Keith Malone wrote:
> Hi Bill,
On many newsgroups, there is a rule that you bottom post and leave all
the posts in as quotes. It is fairly easy to follow the discussion,
since each response is directly after the post it is responding to. Even
when the thread branches off, you can see where it is going and how it
related to the original post.
It is difficult to follow threads on the beelist since we are not
allowed to quote excessively, a good rule in view of limited storage
space on the server.
But the rule also leads to misunderstanding, since one is not sure who
is responding to who and often the original post is lost in the
responses, which go down different paths and often have no relation to
the contents of the first post. Especially, if you are like me and
delete prior posts to keep my inbox fairly clean. When a new post
appears that I want to comment on, I sometimes I go by memory to
translate the post and remember what the original post was all about.
This is a long way to say that I was responding to several posts. Yours
was included as were several others that were disputing scientific
studies and alluding to their experience. My frustration level was
reached (as obviously was George's) and I painted with a broad brush.
Truth is, about three years ago I would have been totally on your side
on some of your practices. But since then, I have found several of my
strongly held beliefs on growing your own were wrong. Agree that
beekeeping is local. I coined that phrase- borrowed from Tip O'Neil (All
politics is local). That phrase is nice but not universal. There are
basic truths that apply to all of us and to discount them just because
our bees survive is to court disaster, but worse, lead others down a
path that is wrong.
We all have opinions, and the joy and danger of the internet is we all
are allowed to give them and they assume equal weight with the truth. I
had mine and because I have been on this list a while and also stayed
with keeping bees, time led me to revise my views. That perspective has
also led me to pick and chose between some who post here. I defer to
them when we go down certain paths. In the old days, as a new beekeeper
with lots of knowledge but little experience, I had no problem
expressing my views. Even asked about menthol cough drops to control
Tracheal! Not surprisingly, some said it worked. So I tried it and it
did not.
Keith, you bring a lot to the table and I apologize for any hurt I may
have caused you. It was not done with malice. I doubt if there is anyone
who has posted on the beelist for any length of time that intends to
hurt, but we do get frustrated and that may be construed as personal.
I have been on many beekeeping lists and have dropped all the others to
stay here. It is the most "informed" and least trendy. A new idea will
be thoroughly discussed (peer review) and you have to be ready to take
the heat and substantiate your claims. There is a lot of bad advice out
there. It is good to see it challenged.
A long post, and thanks for bearing with me. I have lots of cuts on my
ego from posts on this list disputing what I have said (or referring to
me while the post was someone else's), but have learned it is better to
stay and learn than play elsewhere where the rules are more relaxed and
they let you "win".
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
-- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info ---
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
|
