Q: how many archaeologists does it take to ruin an industry?

[pdurdin]

"Yeah, I still read the stuff on the forum sometimes but not as much as I used to. I don't participate anymore because I got fed up with all the bitter old-timers ranting about how bad things are, and often I disagree with some things but feel like there's no point in saying anything because you know the response before you join in."

I was going to post something like this in reply to this thread. I definitely stopped visiting this forum regularly, and when I do visit now I normally end up skimming a few posts and leaving again. It's not just the old-timers ranting, it's the difficulty of finding and taking useful information out of the many many posts (this is of course an issue with internet forums in general).

I might be biased, but the way to save the industry for the future in my eyes is to encourage the new generation of archaeologists, those who maybe don't have lots of experience but plenty of enthusiasm and interest. I'm of the opinion that not enough is being done - and we, after all, are the future of archaeology.

This!

I could come on this forum and get annoyed and depressed by all the moaning...but I'm currently doing good archaeology as a volunteer and my local amateur group is very encouraging, so why bother? Regardless of what all the old-timers think, I'm going to pursue archaeology as a career, and if they're not going to be helpful or encouraging then it's hard to see why I should pay any attention to them. Of course, not all "old-timers" are like this (even on here :face-stir.

But pulling out the odd encouraging or useful post from these forums is generally more time than it's worth.