I don't think it is fair to expect either an invitation to a meeting of that sort
or a prompt copy of the "minutes" of that meeting when one is not working
on the problem. They want to exchange information between those working
on the problem, not spend hours answering hundreds of beekeeper questions
with "we don't know yet".
How many times would you like them to say "we don't know yet"?
How many different ways?
They have done a decent job of getting the word out through the MAAREC
website, what with reports, podcasts, and such. There are also posts on
Bee-L (
http://listserv.albany.edu:8080/archives/bee-l.html ),
mostly from Jerry B, and still merely listing what they have
ruled outso far.
I think that the cynicism and suspicion voiced in this very thread is yet
another good reason why the meeting was not open to all and
sundry. These guys had no budget to do this work, they are stealing both
time and money from other projects to work on this, and the travel budget
alone is going to put them in hot water with their masters. The last thing
they need right now is paranoia from beekeepers of the sort expressed in
some of the posts above.
Don't bite the hands that will hand you the answer to the problem, OK?