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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Desdichado" data-source="post: 3886166" data-attributes="member: 2205">:shrug:  It stands to reason that someone involved day in and day out with the manufacture of hamburgers would, yes.  But your analogy has a big flaw, IMO, in that McDonalds are all about mass-producing hamburgers with completely unskilled labor, not about exploring the various aspects of what it means to be a hamburger.Yep.  Sure.  I'd buy that.  I don't thank anyone has suggested the contrary.No, no, not at all.  It just struck me as funny.  Reducing our discussion to a mathematical formula for clarity only to say something that I don't disagree with in the least.If we're going to get hung up on who is or isn't an expert, I'd like to point out that PeterWeller hasn't yet produced any evidence (other than his own statements) to back up his expert opinion, and since it contradicts what I've heard from people that I do consider true experts, not just "guys on the internet" I'll happily ignore the academic chest-thumping exercise and simply evaluate proposals put forth on their own merits, not on whether or not someone that I consider an "expert" or not has said them.Yes. Indeed.  Since a big part of my point is that simply ignoring experts because they're not in the "critiquing" business is introducing false bias, I dont' accept that only literary critics are qualified to speak on what genre is, though.I think perhaps I've been talking in circles a bit and some clarity has been lost.  That right there is the gist of what I'm saying.  Since you've gone to the trouble to quote a nice little checklist of the "appeal to authority" logical fallacy (although based perhaps on misunderstanding my point, I'll happily utilize that to make my point.  I'd argue that these three that I retained all apply to the idea that only literati can define genres or "correctly" categorize works by genre.IMO, there's no need to consult an expert when anyone can go to any bookstore and see how books are categorized.  Granted, there's a great deal of room for error in that method, but by and large, non-"experts" have just as much to say about the topic as anyone else and always have.  Also, if you speak to authors or publishers (also, IMO, certainly experts) then you tend to get different answers than if you speak to literature academics, suggesting very strongly that these groups have biases and agendas to pursue in their definition of the various relevent genres.  Also, given this disparity, then there is no "representative" opinion that speak of.  Also, as I've already stated, the opinion put forth as fact here doesn't even meet the lesser standard of being the consensus opinion I've seen in literature textbooks and from literature professers when I was in college.  Like I said, unless there's been a dramatic change in the field of literary study, that is not a representative expert opinion.I (somewhat) disagree, as I've already stated.I can tell that you think so; you've referred to it as if it were the sole repository of expert opinion on this subject repeatedly in this thread.I am curious what it says, but I should state up front that I'm not inclined to be as accepting of its authority unquestioning as you appear to be, especially if it contradicts what I've known, heard and read repeatedly on the subject from other sources.</blockquote>

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