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     URL re Donald Foster's work for docg, fiddler, 12:53:15, 6/28/2000
     Fiddler, docg, 15:27:45, 6/28/2000, (#1)

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 "URL re Donald Foster's work for docg"
 Posted by fiddler on 12:53:15 6/28/2000
      This is somewhat long, but it's interesting, and I think it answers several
      points you raised at the end of your "Key" thread.

      www.linguafranca.com/9807/crain.html

      As to the jameson flap, I think it's just hir's attempt to muddy the water.
      Content analysis cannot possibly tell anything about an author except
      whether he/she wrote the questioned text--based on statistical evidence,
      not opinion.

      Foster was simply expressing his personal opinion at the time. Interestingly,
      he originally was contacted by Ted Kaczinski's defense team; after he
      performed his analysis, Foster concluded that the evidence showed
      Kaczinski HAD written the Unabomber's Manifesto, and ended up testifying
      for the prosecution.

      But enough. Read the article.

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 1. "Fiddler"
 Posted by docg on 15:27:45 6/28/2000
      That article looks familiar. I must have read it a few months ago. But thanks
      for posting the link. I skimmed it this time. Interesting. 

      Don't get me wrong. I respect what Foster has been attempting, I think he's
      on the right track. He's a pioneer in an exciting new field, which is still,
      however, untested.

      The article clarifies his role in the Unabomber case. It's sometimes reported
      in such a way as to imply that Foster was given a whole set of texts by
      various suspects and correctly picked Kaczynski out of the pack. That
      WOULD have been impressive. But it's not what happened. He was simply
      handed texts by Kaczynski and asked to either confirm or dispute an
      attribution that had already been made. Kaczynski was the ONLY suspect.
      No one elses texts were considered. Foster appears to have been honest
      enought to contradict the expectations of his employers, which DOES say
      something for his ethics. But his attribution of the Manifesto to Kaczynski
      can hardly be regarded as a dramatic example of the power of his methods.
      It seems to have been something of a no brainer.

      Nothing in the article changes my attitude. Foster's methods are extremely
      promising. But his association with the Ramsey case leaves a LOT to be
      desired. I do NOT buy his take on the note.

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