What is the SME afraid of?

I am intrigued by a posting on http://blogs.mining.com/. The headline is :

“SME demands an apology from I THINK MINING
Written by Jack Caldwell on March 9th, 2009
SME has said they will not work or cooperate with InfoMine unless I say sorry for what I wrote in this blog about the SME conference. Now I have personally and privately e-mailed many a discussion with Dave Kanagy on what I wrote and we are on friendly terms. So no issue there. “

That’s as far as it goes though, as the link to I Think Mining is broken, and the posting appears to have been removed.

Jack’s postings on his blog are merely criticisms of some of the papers presented at the SME in Denver last month so I find it disturbing that an organisation such as SME should threaten InfoMine in this way.

Large events such as SME and IMPC should be open to free criticism and debate. I have personally criticised SME and IMPC papers in the past (see my comments on the Turkish IMPC for example).

We actively invite criticism of MEI Conferences, and publish all comments, no matter how adverse (good example at www.min-eng.com/appliedmineralogy/reps/5.html). Receiving feedback, whether it is good or bad, and acting on it, is the only way to improve the service we provide.

Come on SME, your shoulders should be broad enough to take criticism!!