Blacksmith : February 9th A WORTHLESS WEAPON

He commended "Stop the Myths" forum yesterday and today is slating this and the MM forum.

Hmm...........

bobbin wrote:

marxman wrote:Sharoni said,

"He didn't exactly say that Tony was 'going to destroy himself' but he did keep on and on about Tony going the wrong way about it etc.
And for that reason, 'Me' got banned recently from the forum."

Is this not an example of what BS is alluding to?

As in differing views are suppressed.

I don't know if I've misunderstood you here, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Having a differing view, or, being forced by someone else to change one's view is what this BS rant is really about.
Getting banned for having a different view is not what Blacksmith, Me or C.Edwards was about.
They were saying that because we refuse to think and say what they want us to think and say, then we are wrong.
Well, that is just bullying, and when they failed, they got nasty and then they flounced off.
It's good though to look at what they are trying to force us to think.
That then highlights where the sensitive areas are (where we are NOT supposed to look) and that's a good place to start investigation.


This forum is not about personalities, competing for supremacy in the debating society, it's about people putting their thinking power together to get justice for a little girl who went on holiday and didn't come back.
The parents are responsible for this, in one form or another and this is what needs to be addressed.


Blacksmith is a total irrelevance.
His opinions have been aired and people can approve, disapprove or be indifferent.
He has not contributed to the achieving of justice for Maddie, save perhaps in that now we may have a clearer view of where we should look and that is where he would have us not look.
Tony, achieving the impossible so far, has been an absolute thorn in BS flesh.
Tony has been the same to, and instilled fear into, the McCanns.
This latest rant IMO is closer to home, not BS as some independent ranter, but he does seem to carry a very strong and personal desire to belittle Tony and persuade him to desist.

Hi Bobbin, it was what Sharoni posted, as in the reasoning

behind Me being banned, in that "he kept on going on and on

about Tony going the wrong way". Therefore, Me was banned.

I maybe wrong, but If a poster tends to drift away from the

consensus of support/opinion of this forum are they earmarked

to be sent into exile? I think this is what Me, BS and C Edwards

may assert.

olipet wrote:I for one, admittedly, have found BB blogs interesting and at times, erudite.
I also found some of C. Edwards postings to be same. Always very composed.
Have I too, been tricked? There is similarity.
After all, I have just made my way to STM forum to have a look at their analysis of the TB hearing.
Oh gosh!
I am struggling!

I've been around for six years and yes, I was fooled, until a PM.
I agreed with C Edwards that he/she understood the situation by PM. This was about the Contempt, nothing to do with libel. The forum was going mad as is being whipped up now by "sue em tony" ( How dare you plaster Tony's name all over the net? You should have taken a screen shot and passed it to him in private.)
So I sent a PM to C Edwards, anyone here would say a PM from me is rarer than a hen's tooth. What I received back, was not what I expected, 'cept to say dissed the dogs, not very friendly as I love Spaniels.
Obviously not on the same side as me. I ignored it and replied as I said on another post that Amaral may, for all we know say the PJ had doubts the children were left alone, hence those not wishing to go ahead with the libel action in Pt.
Didn't hear back not surprisingly.

marxman wrote:

bobbin wrote:

marxman wrote:Sharoni said,

"He didn't exactly say that Tony was 'going to destroy himself' but he did keep on and on about Tony going the wrong way about it etc.
And for that reason, 'Me' got banned recently from the forum."

Is this not an example of what BS is alluding to?

As in differing views are suppressed.

I don't know if I've misunderstood you here, please correct me if I'm wrong.
Having a differing view, or, being forced by someone else to change one's view is what this BS rant is really about.
Getting banned for having a different view is not what Blacksmith, Me or C.Edwards was about.
They were saying that because we refuse to think and say what they want us to think and say, then we are wrong.
Well, that is just bullying, and when they failed, they got nasty and then they flounced off.
It's good though to look at what they are trying to force us to think.
That then highlights where the sensitive areas are (where we are NOT supposed to look) and that's a good place to start investigation.


This forum is not about personalities, competing for supremacy in the debating society, it's about people putting their thinking power together to get justice for a little girl who went on holiday and didn't come back.
The parents are responsible for this, in one form or another and this is what needs to be addressed.


