'Ignoring' this thread is a poor option to offer
Members are pointing out why they feel it has no value and you should offer a reason for thinking it has
How, for instance, do you suggest members could respond to sadie's taunts of them being "not brave enough" and "too chicken" to answer the unanswerable question she poses ?
How, exactly, are we meant to determine if the 'proportions' on the grainy screen grab of little Bushra are the same as those on her photograph ? ( come to think of it, how did sadie do that ? ... what scientific method did she use when coming to the conclusion that the little girl is DEFINATELY NOT bushra ? )
Since you have taken the position of defending the 'value' this thread ( and sadie's theory on Bushra ) perhaps you'd like to address the main thrust of it
... that the grainy screen grab is not Bushra at all ... that it is probably Madeleine ... and the person carrying her is not her mother, it is a bloke in a pair of comedy boobs with blue marker pen drawn round the nipples
Are you defending the 'value' of that observation ? ... or are you merely defending the right of any member to post any insupportable nonsense regardless of how much it diminishes the credibility of the forum ?
I think you raise some very good points, icabod, and it is important to address them. We do want discussion to be meaningful and valid.
As far as what you describe as 'taunts' go, or comments or posts one feels are of little value, one is under no obligation to respond to them. In fact I believe the less emotive and personal post are, the better. That is just my opinion.
As to the content of this particular thread and how I myself should respond, I personally do not know enough about proportions and so on as to be able to make a meaningful comment. I do know that Sadie is qualified in technical drawing and art, and was a professional engineer for many years, hence her interest in the photographs. I myself know nothing of these subjects and don't feel that I have to put in comments simply to 'justify' the thread.
I respect you very much for wanting quality discussions and threads, icabod, and for stating the fact. I am of the same mind. Bear in mind, too, however, that we all have certain topics that we focus on because of our individual knowledge or interests, which are varied. We all bring something different here and that is partly what makes this forum so interesting. There is plenty variety in thread topics also, and so I don't think that we should all feel able or obligated to have to comment on things we are not interested in or don't know about, just because they are there.
I personally did not make any postings whatsoever, for example, on that very long thread of Dhingra's, good as the thing was, because my scientific knowledge is very minimal and I was not able to fully appreciate the discussion.
And I was not being flippant when I suggested that Anne ignore this thread. Perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that we should focus on the positive and build up the threads we believe to be meaningful and which hopefully will lead us somewhere in this case. It is 'survival of the fittest' as far as these threads are concerned, and we can either attempt to create substantial discussion in a given thread, or if that does not work, move on.
