From: Ron Hale-Evans <rwhe@apocalypse.org>
Subject: Re: (urth) TBOTNS FAQ
Date: Sun, 12 Dec 1999 19:01:00 

>Christy wrote:
>
>>Is it the duty of the FAQ to initiate one into the "mysteries" of TBOTNS?
>>Or to initiate one into the method of reading Gene Wolfe? [...]
>
>The latter, please. Some of us neophytes would prefer to discover the
>mysteries on our own, but would be grateful for any planar or other
>geographies.

What people don't seem to realise, and I keep trying to explain, is that it
is possible to have *both* a list of hints for reading Wolfe, and a list of
suggested answers that do not spoil the fun of neophytes, simply by
encrypting the answers. Alternatively, one could have one document for
questions and hints, and publish the suggested answers in another document
altogether -- a low-tech, even no-tech way of assuring that people who want
to see the answers can, and people who don't want to don't have to.

There's no reason to tailor the FAQ only to novices. Some of us want
intelligent discussion of substance to arise from this, not just vague
I-know-more-than-you-do hinting. Those who insist that no answers be
published *anywhere* are declaring, "Someone is having some fun somewhere,
and this must not be." (That's what the Puritan Brother said when he
learned there was dancing in Ceylon.)

Ron
--
Ron Hale-Evans: rwhe@apocalypse.org  ... <http://www.apocalypse.org/~rwhe/>
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