Blacksmith is a total irrelevance.
His opinions have been aired and people can approve, disapprove or be indifferent.
He has not contributed to the achieving of justice for Maddie, save perhaps in that now we may have a clearer view of where we should look and that is where he would have us not look.
Tony, achieving the impossible so far, has been an absolute thorn in BS flesh.
Tony has been the same to, and instilled fear into, the McCanns.
This latest rant IMO is closer to home, not BS as some independent ranter, but he does seem to carry a very strong and personal desire to belittle Tony and persuade him to desist.

Hi Bobbin, it was what Sharoni posted, as in the reasoning

behind Me being banned, in that "he kept on going on and on

about Tony going the wrong way". Therefore, Me was banned.

I maybe wrong, but If a poster tends to drift away from the

consensus of support/opinion of this forum are they earmarked

to be sent into exile? I think this is what Me, BS and C Edwards

may assert.

Ah, I understand. So they might well try to imply that dissent is earmarked, but what is dissent.
If it is simple disagreement, then people can agree to disagree but if 'dissent' is people refusing to be told what they may or may not think, then they need to understand that once, twice, many times repeating themselves and people still not agreeing to change their minds to agree with them, is no place for them to keep trying to convert the inconvertable.
I knew a sociopath once who called anyone who didn't agree with him, stubborn.
I think he felt they should yield to his demands and acquiesce to his way of thinking. Tough world isn't it.

"Me" - i.e. not me Jean! - is online now so I don't understand the references to him being banned.

sharonl wrote:

tigger wrote:Blacksmith wrote: "... I even joined the Havern forum in a farcical attempt to try and make him aware of certain facts in Portugal and why he was going to destroy himself and, more importantly, harm others. I got banned before
accomplishing anything.

tigger, this is very interesting.

So 'Blacksmith' is saying that he joined the forum to make [Tony] aware of certain things and 'why he was going to destroy himself' and then got banned before accomplishing anything...

There was a poster called 'Me' who was on this forum for some time.

He then stayed away for a long time.

He suddenly strated posting actively a week ago.

He started trying to 'make Tony aware of certain things'.

He didn't exactly say that Tony was 'going to destroy himself' but he did keep on and on about Tony going the wrong way about it etc.

And for that reason, 'Me' got banned recently from the forum.

One other thing I noticed about 'Me's postings.

He described in very exaggerated language how wonderful 'Blacksmith' was.

Repeately.

Again and again.

Has 'Blacksmith' just admitted to everyone on this forum that, all along, he was 'Me'?

Sharon, i presume as an admin you will know i was banned until the 8th Feb after Tony Bennett's trial.



We know that Blacksmith's name is Anthony Sharples. If
you check with Petermac, Candyfloss, Jill Havern & Tony Bennett they will
know from the emails that i sent from my own work email address that I am not
Anthony Sharples.

In relation to the banning i received all i will say is that Tony Bennett did
unexpectedly and out of the blue telephone my office, we had a conversation
which was mentioned on the forum and then a subsequent exchange of emails which
for whatever reason did not get mentioned on the forum.

The ban itself was not an issue for me my issue stemmed from the fact i was
unable to defend myself and my request for corrections and clarifications went unanswered.

I accept Tony Bennett had more pressing matters to deal with at the time but i
felt let down given the commitment i had shown to the forum that i was left
hung out to dry in such a fashion.

I stand by the fact that i am not Blacksmith (as the people i mentioned above
will testify to) but i still stand by my assertion that overall, across the
Madeleine McCann affair, Blacksmith has provided the most intelligent,
interesting and correct analysis of the case.

I think at this point given everything said and done over the last week or so
it's time for me to bid a farewell to the forum.

I will keep checking by to see what's going on but I no longer feel it is
appropriate for me to post here anymore for a number of reasons.

Just scrubbed round my post for now.

Thanks for clearing that up, Me. You did not commit a crime so "suspect "was the wrong word for you. I simply found your writing style similar to that of BS and it was that and your obvious intelligence that made me link your id here with hiM. That and the fact BS wrote that he came here to post and then left.
Sorry to see you go, the more the merrier imo evne if debate gets heated at times.

I used to read Blacksmith and believe he was totally behind G Amaral and justice for Madeleine. However, several months ago I remember reading a post of his which seemed to disagree with GA and I noticed a complete turn, so I believe did many others. I remember thinking he had given up and thought G Amaral had no hope of justice against the McCanns. Blacksmith then came back and all seemed back on track for a while.

