Mark,
    
    Exactly.  Which is why people point to imaginary, or even real
    flaws in an analogy, instead of admitting that they *do* understand
    the point of the analogy and they don't like what their understanding
    has shown them.
    
    						Ann B.

    
    
    I think of analogies in terms of their effectiveness more than
    their accuracy.  If you don't understand my analogy (because it's
    inaccurate, or you're unfamiliar with the terms I use, or for whatever
    reason), you won't understand the point I'm trying to make.  It might 
    make sense to analyze the analogy as a way of understanding it better, 
    but it always frustrates me if I end up making an analogy that's unclear,
    and the reader/listener spends time on that instead of on the
    topic at hand.  In fact, for that reason, I try not to use them
    in writing unless I'm quite confident that the readers will understand.
    
    Justine

    And analogies can even be used when someone wants to point out and
    magnify a flaw in the analogy and sidetrack the discussion so the real
    topic that is under scrutiny does not get discussed at all.  
    
    Unfortunately.
    
    -Jody
    

    edp,
    
    Someone reading reply .9 might think you are saying that I do not
    like other people using my analogies.
    
    This is not true.  I adore have people using my analogies.  It
    is fabulous egoboo.
    
    What I do not like is to have people MISuse my analogies, to have
    people push them beyond *my* bounds so that they no longer map to
    the situation -- which is REALLY what is under discussion -- or to add
    in a factor which would be legitimate if the analogy were the reality,
    but which is extraneous to the REAL situation, and is therefore adding
    a mismapping in the middle.
    
    						Ann B.
    
    P.S.  If any reader is having trouble understanding character set
    assignment, I have a useful analogy, available upon request.

    You have outrageously misrepresented me.  Nowhere have I used the
    term "right" or "rights" concerning the use of an analogy.
    
    I demand an apology.
    
    						Ann B.

    Actually, I was just making my behavior analogous to your own.
    I naturally found your response interesting.
    
    							Ann B.

    Re: .19
    
    >  re:.18
    >  replies like this make it very difficult to extend to their author
    >  the compassion and good will that would elsewise be forthcoming.
    
    Which author are you referring to?
    
      Alan

Stop it right now. I cannot believe that people who work at DEC take time from
their day to go out of their way to insult each other. Another insult in this
topic, and I'm write-locking it.
	Mez