Well Doggie

I thank you for your two cents worth. After reading what you have to say I have to wonder why you are a member of these or any other forums as by your own admission you are risk averse in the extreme.
Your analogy does not fit well at all my freind as by the same token, "Would you put a person behind the wheel of a vehicle, when there is a possibility they are a nut and would go on a killing spree (how could you ever know)? or would you let the average Joe have a gun? "Who knows if this guy or gal may just blow a dozen kids heads off"? How can you possibly ever believe that you can protect against any nut, no matter what industry a person is in or level of competence a person may have.
Neither my forums, VatorTrader, ElevatorMax or Elevator-World have ever to my knowledge condoned an action by an individual or an organisation that would put their safety or that of any other person at risk. But I believe you understand this very well and, you revert to using the PC view to hide the fact that you are probably more worried about some non-union or non Otis or whatever guy, gaining the knowledge that may just make the guy or gal a bit more competent than certain people who really do have agenda's would like.

If propriety systems are designed to prevent non company mechanics from gaining access to vital information, to safely repair an elevator or escalator I say this is purley a commercial ploy to retain their market share, there is no other reason for this end off! Forums can help competent mechanics to gain required skills, they can also make others safety aware & yes like everything else in life a nut potentially could take advantage of this. Is this a valid reason to prevent the dissemination of knowledge "Hell NO" it is not. Unless of course you want the entire World to become totally risk averse?

Where Mr Linn's article came from I was not sure at the said time of referring to it on EW forums, this said I would have still published what I had to say in exactly the same way. Mr Linn published his own contact details in his article, I did not look them up and then print them. I also responded to Mr Linn's request for a union members only forum. I created one such forum for him and any other union member who may wish to participate, and I invited Mr Linn to join the said forum but, as I have already stated No response from Mr Linn.

In a World of free speech and free press, I stand by what I have said and what most people believe. If you are publish an article that has the potential to reach public view, then expect your views to be challenged in public or keep your views to yourself if you cannot handel negative feedback.