A spokesman for the National Council of Metal Detecting (28th Dec at 10:34 am) is having a go at "Portable Antiquities Collecting and Heritage Issues". I raise a point that these daft folk would (really) be well advised to take up officially, but they cannot be bothered. UK metal detectorists prefer the insulting approach, adopting the terminology recently popularised by the Portable Antiquities Scheme for preservationists:
the repsonse (sic) rate for [Mr Barford's] comments on this topic will remain at zero which goes to show that either no one is interested in the slightest at his ramblings, can't be bothered to respond to a selective presentation of the facts coupled with regurgitated halftruths, hearsay, anecdotal comment, inuendo (sic) and of course down right lies,[No "or" was offered]. The NCMD spokesman suggests people keep away from trying to discuss anything with Mr Barford, so
as not to get into an exchange of comments and views on a forum controlled by [Mr Barford].This is a blog of course, not a forum. But metal detectorists can of course (with the proper links given so everyone can see what is being discussed) take up the discussion with anything they do not agree with on their own forum, that's what they are there for. There they are of course under under nobody's control, except that of their own forum moderators. At the moment, the only opinions that these individuals can bring themselves to utter is to agree that they will not comment or respond to anything written by preservationists and add to that calling the disputant names, or refusing to indicate ("a certain person's blog") to whom they are actually referring. All of us have names, and some of us are not ashamed to use them. I rather think there is another reason why they are not going to engage with the issues raised on this blog about artefact hunting, collecting and the no-questions-asked market.
The PAS has made it easy for them to dismiss any scepticism as unwarranted trolling, rather than a raising of concerns that should be the topic of open public debate. The PAS have a lot to answer for.
As I have said, I would like 2013 to be "Register on a Whole Bunch of Detecting Forums" year for my readers, take a look at what these "partners" of the PAS themselves write and how. Then after a bit of reading of their own unadulterated words (and bearing in mind the purpose of this blog) those who do so, rather than taking the NCMD spokesman's word for it, will be in a position to decide for themselves to what degree, or whether at all, what I present here is an unduly "selective presentation of the facts coupled with regurgitated halftruths, hearsay, anecdotal comment, inuendo and of course down right lies".
TAKE A GOOD LOOK at these forums, for their members are precisely the sort of people the PAS wants to grab more and more millions of public quid to make into the "partners" of the British Museum, archaeological heritage professionals - and to whom they want us all to entrust the exploitation of the archaeological record. Take a good look and decide what you think about that as a sustainable heritage management "policy".
When is it going to sink into your thick skull Paul, everyone thinks your a CUNT, and don't give a stuff what you say or think anymore.
ReplyDeleteYour on your way out, big time. The end is near!
Replying to Steve Taylor (and I have repeatedly asked you to stop using that screen name, it seems that I am not the only deaf one with a thick skull):
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me that you are making a fundamental pars pro toto error here in assuming that because a relatively small minority interest group has decided that they cannot be bothered to try to understand these issues, that this consitututes "everyone".
It happens I know where this blog is read, and the fact that metal detectorists and artefact collectors and dealers read it too is neither here nor there, this is not a blog for them, but about them.
Obviously the type of people that are satisfied with the non-answer "Barford is a Tosser" sung rather badly to a few guitar chords, is not the audience to whom I am writing.
Despite the efforts of people like yourself to deflect their attention, it turns out that more serious people are more interested that there are unresolved issues here than ill-informed and inane attempts to divert them.
(The "end" may be nearer than you think. Big time, that is.)