Polluting/spamming the forums

[Jerry Freeman]

Ummm, I kind of like maraschino cherries.

Troublemaker.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Cayden]

Isn't this why the pub split off from the whistle forum? So those who are constantly getting their knickers in a twist over the nonsense won't have to read it?

(...)

Surely you, as a Serious Musician, have actual live sessions and hangouts where you needn't mingle with those of a lower musical caste.
Same goes for you Peter. (Looking for Bloomie to appear via deus ex machina and rap my knuckles.) I respect your knowledge of ITM, your comments, if taken at face value, are on target, and I enjoy your thoughtful descriptions of life in your world. But I don't get the frequent grousing, especially when there's no humor attached.

Whether or not I'm qualified (in your view) to say this, I get tired of the political rantings and excesses, too.
But you can't pick who will post, what they'll post, and when they'll post it.
This forum is an amorphous blob of fruit-laden jello. Sometimes you get a blueberry and you love it. Sometimes you get a maraschino cherry and you hate it. Often you just have to wade through all the lime-flavored green goo for a while.

I agree the emergence of the pub has a lot to do with it, i think it's a relief to have a lot of stuff no longer on the other fora. At the same time more people recently seem to feel they have licence now to post just about everything that comes into their head. That's a downside. Personally I don't mind it that much, I can take or leave the pub, although I get fed up at times (time to do something else, go for a walk, swim with a dolphin or something). I do get fed up with people under the veil of open conversation pushing their own agendas, religious, political and commercial.

And Emm, I wasn't really looking for Bloomfield's support, someone wondered why he hadn't responded. I merely indicated that considering it was only ten in the morning here (That makes it 4 inthe morning in New York?) it was probably still a bit early for him to be out in the pub.

[Bloomfield]

I'm amazed Bloomfield didn't hop on that one.

It's early yet in New York

The sad thing is lately I can hardly be bothered to read or post here. Murphy has a point, although I see it slightly differently: Let people discuss what they want, it doesn't bother me that much. I do think there are people who blurt out too many empty posts and who should consider before hitting "submit." And I don't mind fluff or humor, as everybody knows, so I am talking about something different here.

Lambchop: I am with Peter on this one. I've been attacked quite a bit on these boards over the years (and I remember that once, in 2002, I deserved it---I can admit it when I'm wrong). The funny thing is that the most mean-spirited attacks typically came from those who said they believed one shouldn't say anything if one couldn't say something nice.

If you care to think about it for a second, consider the tension that exists between actually talking about something (like say, whistles and music) and the need for validation. Who posts because they have a question or want to understand something (even if what they hear is not what they expected or at this point fully understand), and who posts because they have a need to hear that it's okay and "you're doing fine, don't think or change a thing"? It's always a blend, of course, and both is perfectly acceptable and all right. If you'll look back at virtually any of the flame threads that Geek/Flydude aluded to, you will see that tempers flares when people get confused trying to sort our those two purposes for posting.

[I.D.10-t]

7. Pick a few more fights (civil ones) and say stuff that's more contriversal (except you Jack).

I actually try to be as non-controversial as possible. I would rather give people the tools to come up with a conclusion of their own rather than tell them what to think. (This is part of the reason that I chose I.D.10-t as my name. It helps me remember to be humble in my posts.). Even when jGilder, Weekenders and others are posting neutral points I know their stand on many topics and feel that I am being told what to think rather than to think. Their style is just different (and maybe better) than mine.

Often I find that my views about many topics is so outside of the mainstream that it serves no purpose to expose them for the sake of spicing up dialogue.

I am surprised at which threads do seem to end up controversial.
Smilies… …four pages and a spin-off thread?

:roll:

I like everyone I've met in person and would probably like the people in person that I don't like on this board because this medium is BAAAD for real communication.

I do not think that the medium is to blame. It is a new medium and people are still getting the hang of it. Unfortunately the other forms of communication have suffered during this shift. (I haven’t written a letter by hand in years.)

[Denny]

Ah Murphy, ain't it just like the musician to be complaining, 'cause he can'na hear himself playin' over the crowd in the bar?

[The Weekenders]

I don't give one red barrell of cat sphincters on their way to the purfume factory what you think of my posts. .

I just wanted to savor that one for a moment and repeat it for its glory.

As to the thread: my opinions on recent changes to the Forum have been stated previously. Glad to see a discussion at any rate and emanating from a different perspective. I would only add that there is a pattern that sometimes occurs where a new member has an explosion of posts for about a year and a half or so then settles down. Some even leave, like Kim in Tulsa.

I still don't like seeing this Forum used as a political soapbox. There is a difference between stating an occasional political opinion versus spouting a party line on a daily basis. Grind your agenda elsewhere, but I am in the minority opinion on this.

[Tyler]

I don't give one red barrell of cat sphincters on their way to the purfume factory what you think of my posts. .

I just wanted to savor that one for a moment and repeat it for its glory.

[taking a bow]
Thank you Enders , it was the most random thing I've said all week.
Looking back at what I wrote there...I'm glad it got a laugh, cause it was pretty rediculous and crude

[Bloomfield]

I still don't like seeing this Forum used as a political soapbox. There is a difference between stating an occasional political opinion versus spouting a party line on a daily basis. Grind your agenda elsewhere, but I am in the minority opinion on this.

I agree with you, for one (although I think calling it a "party line" is an unnecessary slur).

