Has attendance dropped off here?

blackhawk · Post by **blackhawk** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 12:56 am

John Allison wrote:I've slowed down in coming to the C&F forums for several reason:

There is too darn much OT posting. I get tired of wading through this trying to find something of interest. It needs to have its own area...if any at all. 

Too many frivilous postings. People saying things without saying anything seemly just to drive up their post count. 

My needs have changed as a whistle player. I'm past the point of "should I buy a Susato or a Dixon?". We really need an FAQ for these types of questions.
I've been to Gaelic Crossings and like it a lot more probably because it has more specialized areas in which to post. I can get on and off without wasting a lot of time. Then again, if C&F were like GC then it wouldn't be C&F any more...quite a pickle.

When I click on your GC link, I get the Museum of Black Death? Has GC already given up the ghost?

John Allison · Post by **John Allison** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:13 am

blackhawk wrote:When I click on your GC link, I get the Museum of Black Death? Has GC already given up the ghost?

No...but if everyone went to Gaelic Crossings then there wouldn't be anyone left here!!!

Actually, here is the real address.

OK, OK...so this is REALLY the REAL address!!

Wombat · Post by **Wombat** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 1:47 am

There are two obvious reasons why things are quiet here at the moment. First, there was an explosion a few weeks back due to personality clashes. Anybody who'd been following the board for a few months would have seen it coming. What puzzled me was people carrying on as though it were all a big surprise and onlookers rushing around trying to put out spot fires that didn't exist. A suppose that just reflected the extent to which so many people saw this place as a large family home.

Much more important is the fact that there is a major and deeply divisive war going on. I really don't think that the people who've used this as a pretext to engage in Xenophobic rantings have driven many people away. I don't read that stuff any more. But I'm much more often simply not in the mood to start a new thread or crack a joke. So I don't post as often.

To those who think that the place has got boring quite independently of the war, I have a proposal. Stop sitting back waiting for someone else to entertain you and generate the interest, fun and laughter yourself. Maybe, just maybe, some of us will feel like joining you. :roll:

Zubivka · Post by **Zubivka** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:11 am

fatveg wrote:Let me tell you what really irks me though. If you look at the people who are keeping the political rants going, then check over at GC, you will find that most of them are posters there too.

I disagree.

I for instance may be guilty of quite opionated postings in the political threads here, contributing to a tense atmosphere. However, I'll pledge that when I heated up It was reacting to xenophobia, when it appeared some were hijacking this board as a tribune, not for discussing political matters between concerned adults, but for the lowliest kind of French-bashing. So did Claudine.

Now check GC and you won't find any of us in the OT fora. Neither bothered to answer the attempts to fire up some more ranting on GC.

This may be because these threads are carefully separated from the Instruments forum. So we can ignore this tribune, as we ignore whatever ranting may go on top of a soapbox at Hyde Park Corner, just because we don't live in London.

Jens_Hoppe · Post by **Jens_Hoppe** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:11 am

I think you should have made this thread a poll.

Cayden · Post by **Cayden** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 3:58 am

Wombat wrote:Much more important is the fact that there is a major and deeply divisive war going on. I really don't think that the people who've used this as a pretext to engage in Xenophobic rantings have driven many people away. I don't read that stuff any more. But I'm much more often simply not in the mood to start a new thread or crack a joke. So I don't post as often.

I don not fully agree with the first bit of that, allthough the last bit is very true for me also. There have always been personality clashes and eruptions of tensions caused by that, they have been absorbed and dealt with.

Recent behaviour and xenophobia in the war threads have, for me, very much changed the atmosphere of this forum. I know several long standing board members that have left in disgust, some of us are still hanging on. I am still here because of the reason I arrived here in the first place, the Uilleann pipes forum [and the ITM one].
The behaviour of some people though has made me wonder and I have in a number of cases not replied to questions that I could have easily answered. I have been asked if there were any transcriptions for the ITM board in the making, at the time I replied 'as these people seem only interested in learning tunes liek The Downfall of Paris and Bonaparte's Retreat, I am in no mood to be of any service to them'. That is how things are affected by recent events as far as I am concerned.

Turner · Post by **Turner** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:03 am

There was a post entitled "Are OTs, annoying people on this board?" , can I ask why people didnt voice their opinions on that post?

Maybe the OT threads bring about a certain amount of arguments, and heated discussion. Every thread encourages whinging, just look at this thread, people are whiging already.

Do people here want somthing to laugh about? Ok here goes:

Paddy and Murphy are cleaning windows one day.

Paddy is high up a ladder, sponge in hand cleaning away, when suddenly the ladder starts to slip, and rock from side to side.