I have been a lurker but sometimes lurking enables you to see the wider picture. My opinion, which may not go down very well, is that Blacksmith is a manipulator, he feeds snipits of information, allowing everyone to form their own opinion and views, then fires back with more snipits to disinform and confuse the opinions you have made. I am sure Blacksmith is and has posted on many forums being banned along the way and re-inventing himself.

I used to follow Amazon discussion forum re: McCanns, there were several posters on there who used to boast about being on this site and MM under different user names, pretending to be anti McCann but were in fact pros, they laughed at the fact nobody had a clue as to who they were. Sadly it made me realise nobody can be trusted.

Ah yes....forgotten about Anthony Sharples

There is an Antony Sharples whose has written books called:

No Stone Unturned by Antony Sharples (published in 2005)
Here is an extract from the book. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sample/read/9781447622277

Above The Waves by Antony Sharples (2006)

The Descriptive Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer With Consideration of Prognostic Markers in Merseyside and Cheshire... by Antony Sharples (2002)

Also an Anthony Sharples wrote Scorpions Tale about drugs
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/antony-sharples/the-scorpions-tail/

Apologies for the bold type, not sure why that happened.

I'm not sure I care who he/she is.
But going by his last effort, I think he/she needs to take a lesson in being able to make oneself understood.

Dr What wrote:I'm not sure I care who he/she is.
But going by his last effort, I think he/she needs to take a lesson in being able to make oneself understood.

He's a crashing bore who doesn't care about Madeleine or justice. He will be enjoying this. That's all I have to say and that is all the energy I am prepared to waste on the subject folks.

Hello everyone,

First of all I would like to say I'm French so excuse my English, I am a regular reader of Black Smith Bureau blog and so (I can imagine) most of the people registered on this site which make a lot of us reading his blog. I was just wondering if we didn't read his pieces I can imagine that a lot of people wouldn't even know about it. So John, if this is what you think about this site why even bother writing you thought on the subject. Why bother writing your thought to people who you haven't got any respect for.

Saturday, 9 February 2013











A worthless weapon–continued







John Blacksmith writes: I very
rarely respond or allow comments because doing so inevitably brings the
place down into forum swamp territory.
Let's
make an exception today, shall we? It is a post by one of the
sycophants that was pointed out to me a short time ago. It runs:

"tigger, this is very interesting.
So
'Blacksmith' is saying that he joined the forum to make [Tony] aware of
certain things and 'why he was going to destroy himself' and then got
banned before accomplishing anything...
There was a poster called 'Me' who was on this forum for some time.
He then stayed away for a long time.
He suddenly started posting actively a week ago.
He started trying to 'make Tony aware of certain things'.
He
didn't exactly say that Tony was 'going to destroy himself' but he did
keep on and on about Tony going the wrong way about it etc.
And for that reason, 'Me' got banned recently from the forum.
One other thing I noticed about 'Me's postings.
He described in very exaggerated language how wonderful 'Blacksmith' was.
Repeately.
Again and again.
Has 'Blacksmith' just admitted to everyone on this forum that, all along, he was 'Me'?

I
am quoting it because confirms almost everything I've said about the
Havern/Bennett swamp: ignorance; unwillingness or inability to look for
the facts; instinctive aggression as a response; disloyalty to their own
forum posters and comical, indeed absurd, stupidity.
First
we have the weasel words "has Blacksmith just admitted?" an evasion of
what s/he has just posted worthy of the McCanns. Let's go through the
rest, shall we? First the instinctive Haverns belief that others are as
incapable of telling the truth as they are and that I am likely to be
lying. Then the complete disregard for one of the site's own posters: no
awareness at all that if the poster is wrong the poster "Me" has been
embarrassed and traduced without a scrap of evidence. No change there
then. Other posters should note that the site is like Scientology: once
you're out, even only a few weeks ago, you're finished and your
feelings, like "Me"'s are ignored. Bad luck "Me" – but what on earth
were you doing in the swamp in the first place?
"Ignorance
and unwillingness to look for the facts before dumping thoughts on the
site." We've got that in spades: this character hasn't checked with the
so-called owner, Havern, Me, or the site's own records. When Your Leader
made the charge against "Me" himself before he was banned he sighed and
told the Leader that the moderators knew his real name. Forgotten that,
have you? The "comical stupidity" speaks for itself.
For
the record, you dimmo, I joined Havern's under the name Blacksmith. I
did so years ago at the time of the then most recent PR disaster – the
battle between Butler and your Leader. And a very unpleasant experience
it was too, since Havern had the idea of running the site unmoderated
and it was like entering a sackful of snakes. Despite the lack of
moderation Havern quickly banned me herself: she, or Mr Bennett, didn't
like me.
I need hardly add that I know nothing about Me, other than what I read on the swamp.
And you really think I need to big myself up under someone else's name? You poor creature.

he seems very childish

tiny wrote:can anyone tell me what blacksmith is on about,in plain english please.

