Bogflogger you are really beginning to wind me up now.
I have a particular interest in primitive traps, I am fascinated by the mechanics of their design and the ingenuity of their construction.
Traps after all represent mankinds first steps into a mechanised world, deadfalls and tensioned snares are the very first automated machines invented by mankind, The first time that man used his newly acquired knowledge of scientific principles such as friction, potential and kinetic energy, angles, force, momentum, and so forth to build devices that were intended to perform a task under their own power without human supervision, leaving their owner free to do other things. The realization of this makes the study of mankinds first automated machines a fascinating subject in its own right, regardless of the laws pertaining to their actual use.
In my study of this subject and my wish to discuss it here with likeminded individuals I break no laws, yet you would have me branded a vicious criminal
Your moral position is no better than that of those who campaign for all knives to be banned because they are weapons!
Of course when posting information on trapping or fishing personal responsible conduct dictates that I protect the ignorant, by making a clear statement that in the UK this subject is for academic study only.
But it is not an actual requirement for me to do so, the only requirement is that I dont specifically condone or encourage others to break the law.
If in this case you feel a moral obligation to go one further and protect the ignorant on my behalf by adding the relevant information on the legal situation in the United Kingdom, then that is your prerogative, but be tactful in your method.
Barging into every thread on this forum where historical or anthropological discussion of fishing or trapping is taking place and posting to chastise people and imply delinquency simply because they did not scribe lengthy legal disclaimers to protect those ignorant of their own countrys laws is akin to storming into a genetic chemistry lecture at Cambridge condemning all present, because you believe that the discussion and study of genetics could only serve the purpose of human cloning.