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[vsnet-chat 4308] Re: recent controversy on vsnet-chat

Hi,

There has been controversy and statements on the chat-list lately and I would like to belatedly add some of my views on this. 
Unfortunately I have little time to do so and am risking incompleteness and possibly a too superficial analysis.

I can hardly believe that an observer who has proven himself in the past is willingly forging observations now.... 

Some observers do put large emphasis on discovering outbursts and abnormal cataclysmic behaviour and are less interested to make or report follow-up observations. 
Personally I don't think it is wrong to only observe for discoveries or to preferentially report on them only. As every CV observer knows, it gives great satisfaction and excitement to be the first to detect something. There surely is a non-spoken competition here and probably a very sound one too. 

I totally and openly disagree with certain (honourable) arm chair astronomers on the point of the importance of discoveries and their TIMELY announcements. There is a lot to gain by the astronomical community from early detections. I even think a significant part of recent progress in CV behaviour analysis stemms from measurements following early detection alerts. 
Therefore an effort to give incentives to do so must be encouraged rather than to minimise the achievement. 

Kind regards (& no hard feelings, John!),

Berto Monard / MLF
Pretoria

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