That is the problem when someone gets banned from a forum, they turn very nasty.

Gollum wrote:

tiny wrote:can anyone tell me what blacksmith is on about,in plain english please.

That is the problem when someone gets banned from a forum, they turn very nasty.

seems that way,does he drink,he will be saying what a lovely place jatyk is next

saltnpepper wrote:Saturday, 9 February 2013






A worthless weapon–continued


John Blacksmith writes: I very
rarely respond or allow comments because doing so inevitably brings the
place down into forum swamp territory.
Let's
make an exception today, shall we? It is a post by one of the
sycophants that was pointed out to me a short time ago. It runs:

"tigger, this is very interesting.
So
'Blacksmith' is saying that he joined the forum to make [Tony] aware of
certain things and 'why he was going to destroy himself' and then got
banned before accomplishing anything...
There was a poster called 'Me' who was on this forum for some time.
He then stayed away for a long time.
He suddenly started posting actively a week ago.
He started trying to 'make Tony aware of certain things'.
He
didn't exactly say that Tony was 'going to destroy himself' but he did
keep on and on about Tony going the wrong way about it etc.
And for that reason, 'Me' got banned recently from the forum.
One other thing I noticed about 'Me's postings.
He described in very exaggerated language how wonderful 'Blacksmith' was.
Repeately.
Again and again.
Has 'Blacksmith' just admitted to everyone on this forum that, all along, he was 'Me'?

I
am quoting it because confirms almost everything I've said about the
Havern/Bennett swamp: ignorance; unwillingness or inability to look for
the facts; instinctive aggression as a response; disloyalty to their own
forum posters and comical, indeed absurd, stupidity.
First
we have the weasel words "has Blacksmith just admitted?" an evasion of
what s/he has just posted worthy of the McCanns. Let's go through the
rest, shall we? First the instinctive Haverns belief that others are as
incapable of telling the truth as they are and that I am likely to be
lying. Then the complete disregard for one of the site's own posters: no
awareness at all that if the poster is wrong the poster "Me" has been
embarrassed and traduced without a scrap of evidence. No change there
then. Other posters should note that the site is like Scientology: once
you're out, even only a few weeks ago, you're finished and your
feelings, like "Me"'s are ignored. Bad luck "Me" – but what on earth
were you doing in the swamp in the first place?
"Ignorance
and unwillingness to look for the facts before dumping thoughts on the
site." We've got that in spades: this character hasn't checked with the
so-called owner, Havern, Me, or the site's own records. When Your Leader
made the charge against "Me" himself before he was banned he sighed and
told the Leader that the moderators knew his real name. Forgotten that,
have you? The "comical stupidity" speaks for itself.
For
the record, you dimmo, I joined Havern's under the name Blacksmith. I
did so years ago at the time of the then most recent PR disaster – the
battle between Butler and your Leader. And a very unpleasant experience
it was too, since Havern had the idea of running the site unmoderated
and it was like entering a sackful of snakes. Despite the lack of
moderation Havern quickly banned me herself: she, or Mr Bennett, didn't
like me.
I need hardly add that I know nothing about Me, other than what I read on the swamp.
And you really think I need to big myself up under someone else's name? You poor creature.

But Blacksmith, as most don't post under their own names, it's only reasonable to look for a poster with the command of language and style that you have. So Me has returned to put us right, I was wrong on C.Edwards but neither of them was put out by being thought to be you.
You just set us a lovely little Saturday puzzle - too tempting. Quite disappointing to have such a simple explanation.
For the record: I much admired your work when I first joined although I'm afraid no longer. There is still no better parody than the McCann dictionary you collated and that's how I like to remember you.

But you grew more bitter with every post.
What I don't understand is the change of opinion re e.g. Lord McAlpine, in one article a gentle, caring man in the recent one, an ageing pasteboard (referenced to a paedo hunt - I can't be bothered to look it up). Seems a trifle disloyal.

What I also don't understand is your description of Tony Bennett (some years ago at a court session) where you describe him as being occupied
'drawing pictures of a scantily clad Madeleine'. I would say that is offensive, the more so because it is a complete fabrication and it plants a suspicion of paedophilia in the reader's mind.