Paddy shouts "Murphy, Murphy support me"

Murphy claps his hands and shouts "come on paddy, come on paddy"

Mastersound · Post by **Mastersound** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:35 am

Hiya

I kinda lost interest when the "It's sickening" thread was put to bed. I'd enjoyed some friendly banter with a lot of people on the board but it got a bit serious... not because of wars or personalities... just 'cos we stopped having fun.

I'm not an Irish music purist... just a person with a whistle or six... so it was more of a social outlet than anything. I still drop in from time to time and see what the regulars are up to and still will for a while to come.

As a webmaster of a couple of projects I know how hard it is to maintain momentum, and how easy it is to lose visitors if the content and topics have been chewed over to death or if strong personalities wax messianic. As someone else said, it's a big Internet and we can all get whatever we want from a site like this and many others. Well done Dale, for the work you've done over the years!

Rob

Roger O'Keeffe · Post by **Roger O'Keeffe** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:35 am

I came close to pulling out of here myself, but hope that time will heal.

The political threads are like bad car crash scenes, it's very hard to just drive on by without looking, and that's why I would prefer if they were all brought to GC which welcomes them (though can I permit myself a snide observation that it's a telling detail that the discussion of a war in the Middle East is being carried on there in the forum on North America?).

In the meantime, I'd just like to thank Dale for setting a wonderful tone here and hope that we will gradually recover it.

madguy · Post by **madguy** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 4:48 am

I haven't been here at C&F for the better part of this week due to an overly-hectic week at work. The main thing I noticed righ-off this morning was there seem to be a lot more whistle and whistle-related threads than over the past few months!

And it appears that some of those who can't seem to post without bashing this country or that philosophy have either left, gone undercover, or toned down their rhetoric. A welcome change of atmosphere to me!!

In these short several days C&F seems to be getting closer to the way it was when I first started frequenty it some 4 or 5 years ago.

All things tend to recycle eventually. Is there any reason that C&F shouldn't or won't?

~Larry

Martin Milner · Post by **Martin Milner** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 5:20 am

I just got what you people mean about Gaelic Crossings welcoming political discussion.

I had taken the title "current events" to mean Festivals, Fairs, Fleadhs and the like.

The plethora of political threads of late has certainly dulled my appetite for C&F, but as I use it for a quick break from work rather than a major source of information or inspiration, I don't suppose I'll ever give it up as long as it's here.

I have started to ignore more threads than I used to.

ScottStewart · Post by **ScottStewart** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 5:28 am

I've posted far less lately. That is mostly due to direction the board has gone. I'd really rather read whistle stuff, and not be told what is an acceptable or unacceptable political viewpoint. I thought that this board was not meant for that sort of thing. I guess I was bullied into silence. So, I posted my political views on the GC board in the section where it belongs, and read the whistle stuff in the whistle section. There's been too much to wade through here to get to the good stuff.

Chuck_Clark · Post by **Chuck_Clark** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 7:29 am

Jens_Hoppe wrote:I think you should have made this thread a poll.

GRRRR! Now THAT may be the real reason why postings are down. Some of the polls, probably the greatest proportion, are downright foolish. Polls are like smilies. Some people use them only rarely for emphasis. Others treat them as a shiny new toy that it's their personal calling to wear out.

They're like ornamentation - a little is good, but when they obscure the tune they become a distraction.

serpent · Post by **serpent** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:24 am

I've only been around here since about last August. I've already noticed a couple of peaks and valleys in "attendance", mostly seeming to be related to how nasty the disagreements get and how many there are.

Frankly, I've contributed to some of the nastiness in the past, and to the OT posts, and bitched about both, in between times. Two-faced SOB that I am.

But usually, I write about whistles and whistling.

Just stick around, folks. Post something about whistles, be it a question or a comment or a review, and eventually, things will work themselves out of the slump. People who post about politics will continue to do so, because it's where their heads are, and politics is all about my ideas being better and more valid than yours. Whistles are about music, having fun, and enjoying life with you and with others.

Post something fun!

serpent

hillfolk22 · Post by **hillfolk22** » Fri Mar 28, 2003 8:33 am

I had dropped off from visiting here to nurture my real time friendships and family.

It is amazing how a crisis can help one get their priorities straight.

Nothing against C&F and my cyber friends.

As for the political post I avoid them.
Just like I limit my time in front of the tv watching the news.

It could also be that spring is here and folks are out enjoying life to its fullest!!!!!!

With that said... the sun is shining and I am going to dabble in my poorly neglected herb garden.

Laura

Chiff and Fipple Forums

Has attendance dropped off here?

Leave 'em alone & they'll come home