{
  "export": {
    "source": "https://urth.darkrealm.vip/thread/urth/1623",
    "note": "Exported from an unofficial mirror of a public mailing list. Copyright in each message remains with the person who wrote it.  Email addresses are obscured as `user at host`, the form the original archive published. This file was rebuilt from parsed fields rather than retained headers, so it is faithful in content but not byte-exact.",
    "addresses": "obscured as 'user at host'"
  },
  "archive": "urth",
  "thread": {
    "id": 1623,
    "subject": "Iron men forever?",
    "messages": 1,
    "voices": 1,
    "first": "1999-05-08T23:45:07+00:00",
    "last": "1999-05-08T23:45:07+00:00"
  },
  "messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "<urth-v0026-0097@digest.urth.net>",
      "from": {
        "name": "William H. Ansley",
        "address": "wansley at warwick.net"
      },
      "date": "1999-05-08T23:45:07+00:00",
      "subject": "(urth) Iron men forever?",
      "in_reply_to": null,
      "reply_link": null,
      "blocks": [
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "\"Nicholas Gevers\" <potto at webmail.co.za> wrote:\nA welcome change from this increasingly\nrusty topic of the iron men; shouldn't we move on to other threads,\nlike whether Severian's guild cloak is made from tussah, chenille, or\nsilk?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I'm afraid you're forgetting something: Rust never sleeps!"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 2,
          "text": "Earlier \"Roy C. Lackey\" <rclackey at stic.net> wrote:\nBut I learned many years ago that\nreligious arguments are fruitless. Believers believe because what they\nbelieve cannot be proven, else it would not be a matter of faith."
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "And I replied:"
        },
        {
          "kind": "quote",
          "depth": 1,
          "text": "Perhaps this applies to nonreligious arguments as well. It seems to in this\ncase. So why did I bother adding another round to this debate if I think\nit's fruitless? I have to support my faith, don't I?"
        },
        {
          "kind": "text",
          "depth": 0,
          "text": "I am now going to violate an article of faith on this list, that Gene Wolfe\nnever makes a mistake. A corollary to this belief is that every paragraph,\nphrase, word, letter and bit of punctuation Wolfe puts on paper is of\ncosmic significance.\n\nI think Gene Wolfe blew it when he wrote the \"Severian getting into the\nSidero suit\" scene. It is riddled with inconsistencies. Well, I suppose\nthat's putting it too strongly; it's too short a scene to be riddled with\nanything. But the descriptions of the size of Sidero, direct and implied,\n*are* inconsistent, as I think my and Roy C. Lackey's analysis of the text\nshows.\n\nAm I being unfair? Probably. No author's prose should be expected to\nunfailingly stand up to the scrutiny we put Wolfe's through on a regular\nbasis. The fact that his so often does is one more testimonial to his skill.\n\nAm I missing the point of this list? No, I realize that putting Wolfe's\nwords through the wringer is a large part of the point (and the fun) of\nthis discussion group. But I do get weary, from time to time, of someone\nmaking some outrageous claim about one of Wolfe's works and justifying it\nby saying \"Wolfe would never have mentioned (or repeated) so trivial a\npoint if it didn't mean that I am right and everyone else is wrong.\" Or,\n\"The fact that Wolfe never mentions this means that I am right and everyone\nelse is wrong.\" (I should have said above: \"every paragraph, phrase, word,\nletter and bit of punctuation Wolfe puts *or doesn't put* on paper is of\ncosmic significance.\")\n\nAm I aware that I am setting up a straw man here? Perhaps I am, but I think\nsome posts on this list have come perilously close to my examples.\n\nDo I realize that I am merely indulging in more pointless nitpicking? Well,\nthat's for everyone else to decide, isn't it?\n\nWilliam Ansley"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}