So goodbye Blacksmith.

There is no Blacksmith on the member list so, unless his account was actually deleted - not usual when someone is banned - he wasn't registered in that name.

Not wishing to add oil to fuel to the fire but I remember reading this forum when it first started and Blacksmith was a member here and the name he used was - Blacksmith.

That's not to say that he hasn't since used a different name but he was definitely posting as Blacksmith at the start.

His account must have been deleted in that case, together with any comments made. If they contained offensive remarks like the one about drawings of Madeleine scantily clad, I can understand why!

Bye bye Blacksmith, your time is definitely up as far as I'm concerned.

Jean wrote:His account must have been deleted in that case, together with any comments made. If they contained offensive remarks like the one about drawings of Madeleine scantily clad, I can understand why!

Bye bye Blacksmith, your time is definitely up as far as I'm concerned.

Hi Jean, I know BS has posted some extremely unsavoury

and controversial stuff, but If what you quote above is

true of his scribblings, I too, as a former fan of his work

will exclude him from my mind as a serious truthseeker and

insert him in a box labelled.... WUM.

I am astonished by his flakey and cruel insults

Whatever anyone's views on Blacksmith, I'm surprised to see two separate threads totalling eight pages devoted to (mostly) complaints about his latest spoutings, while news of Gerry McCann's new campaign to promote legislation to "control the press" (less than a week after the Tony Bennett case) merits one thread of only four pages.
Blacksmith is just an anonymous blogger: read him or don't read him, but why bother banging on about him?

Popcorn wrote:Whatever anyone's views on Blacksmith, I'm surprised to see two separate threads totalling eight pages devoted to (mostly) complaints about his latest spoutings, while news of Gerry McCann's new campaign to promote legislation to "control the press" (less than a week after the Tony Bennett case) merits one thread of only four pages.
Blacksmith is just an anonymous blogger: read him or don't read him, but why bother banging on about him?

I couldn't give a hoot about Blacksmith and his blog. I read it just as I read everything else and I make up my own mind about things. I do care about Gerry McCann having influence in the constitution of my own country. That issue I do care about very much.

blacksmith is probably muratfan and pam gurney et al! What an utter baffoon.

Blacksmith, you need to lay off the crystal meth it's affecting your mental state.

sonic72 wrote:blacksmith is probably muratfan and pamela gurney e.

I doubt it somehow very much


I dont know what his beef was when being so scathing and objectionable the other day but he has written some excellent stuff in the past nabbing the mccanns exactly where it matters. MF and PG with their combined brain cells could never be any kind of match. Besides PG and co are so fawning over them, BS has been very scathing of them and their antics. no comparison IMO.

marxman wrote:

Jean wrote:His account must have been deleted in that case, together with any comments made. If they contained offensive remarks like the one about drawings of Madeleine scantily clad, I can understand why!

Bye bye Blacksmith, your time is definitely up as far as I'm concerned.

Hi Jean, I know BS has posted some extremely unsavoury

and controversial stuff, but If what you quote above is

true of his scribblings, I too, as a former fan of his work

will exclude him from my mind as a serious truthseeker and

insert him in a box labelled.... WUM.

I am astonished by his flakey and cruel insults

He proves to be an attention seeker too full of himself that he seems out of this world.

IIRC he was also critical of Amaral, though not as invective.

It's as if he has multiple-personality.

No doubt his vitriolic wouldn't be lost on his fans. Even ardent fans would lose respect for him I would imagine.

jd wrote:Ah yes....forgotten about Anthony Sharples

There is an Antony Sharples whose has written books called:

No Stone Unturned by Antony Sharples (published in 2005)
Here is an extract from the book. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sample/read/9781447622277

Above The Waves by Antony Sharples (2006)

The Descriptive Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer With Consideration of Prognostic Markers in Merseyside and Cheshire... by Antony Sharples (2002)

Also an Anthony Sharples wrote Scorpions Tale about drugs
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/antony-sharples/the-scorpions-tail/

