a thought for speakers

[Doug Gwyn]

In article <82848 at bu.edu> tower at buitc.bu.edu (Leonard (Len) H. Tower Jr.) writes:
>It's less then halfway.  There are many people, who can ask
>intelligent probing questions without having read your paper, who I
>wish could be given priority instead of those who have spent last
>night dweebing over the paper.  For example: Chris Torek, Mike O'Dell,
>Ed Gould, Deborah Scherrer, Evi Nemeth, Keith Bostic, Kirk McKusick,
>Mike Karels, Rick Adams, Barry Shein, Doug Gwyn, Rob Pike, Dennis
>Ritchie, Andrew Hume, Sharon Murrel, Tom Duff, Eric Allman, Dan Geer,
>Rob Kolstad, Doug Gwyn, John Gilmore, and quite a few others.

Gee, I guess I should feel honored to be the only one who gets to
ask TWO questions!

>Simple filters don't work. 

Seriously, though,

>Some would cry unfair, as it would tend to give
>precedence to known wizards.

Wizards tend to communicate with each other anyway, and don't need
to wait for the spotlight at a USENIX Conference.

I think the problem is that (a) asking questions of a speaker is not
a very efficient form of education and (b) too many people use the
opportunity merely to grind their personal axes.

It doesn't seem worth worrying much about.