Re: Archival papers & inks

["David Dyer-Bennet" <dd-b@dd-b.net>]

Jim Osmundson <josierra@gorge.net> writes on 3 November 1999 at 15:26:00 -0800
 > It seems like the list has become stuck in a rut of late with a lot of 
 > concern about some doddering old fart's obscure tests. Either that or there
 > are a lot of insecure people sweating bullets for nothing. Try your own
 > tests on your work and see if it holds up in your local environments.

I'm sorry, but referring to Wilhelm's work as "some doddering old
fart's obscure tests" is insulting and ridiculous.  Stooping to
insulting the researcher, who isn't even here, when you don't like his
results, or how some people use his results, is childish, and you
should be ashamed of yourself.  Or better yet, you should stop doing
it.

You may, if you wish, say that *I* am an idiot for caring how long my
prints last, since nobody else ever will; but writing off Wilhelm's
work so casually is *stupid*.

And, as I said here just recently, Wilhelm's tests under controlled
conditions which he has selected based on years of research in the
area of print permanence are worth dozens or even hundreds of informal
tests of prints in our local environments.  People greatly over-value
their own experience, which in complex areas like this is a bad
mistake and often costs them dearly later.  (Which is not to say that
the approximations of accelerated testing are anything more than just
that, or that we may not find materials some day where the assumptions
of the accelerated testing protocol are *completely wrong*.)
-- 
David Dyer-Bennet / Join the 20th century before it's too late! / dd-b@dd-b.net
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