Newsgroups: sci.math
Followup-To: poster
From: hoey@zogwarg.etl.army.mil (Dan Hoey)
Date: 11 Feb 92 16:39:10 GMT
Subject: R E B U K E to the Perpetrator of the Fermat's Last Theorem Poll

I protest Gautam Dalmia's abuse of the sci.math newsgroup for his
opinion poll.  This amateurish experiment in amateur sociology has
no relevance to mathematics.

I condemn Dalmia's scurrilous slander of the motives of persons who
abstained from his poll.  I made it clear in private mail to him that
would not take part because he was apparently planning to use the
poll's results to support unjustified conclusions.  His speculation
that people did not respond for fear that they would be named is a
transparent fraud.

I would normally address the technical assertions that Dalmia makes
with regard to Fermat's Conjecture, but I have no desire to assist
in modifying his arguments to make their ridiculousness less patent.
He is a crank, and ignorant cranks are at least easier to ignore.

I will not dignify Gautam Dalmia's misbehavior with further discussion
in this forum.

Dan Hoey
Hoey@AIC.NRL.Navy.Mil