LS Catechism or FAQ


Diana McPartlin (diana@asiantravel.com)
Wed, 19 Nov 1997 19:30:41 +0100


Hi everyone

It has become customary on the Internet for newsgroups and mailing lists
to develop FAQs (Frequently Asked Questions) so that the groups can
avoid having to answer the same questions over and over again everytime
somebody new joins the list.

But I'm starting to realize that, for the time being anyway, this isn't
really what the Lila Squad needs. What we do need IMHO is what Pirsig
describes as a catechism of quality. For those not familiar with
Christianity, a catechism is a statement of the principles of the
religion (or in our case philosophy) in the form of questions and
answers. It is a far more precise and rigorous document than a FAQ and
is intended more for the benefit of believers than for the purpose of
convincing newcomers.

To be honest I have thought this all along but I also thought that some
people might find the idea of a catechism rather hard to swallow so I
kinda disguised it as a FAQ.

But it needs to be said now because it is clear that others are trying
to gear the FAQ towards newcomers, even to the point of glossing over
the main points because they might upset people. Perhaps that's fair
enough - for a FAQ - but it's not appropriate for a catechism.

It's not that I don't want a FAQ, but I tend to feel that one will
emerge sooner or later anyway. At the moment the LS is so young that all
the questions are new and none are frequently asked. Also, I'm all for
teaching others about the MoQ, but if we're not sure about our
principles ourselves I don't see how we can explain them to anyone else.

So what I'm going to do is retitle the FAQ a "Catechism of Quality" and
pursue that instead. If anyone wants to pick up the FAQ and create
something geared towards newcomers please go ahead. Otherwise I suggest
we wait and write the FAQ after the catechism, or just let it emerge
when it's ready.

Diana

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