It used to be that conversation only happened in face-to-face interaction or phone calls, while printed and published work was slower and more serious. Rarely did someone preface their conversations with (disclaimer, I think this because ...) because it was just a conversation, there wasn't a high degree of formality about it. It made complete sense to ask someone to disclose their conflicts before publishing a serious print article because it was a formal statement that would last and be seen by others than the immediate parties to the conversation. Now we've got both fast, conversational material existing right along side longer, more serious stuff, and they're all just as permanent and just as discoverable, so the framework they propose just sounds a little dated to me. Perhaps what we need is a new set of default assumptions? - Mr. Gunn from Bookmarklet