Re: the old fellowship program, was Wow, we're famous

[Keith Moore <[e-mail]>]

On 4/15/21 9:19 PM, Michael Thomas wrote:

>>
>> I don't disagree, but if we make it easier for new participants to 
>> get up to speed, there will be a lot less need for cringeworthy 
>> moments.   And WGs might also become more productive.
>>
> The problem is that getting up to speed requires reading trigabytes of 
> ancient messages in archives which just doesn't happen. 

Getting up to speed requires reading trigabytes of ancient messages in 
archives because nobody summarizes it.

(Maybe that would be useful work for a newcomer, or not-so-newcomer, to 
take on.   But that person pretty well needs to start from day one of 
the WG, and even then supply some additional background material.)

> Even we who have been around for a while who might know in our gut 
> that something is not exactly new have a hard time determining that 
> one way or the other. I'm sort of channeling the previous thread on 
> outside researchers and their reluctance to bring their work forward 
> thread. Getting snarled at for that is definitely a complete turn off. 

Of course it is.   But there are two ways to deter people getting 
snarled at.  One of them is to tell people to not snarl.   The other is 
to teach newcomers what they need to know to not be snarled at.   
They're not mutually exclusive.

Keith