For about a month I've been going back and forth with a contact who represents one of the more significant contractors serving the metalcasting industry. Readers would know who I'm referring to, if I could tell them. They would also know a lot about the reason he called me — to try to arrange coverage for one of their ongoing projects, a project we announced first in FM&T, in fact.

My contact is a real gentleman, just doing his job, but after we initially discussed his subject I learned I can't report any of what he told me because his customer (a metalcasting company that hired this contractor) will not allow the contractor to announce further details, or take any credit, for the project.

How silly is this? The new is out; the only thing unreported are the scale and details of the project — all of which are a credit to the metalcasting company and the contractors doing the impressive engineering and construction. So why the silence?

Does this metalcaster suppose that these facts are not being passed along in office conversations, telephone conferences, e-mails, even perhaps in Web chat rooms where their company is the subject? Why not lay claim to the truth, and take credit for it? If there are misconceptions about the project, who's going to set the record straight?

On a larger point, why do metalcasters so frequently worry that they're being mistreated by their local media and communities, the financial markets, government regulators, and so on, if they are unwilling to speak for themselves, even when the information is worth celebrating? Why do they suppose the general public doesn't understand their positions if they won't speak about them? Why do they worry that the world has a poor appreciation for metalcasting? Why are they concerned that they cannot recruit new talent if they won't explain what they're doing that is new and innovative?

My problem here is a story that's going no where, but you can see the outline of a much greater problem.