Daniel, though I understand your position, I think that statement might be a tad misleading as to what it's really about. Just about everyone who calls themselves an amateur astronomer observes telescopic comets whenever they appear, and many show them to the public. *Nobody* ever said "don't look", to the best of my knowledge. Some people simply feel that making a premature announcement about how spectacular a comet or other celestial phenomenon will be, gives astronomy a black eye when the apparition doesn't live up to the hype. Better to be pleasantly surprised when things do work out. The lesson from Kohoutek isn't "don't announce comets to the general public", it's "don't hype comets to the general public as "spectacular" until it's clear there's going to be something spectacular to look at". Very few people saw comet West, precisely because Kohoutek was overhyped. The public didn't believe astronomers when a year later something utterly fantastic DID appear in the sky. It's about crying wolf. The press never seems to print "but it could be nothing" in bold type. Over-hype ISON, and the next legitimate Great Comet could lose many of it's viewers as history repeats itself. Eight months or a year of hype is never necessary. Even the comet experts know that brightness predictions are not much better than reading tea leaves. A few weeks or a couple of months advance notice will get word out to just about everyone, in today's Internet world. The amateur astronomers who care are already in the loop, practically from the day of discovery. On Fri, Sep 6, 2013 at 7:49 AM, daniel turner <outwest112@yahoo.com> wrote:
So children, go out and look at the comets if you want to. Don't be bound by the traumas of your elders.