i agree, Goffik.
when i went about 3 years ago i felt so angry /sad/ all these poeole walking round with large mobile phone things stuck to their ears, listening to rubbish in various languages, with the odd hippie meditating on the ground,,,i just wanted to get out,yet i had waited so long to see it and i felt completely that the soul had gone from it. its a shame but then its soo different to all the other sites in the uk, well the ones i have been to anyway! that maybe its just an enigma anyway, maybe it lost its magic along time ago. i dunno, but it is a shame that the present guardians don't seem to know what the hell to do about it.
i don't know about the point you made about how just 'you' would harm it as theres lots of 'you's every day visitng it and touching it and potentially climbing upon it etc, and because of its popularity maybe the vast majority wouldn't appreciate the lichens or respect the state of the stones and the area, which we tend to. most of them are tourists with no interest or knowledge, except for the fact they've walked round it, bought the lousy t-shirt, and a lovely cardboard replica to cut out when they get home....most couldnt even truly look at it but just wandered aimlessly round with the black things stuck to the side of their heads,,,they all reminded me of aliens, just looking at a 'subject' not seeing anything else or wanting to because they hadnt been 'told to'. aaargh!
rant over, am off back to bed!
love
pixie
xx