[Cynth]

It seems as though almost everything has a Golden Age----empires, literature, one's job, forums, etc. Maybe when these forums started there was a higher percentage of knowledgeable (sp), accomplished musicans in the crowd. And so conversation about music was perhaps conducted on a higher and more interesting level.

I can't imagine many people would end up here who didn't have an interest in playing an instrument or else in ITM or contemporary music based on ITM. Or anything I've left out that is connected.

Beginners on an instrument can get a lot of help here, but at some point it seems to come down to learn to listen better, listen to a lot of recordings and practice. So those questions of technique sort of dry up after a while.

There are, on occasion, interesting discussions about the music itself. Beginners aren't apt to participate in these discussions much or ask interesting music-related questions because they haven't played enough music yet. They are learning about how much they don't know. I'm sure many of them read these discussions in the hope of learning more, but they can't really make insightful comments.

The main controversial topics about music open to a beginner are about metronomes, using sheet music vs. playing by ear, what qualifies as traditional, speed of playing---is that about it? Since I've been here we have had some big discussions about those things and I think people may still be a bit tired of those topics.

I'm sure many people have stopped practicing either temporarily or for good. However, they may still be interested in listening to the music and learning about it, and they also have made acquaintances on the forums whom they don't wish to leave behind. I think people do pretty well at confining chatting about other things to the Pub. I guess I have always thought of the Pub as a place where any nutty thing goes and I can read or not read at my discretion.

The question of time management by others is probably not something one should question. There are a lot of different lives out there and I think, since one can't put one's self into the shoes of all those people, it is best to assume that they have their reasons for spending time the way they do.

I would hate to see another division between people here come up----the interesting old-timers vs. the boring new people. I think a lot of us have made quite an effort to slap down intolerance shown toward specific religious, ethnic, gender preference groups and to slap down unjust accusations, etc. Those discussions are not particularly fun. I would hate to think I now have to start defending oldies and newbies as well! That, indeed, might get me to try to manage my time better!

[The Weekenders]

I still don't like seeing this Forum used as a political soapbox. There is a difference between stating an occasional political opinion versus spouting a party line on a daily basis. Grind your agenda elsewhere, but I am in the minority opinion on this.

I agree with you, for one (although I think calling it a "party line" is an unnecessary slur).

Sorry Bloo, still groggy this a.m. It's not even a party per se, but has an agenda of sorts.

[FJohnSharp]

Ummm, I kind of like maraschino cherries.

Is that bad?

'course not!

pssst.....if you don't tell anyone, I'll slip one into yer martini instead of the olive...

I'll have a Shirley Temple instead, thanks.

[mvhplank]

I think I'm with Em on this one. Fruit-filled Jello.

And who said "community"? I'm with you there. We've wandered in because we like whistles and stayed because the other conversations were interesting. I wouldn't stay in a conversation that starts flaming, I just don't need to deal with it.

Since the splintering off of the Pub forum, I dip in through the "find new posts" search. Then I ignore the monster Political thread, various postings on the Test forum, and the pipers, and then just look into the ones that look like they might be interesting. Or the ones started by interesting people. Like Dale.

But basically, life's too short to worry about who's posting what where, and why.

M

[emmline]

And Emm, I wasn't really looking for Bloomfield's support..

Oh, I know you can stand up for yourself, I just think he's your guardian angel anyway.

[Bloomfield]

And Emm, I wasn't really looking for Bloomfield's support..

Oh, I know you can stand up for yourself, I just think he's your guardian angel anyway.

Like I keep Peter out of harm's way? Right.

Speaking of guardian angels, I am looking for one myself. Applications welcomed. Intelligence a must, will consider IQ of 34D and up.

[MarkB]

A lot to think about here on this one.

First off I agree mostly with MurphyStout aka Jack but have the good/bad unnatural sense to try and see both sides of the situation and find a middle ground for myself in all of this. I like the pub format and all the other formats that I have learned so much on, asking few questions but doing a ton of reading and then taking what I read and practicing it. I don't have a formal musical background or training, I'm basically self taught on the whistles, flutes and bodhrans that I play, I don't have enough knowledge to even ask in most cases the simple questions that I want to ask, and I thank those that have asked what would appear to be another newbie dump question.

In pre-pub times the whistle board did get sluggish with political, religious, and other highly opinionated views and a new vistior would have a hard go of it trying to fine whistle related posts. In brief I learned a lot about the American way of life and thought (since most political/religious posts are American) at the ground roots and very personal level, that I don't get from the six Detroit television stations and two newspapers across the river. But I stay out of those posts, I read them but don't comment. Who was it? Stokely Carmichael said "if you ain't part of the problem, you ain't part of the solution."

I mostly only post when at work sitting at the reference desk most of the time, when there isn't much time to do paper work between questions. Today is my day off, I have already put in three hours of flute practice..Jack, usually forty minutes on my lunch hour,, AND I am guilty of posting useless but somewhat interesting posts. I have held back since the one I did post of a man doing something with a chicken. I have even gotten to the point now of not posting things that I know would be of interest to others in the pub..am thinking of doing it through PM's though.

I'm betwixted and between, I love an almost empty pub on a quiet afternoon, sitting in the corner with a pint and a friend playing tunes, but then it always brightens my day when others come in with their thoughts and music, then when the sun sets, the session is going in the corner, the craic is flying and the cacaphony of life reverberates off the walls, life is happening!

MarkB