Which you obviously did. Larry didn't say "must" in his post, he actually used the word "need", twice I think.
His use of "need" was an informal one that had a meaning tantamount to "ought", or "should". The (hortatory, if I'm not mistaken) necessity that "should" imposes is in no way as binding as "must", which involves a strict adherence. Quotas employ the latter sort of necessity. The fact that quotas tend to be digital and quantitative supports this point.
You could only infer a vague quota (is there even such a thing?) If you fail to understand the obvious context of the post. A proper context that would support your inference would be something like: "I realized that I haven't kept my promise to read a comparable amount of female authors lately, so I need to read more. Which of them do you think?" or "This board is misogynistic and must correct its skewed preference for female authors. We all need to find one to review."
His use of "need" was an informal one that had a meaning tantamount to "ought", or "should". The (hortatory, if I'm not mistaken) necessity that "should" imposes is in no way as binding as "must", which involves a strict adherence. Quotas employ the latter sort of necessity. The fact that quotas tend to be digital and quantitative supports this point.
You could only infer a vague quota (is there even such a thing?) If you fail to understand the obvious context of the post. A proper context that would support your inference would be something like: "I realized that I haven't kept my promise to read a comparable amount of female authors lately, so I need to read more. Which of them do you think?" or "This board is misogynistic and must correct its skewed preference for female authors. We all need to find one to review."
Fascinating stuff.
I am made of poison.
This board is severely lacking in discussion of female authors
12/09/2009 08:11:46 AM
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I think what you mean is this board is lacking in discussion of lesser-known authors...
12/09/2009 10:49:56 AM
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While part of that is true, part of it really deals with a thought when I glanced through the posts
12/09/2009 10:55:07 AM
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The world is severely lacking in famous female authors.
12/09/2009 02:53:03 PM
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Wanna bet?
13/09/2009 08:23:14 AM
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Incorrect.
15/09/2009 04:14:06 PM
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You might want to edit that...
15/09/2009 04:40:32 PM
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Actually, most of those authors are talked about on other boards and blogs
16/09/2009 12:22:46 AM
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... That doesn't actually change the truth-value of his statement. *NM*
16/09/2009 05:31:30 AM
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Is KJ Parker actually a woman?
16/09/2009 12:27:35 AM
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Probably.
16/09/2009 04:51:57 AM
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It is not uncommon in the publishing industry to pull tricks like that.
16/09/2009 11:19:04 AM
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female authors
12/09/2009 10:28:12 PM
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I discovered Morgan Llywellyn when I was in my late teens/early 20s
13/09/2009 08:24:15 AM
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None. Why in the world would you place a quota on gender? *NM*
12/09/2009 10:46:45 PM
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Who said anything about "quotas"?
13/09/2009 08:11:21 AM
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It can be inferred.
14/09/2009 12:45:18 AM
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it can only be inferred if you confuse the necessity employed.
19/09/2009 06:49:17 AM
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Mm.
19/09/2009 07:13:27 AM
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Everyone knows women can't write! They are by far inferior to men!
13/09/2009 01:42:16 AM
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Connie Willis, Susanna Clarke, Diana Wynne Jones, Megan Whalen Turner (to start with)
13/09/2009 01:47:17 PM
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I read mostly scfi these days and there just are not that many new female scfi writers
14/09/2009 04:28:31 PM
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Jaine Fenn and Liz Williams are two pretty decent recently-emerging SF writers. *NM*
15/09/2009 04:15:40 PM
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This post is severely lacking in discussion of male authors. *NM*
15/09/2009 04:42:23 PM
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