Who do you want to work for?

[mercenary]

Done my research now. Suitably cowed. I reckon I'd be OK with the Justification and Fair Comment defences though.

[troll]

Hi guys and girls-just a quickie for clarity...
My suggestion in setting up another site stems from the fact that there is an obvious and pressing need.It is NOT a criticsism (crap spelling-tired boy) of BAJR.Neither is it a pubescent knee-jerk "so there" reaction for being told off or, a farewell gesture-I`m not going anywhere cos I aint anywhere near finished just yet. It occurs to me that a website where descriptive accounts of bad practise can be posted by those in the job could be quite productive. I know this sounds like a cop-out but...if details (names places-you know the drill) are sent to me, I will pass them onto the IFA. The site will simply give a detailed account of the alleged misdemeanor itself. At least in this way, we get to illustrate our point in a public arena without incurring the wrath of lawyers. What the IFA choose to do with the reports we send them is up to them.Now, I`ve asked for details of bad practise before and only a trickle arrived. I think that we have now found ourselves in one of those "prove it or shut up" scenarios so, as Mr Hinton and others have clearly pointed out-make formal complaints-they can do nothing without them.Here`s our chance. I can`t even build paper planes so-who can sort me a website?Please, before I get a stream of "who do you think you are/you can`t do that" reactions, I`m just a member of the public who happens to work in the job and frankly, it`s about the only thing we hav`nt tried yet. The obvious venom expressed by subscribers here and elsewhere is likely to be the result of 20 years of inaction and day to day exposure to blatant muppetry. My point is very simple, my views as a worker in the heritage sector are nothing compared to how I feel as a member of the public. I think it`s high time we got the voting public on board. You never know, even the very notion of such a website could prompt action from those responsible for policing standards without having to set it up at all. I hope so, it promises to get messy.Where`s Mark Thomas when you really need him?

[sniper]

not intended as a criticism at all, and I didn't see your previous suggestions as implying any of the things you stated, but surely setting up another website where descriptions of bad practice can be aired without any of the specific details is basically what we have been doing on here anyway. I'm sure that there are plenty of people who do have very serious concerns they want to raise, but if you only received a trickle before, could you now expect that by setting up another website you would get any more? I suppose the only way to find out would be to set it up and see, but I'm afraid I am hardly a web maestro, so I probably can't help in that direction. Good luck though, and I'm sure I'll have things to post on it if you do set it up

++ i spend my days rummaging around in dead people ++

[Mtgorry147]

Troll

If you're wanting to setup a new website, i'm not sure how many complaints you're going to get, that will be substantiated outside of the website. As many have said, many of the complaints have been aired on here over and over again. You're right though in the sense that there is no point in complaining if you're not prepared to act on it. I've spent too many Friday nights in the pub listening (and I might add participating) in endless rants about the nature of our profession. Enough is enough!

If you want to set the website up as forum based, it is easy enough. There are free forum hosting sites on the web (one of which is forumsplace. com). I set one up last week for the first time not having a clue about this inter-webby thing but it was easy enough as they give you hundreds of templates (to make it look nice) and it all seems self explanatory. So have a look at the site, see what you think and maybe set it up.

[mercenary]

Troll,

I think the problem you have encountered with your trickle of evidence is that most of our complaints about companies are just not the sort of things that the IFA, HSE or curator's are willing or able to investigate.

Things like lack of handwashing facilities, unpaid overtime while travelling, lack of decent equipment, poor accomodation and constantly changing contracts, not to mention poor field practice are commonplace, but extremely hard to prosecute in an industry that is pretty laxly regulated. (I really don't want to get into a discussion about WHY the industry is laxly regulated. This time...)

For example, my complaints about inexperienced field teams could not be investigated by the IFA which has guidelines stating that people should be experienced enough for their jobs, but no specifics against which to measure anything. People with complaints in this vein are well aware that having evidence of any of these examples is usually not enough.

This is where I think BAJR is very useful, as a forum to build a consensus about what does constitute bad and good practice. I have certainly learnt from the curators and consultants who post, and I would like to think they get some added insight into modern field practice from contributors like myself.

In the same way that BAJR has been successful in improving pay I think it informs on acceptable employment and field practice. It has certainly been more succesful than the IFA and Prospect in that respect. A lot of people read this messageboard, and the numbers contributing are growing. I suspect/hope that the majority are interested in improving the profession. To that end it's inevitable and necessary that people are going to whinge and rant. Those who don't like the negative views should perhaps stick to the happy land of Britarch.

Seriously though, I'm going to try and reign in my inner extremist and continue with the more subtle campaign that BAJR is waging, and winning.

[achingknees]

With you there Merc. While Troll's web-site plan is very appealing I will probably also call a halt on my budding extremism!

The general things that you mentioned eg lack of handwashing, really do need to be aired. I suspect many project managers just don't think about it - that's the way they did it back then.

I also suspect that the growing audience at BAJR has a few project managers (quite a few from paranoia ). Airing such general grievances might prick a few consciences.

And if there are any pm's reading this...pull your socks up!

[Sith]

quote:the happy land of Britarch

Are you kidding? All they do there is ask questions like "I cannot be bothered to go to the library, can someone do the reserarch for me...", or get bogged down in endless hair splitting over metal detecting and PAS. [:0]

S

[mercenary]

quote:Are you kidding? All they do there is ask questions like "I cannot be bothered to go to the library, can someone do the reserarch for me...", or get bogged down in endless hair splitting over metal detecting and PAS.

Exactly my thoughts. Trying not to feel smug and superior though.

[Tim]

If you want to report bad archaeological practise you can do it at the "acts against stratigraphy" section of[urhttp://www.harrismatrix.com/l][/url] run by Edward Harris and others. There is also a section for "practising stratigraphers".

Little Tim

[Tim]

Sorry I've added a bad hyperlink it's athttp://www.harrismatrix.com/. The site seems to be being rebuilt so you might have to wait for a bit or contact Edward Harris yourself.

Little Tim