To be honest Steve you sound like the ME Lancet researchers (whose dodgy data the ME association campaigned to expose) who lectured ME sufferers that they should be really, really grateful for any research being done on their condition, even if it was dodgy research that actually was delaying real research into a long-term cure.
Seriously mate, you're a bit deluded. Step into the real world for a moment.
I am sat in my spare room, on a laptop, working very hard at the day job and doing what I can in my spare time as a volunteer to try and make whatever difference I can. Sniping from the sidelines, hidden behind a keyboard is doing sweet FA for anyone.
We're a small group of people, all volunteers, totally independent in the way we approach things and trying to be balanced. We're desperate for a cure, I have had a 2 day spike at ridiculous loudness that has seriously tested the resolve, I am not content to live with this.
I personally believe in cooperation, working together on things that can matter. We have developed ties to tinnitus organisations and we will continue to do so, broadening the cooperation globally where we can. That does not compromise our position. We do what we believe in, if we didn't buy into it then we wouldn't do it.
I don't see the point in your approach, rubbishing everything that doesn't fit a personal agenda and refusing to understand that even though you may not like them that some things are very helpful for some people.
The BTA event is an expo of things out there that may help people. It looks good to me and to others that are lifting a finger to help out. It's not about a cure but about finding help in management, that looks like a benefit to us.
People pay for tickets if they see value, if they don't then they don't go. Simple economics. I don't know the details of the costs but these things aren't cheap to host. If it was free you would be moaning that the hard earned money donated to the BTA was being wasted on it instead of going into cure research.