----- Original Message -----

From: Richard Turner

To: main@jfw.groups.io

Sent: Monday, August 26, 2019 5:03 PM

Subject: Re: how does one join the new JAWS list

 

Brian,

I could not agree more.

Why people were so quick to recreate a group when this one was running fine is a mystery to me.

 

Richard

 

Always look out for #1, and be careful not to step in #2. 

 

On Aug 26, 2019, at 2:54 PM, Brian Vogel <britechguy@...> wrote:

On Mon, Aug 26, 2019 at 05:42 PM, Richard Turner wrote:

Since, as far as know, there isn't an official group run by Freedom Scientific, nor one run by Mozilla for Thunderbird, etc.

And for this I am grateful, as I do not want my support groups beholden to the companies that make any given product or service.  User groups need to allow users to be entirely free to criticize the maker of the product being discussed, provided it's constructive or brief venting.  Intractable rants don't help anyone and drive serious participants away.

I realize that there sometimes more than one group/list for a given product, and a lot of that can be the result of history.   But when you have several groups, covering the same territory in the same first language on the same venue, common sense dictates trying to integrate them.  In this case, it was a perfectly convenient time to do that, but apparently it won't happen secondary to the "rush to reconstitute" rather than coming into this fold.

Unless there is some compelling case, I stand against fragmentation of information sharing for a given arena/product on principle.  It makes it harder to find what you need to know.

And I hasten to add that this is, in no way, saying that this group is superior to any other on the same topic.  It's just that it is one with a large membership and well-established reputation and track record with regard to JAWS.  Others (and I have been on some, typically briefly) have paled in comparison in my opinion and when they dissolve it would be nice to try to encourage those displaced to transfer allegiances rather than setting up replacements.   If this were the group that had less than half the membership of "its next competitor" and it were to go out of existence, I'd certainly say, "Well, it's time to join the one that's still standing."
 
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Brian - Windows 10 Pro, 64-Bit, Version 1903, Build 18362  

Many of the insights of the saint stem from his experience as a sinner.

         ~ Eric Hoffer