Subject: categories: Tuesday Afternoon

From: jean benabou <[email-masked]>
Date: Tue, 3 Jan 2006 18:14:14 +0100

A strange title indeed!

I have received many reactions to my mail about "prone " and "supine",
most of them  supporting my position, and I intended to wait a few
days, in case I had more, to answer globally to all of them. Especially
since I hoped to get a motivation of the proposed change from Paul
Taylor and/or Peter Johnstone who proposed such a change.

As I sent my mail on 30 Dec 2005,  I knew that the period might not be
the best, with vacations and celebrations, and I was prepared to wait,
say two weeks, before answering in order to avoid repetitions.

I received from David Yetter on Jan1 2006 another comment with the
following note, hence my title:

[Note from moderator: This is to let you know that I am invoking the
(not recently used) 48 hour rule for this subject: postings received
by noon on Wednesday will be sent; after that the discussion may
obviously continue, but not on the list.
Best wishes to all for 2006, Bob Rosebrugh]

I am still "on the safe side" of wednesday noon, and "hope" my mail
will reach you via the Category list.

I had NEVER heard of this "48 hour rule", and have many examples where
discussions on this list have lasted for much longer, even on subjects
that I considered a bit futile.

So I would like to know WHEN this rule was LAST applied, and HOW MANY
TIMES IN THE PAST IT HAS BEEN APPLIED AT ALL

I'd greatly appreciate answers to these two questions.

I cannot, of course, imagine that an unknown, or obsolete,  ad hoc rule
  has been unearthed to stop a discussion which has jut started, where
my objections, supported by mathematical arguments, and by many members
of this list, might happen to displease some person or persons unknown.

I realize now that some exceptional questions in Category Theory can
have indeed very exciting aspects!

I apologize for my English, I didn't have time to "polish" it because I
had a deadline to respect. Best wishes to all,

Jean Benabou

P.S. When I was ready to send this mail, I found via  the Category list
a mail by Hans Porst ON THE SAME QUESTION OF TERMINOLOGY, but WITHOUT
the note from the moderator. This rises two questions:
(i)-Is "the rule" EQUALLY VALID for everybody ?
(ii)-If I want to answer Porst's mail after noon to-morrow can I do it
through the list?