Apparently this is the guy who wrote that stinging review.
http://ww2weaponsforum.com/showthread.php?5796-SS-Steel
http://ww2weaponsforum.com/showthread.php?5796-SS-Steel
Tjg, your buddy Vid the German Militaria forum mod deleted all threads and posts, many of which predated his existence at Gunboards because those posts were showing up on Google and were not flattering for Hicks. The best information was your analysis based upon your experience with XRF and what it can and cannot do. None of that appeared anywhere else. No one can PM Vic because it says his "Mailbox is full". He told me he was going to restored those posts so we could copy them. A legitimate forum wouldn't censor and bury this, they'd discuss it and require explanations.
IMHO, all of that is smoke and mirrors for the yokels' medicine show. They think "wow, a patent application, this is for real!" and "wow, science, a laser beam, a pie chart and COA, ooohh, ahhh, this is technical and for real!", etc. etc. I could apply for a patent for farting frogs and shoot my helmets with a cop's radar gun, but what does that prove?
The proper way of handling this, if it was alleged to be the "savior of the collecting community", would have been to make the discussion thread a sticky and have the "founders" answer questions as we've posed here. The only responses we've seen have been insults, censorship, bannings, and legal threats to shut us up.
Pseudoscience is a claim, belief, or practice which is presented as scientific, but which does not adhere to a valid scientific method, lacks supporting evidence or plausibility, cannot be reliably tested, or otherwise lacks scientific status. Pseudoscience is often characterized by the use of vague, exaggerated or unprovable claims, an over-reliance on confirmation rather than rigorous attempts at refutation, a lack of openness to evaluation by other experts, and a general absence of systematic processes to rationally develop theories.
A field, practice, or body of knowledge can reasonably be called pseudoscientific when it is presented as consistent with the norms of scientific research; but it demonstrably fails to meet these norms.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pseudoscience
pseudoscience
n.
A theory, methodology, or practice that is considered to be without scientific foundation.
pseudoscientific
adj.
A discipline or approach that pretends to be or has a close resemblance to science.
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/Pseudoscience