keris for comment

[A. G. Maisey]

David, do hope you will see fit to permit this response to Semar.

I have given considerable thought to his posts in this thread, and I am inclined to believe that although his pattern of communication may seem to be objectionable, it is not his nature that makes it so, but rather his difficulty with English.

Consider this:- it is very easy for you and me and a number of other regulars here to put up a question or a comment, but it is clear that for Semar this is not such an easy thing to do, so, instead of trying to say what he already knows, he goes on a fishing expedition.

I can understand this. I can use several languages, but I'm really only competent in one language apart from English, with the others, my writing would be on a par with Semar's English.

In short, I now feel that I was too hard on him, and that we all should be prepared to cut him a bit of slack. After all, he does make a considerable effort to take part in our discussions.

So Semar, please accept my apologies for the harsh manner in which I addressed you.

I would like to make a couple of additional minor comments.

For clarification:- I did not call you a Troll, what I said was this:-

"To my way of thinking this sort of behaviour comes dangerously close to the behaviour one would expect of a Troll."

There is a fine, but very important distinction between an accusation and a personal opinion in respect of a pattern of behaviour.

Yes, I agree with you that it is important to obtain as many opinions as possible about something when we wish to form a defensible opinion about said object, be it a keris or anything else.

However, when one has already obtained opinions from knowledgeable and experienced people, and when those opinions have been sufficient to permit one to form one's own opinion, it could be seen as somewhat contemptuous to seek a further opinion by presentation of extracted evidence (photographs) and in the absence of a presentation of the supporting evidence or argument that has permitted the formation of one's opinion, and then to reject that new opinion without a supporting argument.

As I have already said, I do not now believe that you intentionally set out to insult anybody, but I would most sincerely request you to in future post your queries as specific questions accompanied by whatever supporting evidence you may already have.

I am certain that if you follow this plan of action you will be much more successful in your increase of knowledge.