And I can’t speak for Opkehessip but frankly I totally disagree with the concept that authoritativeness has anything at all to do with identity or credentials. After all, Einstein didn’t have a Ph.D. when he crafted several of his unprecedented theories and he was scorned by some for that. But was he right? Naturally, we are definitely no “Einsteins” of Xinjiang Studies but if our information is correct and makes sense then it should be considered authoritative and if the information is incorrect and doesn’t make sense it is not authoritative. Guess I’ve been spending too much time on Wikipedia. If we are in Xinjiang, our posts will reflect that quality. If we aren’t in Xinjiang, then we would be absolutely delighted if people in Xinjiang commented on our blog to correct information or to clarify things. In fact, I rather like the fact that we’re a blog. We’re open to making mistakes, to speculating, to enjoying a measure of flexibility offered by being anonymous, and to active participation and criticism by readers in the comments.

Nonetheless, a good read and informative.