Hi everyone
Firstly, I'd like to add my voice to those congratulating John Young on his
outstanding achievement. This really is one of the greatest achievements in
bird study anywhere in the world. It's also a fantastic example of what
can be achieved if you can somehow combine ALL of these elements:
incredible self-belief; comprehensive knowledge; perseverance; years of
painstaking searching and gathering of data; the highest level of
bushcraft; and great mental toughness. I can't imagine it could have been
done if any of these had been simply ordinary.
It's also a great relief to be able to mention Night Parrots on
Birding-Aus! Some years ago, we had a serial nuisance who used the
pseudonym Night Parrot. They initially weighed into the banding debate, but
fairly quickly tired of that and from then on simply attacked individuals
and tried to stir up petty squabbles. For a while I wondered whether or not
it was worth trying to keep Birding-Aus going.
There have been very few other occasions where I considered shutting down
the forum - that's simply due to the nature of everyone on BIrding-Aus.
There are so many generous people who post trip reports, ID hints, helpful
suggestions and other useful bits of information; and so many good-natured
people who enjoy sharing ideas on this forum. We are all very fortunate
that we don't have the bitter arguments and endless petty sniping that
plague so many other forums. Let's keep it that way!
There are always going to be a range of opinions on many topics; there are
going to be some issues which polarise opinion; sometimes Birding-Aus
contributors will be on opposite sides of arguments that may generate a lot
of intense feeling and emotion. Can I please make the point that dragging
up old issues that have been debated, argued and fought over is not likely
to resolve them any better this time around? I don't stifle genuine debate,
but I will do whatever I can to prevent mud-slinging, bullying and abuse on
this forum. Stirring up old arguments is unlikely to do anything but
generate resentment and intemperate invective.
So let's enjoy discussing Night Parrots for all the right reasons!
Russell Woodford
Birding-Aus Founder and List Owner
===============================
To unsubscribe from this mailing list,
send the message:
unsubscribe
(in the body of the message, with no Subject line)
to:
http://birding-aus.org
===============================
|
