Gentlemen,
It is no secret that there are two forums and there is some friction between the two. I am not going to blame either side for this, in fact I believe it has everything to do with the orientation of the forums (swordforum - swordmakers, reenactors and martial artists, vikingsword - more of a collector's crowd). True, some of my words, especially those in a private correspondance with vikingsword members, were harsh, and I apologized before the people whom I believe to hurt undeservingly; it is also true that in the past on swordforum I was treated with vile insults, and even viler ones were mailed to me through pms.
I propose we do not lament the horrible facts of criticism - if my words disgust you, so should have been the words about Tirri, me and others on swordforum. Instead, we should agree to disagree, may be tone down our words a notch and realize that even though we may dislike each other's opinions, there is no problem at all. When we discussed Tirri I said myself that having a published book is better than having none at all, and Manoucher's book is probably going to be the Book, whatever errors or biases might be in it. We all have our ideas and ideology - my militant atheism, islam of another person or zionism of someone else can all be reflected in our work - this does not mean we should stop the presses, it means that we should be free to openly discuss and critique them. Yes it can get unpleasant, but what a good argument among friends.
And finally there are two reasons for me voicing my criticism - first I did so in my private messages, and I believe that I should tell to many what I tell to one.Another one is that while I have disagreed with Manoucher's posts and that of his reviewers and co-members at CAIS I have found no one on this or other forums offering an alternative opinion. I am not trying to persuade anyone, I am trying to show the alternative. I believe it is actually better for me to do so before the reading (which I am looking forward to), because it is not a twisting of his words or nit-picking on his creation, it is a statement of two completely different approaches to the study of iranian military, history and culture.
Finally, congratulations to Manoucher on the publication; I understand the whole enormous pain of bringing such a work to life, and I am happy that it is out there.
However, in my personal experience I learned more from criticism of my work than from its praise, even though it was unpleasant; I don't think that the only reaction one should expect on any published work is a madly happiness and stories about old men .... Ok, here the advice to tone it down a notch comes in handy
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