Subject: Re: amateurs in research
Date: Oct 20 08:59:50 1995
From: Stuart MacKay - stuart.mackay at attws.com


Eric Kraig wrote:

> Now Suart is "bummed" that birding has aspects that he doesn't enjoy.
> Why? Isn't the birding community big enough to encompass a range of
> interests? Are we all either "birders" or "bird-watchers"? Should we
> start a thread on "Why some people feel the need to dismiss the
> avocations of others"?

Everybody want to see a perfect world in the light of their own experience
and beliefs.

Flammable material is one way of teasing out opinions, especially on email. I
was trying to prod people into replying - there are around 250 people on this
list, that's 249 opinions I'd like to hear. Birding is really interesting as
it encompasses a wide range of activities, aspirations, interests,
personalities, etc. It's both science, recreation, obsession, etc, etc.

It would be kind of interesting to have seen the debate on BirdChat, just to
see what the reaction was.

I think criticism is always a good thing. It helps people understand what
they are doing a bit better and see it in the light of other peoples
experiences.

I'd be interested in having a raging row about why banding is a really bad
idea. I personally can make arguments on both sides of the debate. The upshot
is that in my case it drives me to do a better job to make sure that any
questionable activity or practise is elevated to a level where it is beyond
reproach.

It's human nature to rain on other people's parades just because they don't
see the world in their own terms. It's part of the "group bonding" thing -
everybody does it, so it should be no surprise. The positive side it that it
stimulate debate as any good democracy should, the negative side is that it
may result in bigotry. Now doesn't that sound familiar ;-)


Cheers,

Stuart