Complete coincidence no doubt Hmmmm... The Blacksmith name goes back a long way; back to the Mirror forum in fact and its successor, the 3As. As I recall, Blacksmith was one of several posters I enjoyed reading most. After the 3As collapsed I had a brief encounter with Blacksmith the poster on the site which was set up as the successor to the 3As; after that I lost track of him when that particular site failed. It was then that the blog appeared and I've looked forward to reading each article by John Blacksmith ever since, because they generally displayed the same level of awareness about the McCanns and their manipulations as his forum posts had done. In short Blacksmith's deliberations have always included some very astute observations and been, as far as I know, factually correct. I do recall that he got a lot of stick on the forums in those early days though and that some fellow posters did not like what they perceived to be his tendency to be rather pompous and dismissive of other posters' views, if they did not agree with his own. I suspect therefore that he was more comfortable with the blog format, which allowed no discussion whatsoever and as far as I can see, still doesn't. That position of being able to express his opinions at great length without anyone being able to challenge them now seems to have lost its appeal however. He also appears to be increasingly frustrated with what he sees to be the obstinacy of Dr Amaral and Tony Bennett, who continually ignore his advice and do not do what he thinks they should. It's a great pity that a writer of Blacksmith's obvious calibre should now turn to attacking this and other like forums by insulting their members carte blanche, but at the end of the day it probably doesn't matter and will not make a jot of difference. This forum is an invaluable source of factual information on the McCann case, as are several others and for that reason alone, they and the members who keep them going are to be applauded for providing a valuable service. Blacksmith might do well to consider that public opinion as expressed in readers' responses to the UK media is increasingly sceptical of the McCann version of events. IMO in the absence of any unbiased reporting by the UK media and in the face of one of the most aggressive PR campaigns ever mounted to manage the McCanns' reputations, this is in no small measure down to this and a handful of other fora - and that is a remarkable achievement.

T4two wrote:

jd wrote:Ah yes....forgotten about Anthony Sharples

There is an Antony Sharples whose has written books called:

No Stone Unturned by Antony Sharples (published in 2005)
Here is an extract from the book. http://www.barnesandnoble.com/sample/read/9781447622277

Above The Waves by Antony Sharples (2006)

The Descriptive Epidemiology of Prostate Cancer With Consideration of Prognostic Markers in Merseyside and Cheshire... by Antony Sharples (2002)

Also an Anthony Sharples wrote Scorpions Tale about drugs
https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/antony-sharples/the-scorpions-tail/

Complete coincidence no doubt Hmmmm... The Blacksmith name goes back a long way; back to the Mirror forum in fact and its successor, the 3As. As I recall, Blacksmith was one of several posters I enjoyed reading most. After the 3As collapsed I had a brief encounter with Blacksmith the poster on the site which was set up as the successor to the 3As; after that I lost track of him when that particular site failed. It was then that the blog appeared and I've looked forward to reading each article by John Blacksmith ever since, because they generally displayed the same level of awareness about the McCanns and their manipulations as his forum posts had done. In short Blacksmith's deliberations have always included some very astute observations and been, as far as I know, factually correct. I do recall that he got a lot of stick on the forums in those early days though and that some fellow posters did not like what they perceived to be his tendency to be rather pompous and dismissive of other posters' views, if they did not agree with his own. I suspect therefore that he was more comfortable with the blog format, which allowed no discussion whatsoever and as far as I can see, still doesn't. That position of being able to express his opinions at great length without anyone being able to challenge them now seems to have lost its appeal however. He also appears to be increasingly frustrated with what he sees to be the obstinacy of Dr Amaral and Tony Bennett, who continually ignore his advice and do not do what he thinks they should. It's a great pity that a writer of Blacksmith's obvious calibre should now turn to attacking this and other like forums by insulting their members carte blanche, but at the end of the day it probably doesn't matter and will not make a jot of difference. This forum is an invaluable source of factual information on the McCann case, as are several others and for that reason alone, they and the members who keep them going are to be applauded for providing a valuable service. Blacksmith might do well to consider that public opinion as expressed in readers' responses to the UK media is increasingly sceptical of the McCann version of events. IMO in the absence of any unbiased reporting by the UK media and in the face of one of the most aggressive PR campaigns ever mounted to manage the McCanns' reputations, that is a remarkable achievement.

Astute observation T4two.
I find that while his analysis of the mccanns & co stories is often erudite, his unnecessary attacks on Amaral and TB, fora and its members seem completely the opposite.

His pompous and obnoxious attitude make him seemed him rather bitter about something which when combined with his downright self righteous attitude renders him a bully who does not tolerate dissent, hence his blog that prohibits comments.
He comes across as a self centered person with a work that no one can discern which direction it is going as he's all over the place.

I am aware he said he has a team collecting and supplying him with info but the impression I get is he's only author of his blog.