[seqfan] Re: moving to wiki

[David Wilson]

I certain respect the work and talent involved to obtain credentials, 
however, I don't see the world divided into PhDs and burger flippers. 
The OEIS benefits from many kinds of skills: mathematical, research, 
programming, organizational, linguistic, creative and technical, and not 
all of these correlate with degrees.

I personally have a BA CS/Math from Cornell, which may or may not 
qualify as sufficient credentials for OEIS editorship in the eyes of 
some. I work as a programmer and moonlight in a supermarket deli. 
OEISwise, I am at best an amateur math dabbler, and I have made my 
mistakes, but on the whole I believe I have made positive contributions 
to the OEIS. I hope this is primary reason NJAS chose me as editor.

Heretofore, OEIS editorship has been conferred by NJAS, and I have never 
had reason to question his judgment in that regard. If an OEIS editorial 
board is ever established, I would hope that they would they would 
continue his tradition of judging editorial candidates, not on their 
letters, but on the quality of their contributions and their 
demonstrated respect for the OEIS and its goals.

Alonso Del Arte wrote:
> I too am warming up to this idea. But if there is going to the possibility
> of "earning stripes" as David Wilson suggests, I would hope that
> preliminaries to the awarding of stripes would include a verification of
> math credentials. People earning stripes should have degrees and experience
> in mathematics, and not be "teenagers with big egos and little common
> sense." (Brandt)
> Al