Posted by horrido on Jan 21, 2015; 8:12pm
URL: https://forum.world.st/Mea-Culpa-tp4800840.html

Okay, so far, I've made two mistakes. First was my lack of sensitivity to cultural differences around the world. Now that I know better, I shall do better.

Second was my failure to distinguish between different subgroups within the Pharo forum. The reason I chose Pharo forum to discuss my campaign was the fact that it is the most active Smalltalk forum there is. People who are interested in Smalltalk join the most active forum generally, and this includes not only Pharoers, but people from ESUG, Squeak, Cincom, Amber, Redline, etc.

So, for example, when I appealed for contributors to the Redline project, I should've distinguished the target audience as those groups other than Pharoers. This was my failure and I own up to it.

It is unfortunate that I must use the Pharo forum for this purpose. The Smalltalk community is so terribly fragmented that there is no universal Smalltalk forum to address, at least, none that is actually inhabited. Without the ability to address the largest number of Smalltalkers, the SRP cannot make any progress. I'm sorry, but I have to be blunt.

If anyone can offer a practical alternative, I'd like to hear it. Otherwise, the SRP has only two choices:

1) Continue what it is doing on the Pharo forum, and be mindful of which group(s) I am addressing.

2) Fold up the campaign and leave the destiny of Smalltalk to the Fates. Without the ability to reach out to Smalltalkers everywhere, I am hopelessly disadvantaged.

Regards,
Richard