In face to face conversation with a group of friends, maybe after dinner, and over a couple ports, this type of speculation and discussion has a place. Nothing is on record, we can float the most outlandish possibilities, and nobody really cares, its just conversation to fill time . Nobody pins us down to any sort of critical thinking or standard, we are not called on to justify anything, nor to substantiate anything. We can simply say what we think something might look like, and nobody is sufficiently ill-mannered to point out that we know absolutely nothing about the culture, society, or history that produced the item, nor about the item itself. We float an opinion, have another glass of port and move on to discussion of the prices at last week's yearling sales.
However, in this Forum, our little Warung Kopi, we have managed to gather together some fairly serious people, who are in turn fairly serious about the subjects that are discussed. A casual reader, or a reader who did not understand the nuances of the English language, could interpret a speculative claim for something as an authoritative claim, and that claim can be repeated in other places, eventually damaging the reputation of the person who speculated, and of the discussion group which allowed the speculation to pass without challenge. Once the reputation of any person, or organisation is damaged, it is very difficult to reclaim the former good reputation. Keris Warung Kopi is an organisation, and for our own credibility, we need to protect the reputation of our organisation.
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