As another member of the forum who is also representing a commercial
entity, I am very careful never to violare the non-commercial rule, which I
respect as I believe that promotional messages do not belong in every facet
of life, even though facilitating such messages is what I do for a living. 

That said, I also note that this is a participatory group, in which those
who write the most have the highest visibility. Michael Edison is very
active, while I was not aware until his message that Larrey Riddle was even
on this list. I am pleased to see his contribution. While these are not
commercial promotions, they constitute participating in the discussion,
being heard and ultimately having some influence. 

An analogy: The sports car club of which I have been an occasional officer
had an issue with people complaining that a select group was running
everything and excluding others. Yet all the business meetings were open to
all members and indeed it was always hard to find volunteers to hold club
offices. The complainers were usually people we never saw or heard from
most of the time. Anyone who chose to be active had quite a lot of say in
what was done. 

I don't write more because I was becoming familiar with the group and the
trends of discussion, and as a non-expert in actual preservation have
little to say--I read the postings and learn something, but have nothing
practical to say about this or that stone patching--not even parrot guano!
And I have limited time--as it is, the BP message volume is a lot to read,
however briefly. But I like to feel I am in some way part of the community.


Don White
Associate Publisher
Preservation Sourcebook