NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/soc/bi/19220

Internet Message Format | 1993-01-27 | 3.2 KB

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Path: sparky!uunet!tessi!eaglet!neon!qiclab!arts!lily!palepink
From: [e-mail] (Suzii Abe)
Newsgroups: soc.bi,soc.motss,pnw.motss
Subject: Re: Survey: Four screens!!
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: Tue, 26 Jan 93 18:30:11 PST
References: <[e-mail]>
Lines: 61

[e-mail] (Ellen Mitsue Eades) writes:
> In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Henry Mensch) writ
> >let's start with these: who the hell are you, what's the point of this
> >survey, who's going to see this in the end (data, results, etc.), and
> >why should anyone respond?
>
> Marcus is a member in good standing of Microsoft's GLEAM (Gay Lesbian &
> Bisexual Employees at Microsoft).  He is also a former member of the board
> of directors of GLEAM.  I don't know what he plans to do with the survey,
> but he's not a 'phobe, Henry, so don't knee-jerk so easily.  "Who the hell
> are you?" is a pretty hostile response to an information request, even in
> our currently besieged Northwest.

[For context:  The following is written by a charter member of the
Ellen Eades fan club.]

Personally, I just sent Marcus e-mail trashing the survey.  I'm sorta
glad that Henry's knee jerked; it may have saved some poor schmuck some
work--including some pretty emotional delving.

I'm glad Marcus is unlikely to use survey results to blackmail the
innocent Episcopalian priest mothers (although Marcus doesn't seem
to realize that such exist) of our favorite queers.  That isn't
even the real point...

It's pretty easy to see, reading the survey, that it was written (and
never edited) by somebody who doesn't realize that you have to do a
Review of Literature before you can start on the Experimental Design.
Especially if you're going to claim that the question hasn't been
studied extensively, you'd better be able to back it up by knowing what
similar, closely parallel, things *have* been studied.

[Point of evidence:  The survey implies that all Christians are either
Catholic or Protestant.  The survey implies that all children of Christian
households live from early childhood through adolescents in exactly one (1)
of the North American countries.  The survey implies that all parents of
queerfolk tell their children, honestly and accurately, whether they already
knew or suspected the child's Kinsey status before the coming-out.  The
survey fails to note that mothers, or non-biologically related in-house
adults, can be ministers, bishops, or elders.]

We see a lot of surveys, one sort or another, come over the net.  Some
of them, we see the results on, some of them we don't.  Most of them,
the results aren't worth the electrons they're written on.


I SUBMIT TO YOU:
     Any individual who asks for answers to a survey has made an
     implied PROMISE:
          "Answer these questions and you will add to the
           world's understanding of people like yourself."
     (What the University of Washington calls a "contribution to knowledge".)

I SUBMIT TO YOU:
     Marcus is neither ready nor able to fulfill this promise.

(Although I'm glad for Ellen's testimony that he is not necessarily unwilling.)

--Suzii.
[e-mail]