Peter,



>
> Maybe we could ask the squeakers if they would move their mailing
> list into a newsgroup where the activity would be easily seen.
>
> The list is busy, and as a newsgroup it would help counter those that
> say Smalltalk is evidently ailing by the low number of news posts.
>
> --Regards,
>   Peter Goodall
>

I am strongly against this, because of what I've seen on the
comp.lang.smalltalk newsgroup. The main volume of discussion is not about
Smalltalk (which one would think is the natural venue), but rather fighting
against various Java list trolls. While fighting trolls is all good fun in
the Lord of the Rings, I don't want to waste my Squeak time doing this. I'm
always amazed at the quality of people and discussions on this list. I'll
admit it, I'm a little piggy who likes that the bar is pretty high for the
discussions that go on around here.

Jim

PS: This inflamatory remark started this thread on the newsgroup:

[The new Strongtalk binary looks promising.

With Squeak and Smallscript now moribund, perhaps this will be the new
front for action !]

If you're a member of this list, you know about Squeak. Smallscript hasn't
even been released yet !

For those of you who haven't seen the newsgroup, I'll save you the trouble.
Basically, about 20% of the postings ask interesting questions, things like
"how do I get around this particular problem in [some dialect of]
Smalltalk". Also, the Smalltalk vendors tell you what they're up to.

The vast majority of postings are troll fighting. The wars usually start
with:

Is Smalltalk dead?

Some question about a Smalltalk language element such as blocks or { .. }

which degrades into a fight with trolls and clubs:

Java is better than Smalltalk.
Smalltalk vs. C vs. Java benchmarks for numerics
Java is a better object oriented language than Smalltalk

[The numerics benchmarks are hilarious, the Java trolls and Smalltalk elves
argue who has a better implementation with all sorts of tables and charts.
The obvious answer is that C is the best, if speed is the criteria of the
benchmark].

People who know better argue these things for days. Makes me wonder when
they actually have time to write code.