"Why do you always concentrate on the bad experiences but ignore the good? "
Because these are the ones that do the damage, and appear to be in the majority - certainly they are the ones argued for on this forum when it comes to applying standards and adopting a policy. I used it to illustrate the damage that can be caused in driving potential supporters away, nothing more.
The others we visited - poor to middling, as have been the ones we have visited since.
"language is what people speak not what a committee, however erudite,"
Don't quite understand this. If you are refering to a definition - it is immaterial who arrives at it; if it is generally accepted and works in practice, as it has done in our experience, it is good enough until a better one is arrived at.
I don't believe the clubs are in terminal decline, otherwise I wouldn't waste time discussing them - I believe them to be in a poor state - yes, from personal experience right up to 1998, when we left the UK while we were still attending them regularly. Nothing you have offered has come near to persuading me otherwise, nor has very much on this forum, from the horses mouths.
Please don't start sounding like our mutual friend.
Jim Carroll