Ok, I've Lurked through this whole thread...
or is it tread through this whole lurking...
Oh forget that.
What I came to the end of this very interesting social commentary to say or observe was a historical perspective of these (the Grumble and the Hitchhiker) open forums for the framers that is not driven by or censured by "the leaders".
Way back when in the late 80's, a very large handful of working framers started a little group called "The Guild", it became the PPFG, and membership was open (@ $25/yr) only to framers. No owners or corperations or "industry leaders" allowed. The amazing thing was the newsletter which was up and running in a matter of weeks, and the imput to finer, better, more correct and conservative framing information that poured into our hopper and grist information for the industry.
It was not surprising that several of us had contacts with conservators who wanted to contribute (for free) to better the industry that was in the process of "preserving today the historical artifacts for tomorrow". And then there was a cry in the San Francisco Bay area wilderness. A cry from 'a leader', which was taken up by the rest of the 'leaders', that "those untrained, uneducated, uncredited, unwashed (I and many were some of the first CPFs, and we took baths at least on Saturday night) were disseminating injurious practices that have no basis in FACT.
And that was the end of our newsletter, and the Guild, and the exchange and forum.
And the industry rewarded that clarion and paid him $85,000 per year to produce no replacement telling framers in plain English the proper way to frame things.
So here I am on the Grumble, reading the free exchange of ideas, feelings, information. In the few months I have been lurking and few weeks I have been posting, I have gathered more feeling for the industry, and tips, then I have seen produced by 15 years of fact finding.
This is what this country's forefathers meant by 'freedom of speech'. When people are allowed to communicate freely, there is community and free thought and a rise in the education.
Keep on Grumbling