A quick reply by someone who does not dowse, and has only read some of the comments.
My immediate impression is that there has only been one person in favour of dowsing - Astral Cat, unfortunately there have been several 'sceptics' therefore the 'battle' was very one sided.
What we have not had is a dialogue with people who do dowse and who believe in their skills. Asking the question why not? my reaction would be because they are scared of facing such formidable opposition. Therefore in my opinion, apart from scaring off a more open discussion, it has descended into an irrelevant internecine battle as usual ;)
I think Mustard you are probably one of the most clear headed people on this board, and Astral Cat is a delightful personality, but until there is a more open minded approach to the many discussions that could be discussed, we are doomed to follow the same narrow path of justifying our own subjective viewpoints.
Actually I do know one dowser, he dowsed roman buildings up at Sandy Lane and seemed to have been successful in his work.....