Question for the Moderators

[Jerry Freeman]

I've made suggestions to Rich, and he's made it pretty clear he doesn't want to get into that kind of detail, changing parameters like that. Unless I've just got a much more abrasive manner than Murphy Stout when I offer suggestions and it's a personal thing Rich has towards me.

Best wishes,
Jerry

I don't think so, Jerry. I think rich doesn't want to get into that kind of tweaking.

That was my impression, too. Not an unreasonable position for him to take. It's a pretty good system as it is, and I've heard, though I don't know for certain that it's true, that Rich has an actual life.

Best wishes,
Jerry

[Tony]

....You're making way too much fuss about not much....

Actually... 'the fuss' is everyone complaining about MurphyStout's request for more music and less current events.

Let's all reconsider what is going on here.
The board really is out of control.
Dale admits it and admits to not having a solution that suits everyone.

WILL SOMEONE OFFER A VIABLE SOLUTION AND NOT A COMPLAINT ?

Here's a thought.
Consider if... this were an e-mail based message board, like LISTSERV.HEANET.IE or ITRAD... then EVERYONE would get a copy of every message posted. That would mean HUNDREDS of e-mails would be in everyone's mail box every day.
How long do you think it would take before "WE" decide to curtail the non-musicial "I found a dried booger in my left nostril" type of posts?

Custom modifications to the software that runs the board is not an option, so blocking posts from individuals is out of the question. We need some self discipline here more than anything.

Would a 'COMMON SENSE' rule to exercise courtesy that as the board continues to grow and the percentage of 'new things musicial' keeps shrinking as our 'personal life interactions' seems to be talking over.

Perhaps a reminder screen when making a post "Am I making a valuable contribution to the board" make you reconsider what you say before hitting the enter key?

[anniemcu]

....You're making way too much fuss about not much....

Actually... 'the fuss' is everyone complaining about MurphyStout's request for more music and less current events.

Let's all reconsider what is going on here.
The board really is out of control.
Dale admits it and admits to not having a solution that suits everyone.

WILL SOMEONE OFFER A VIABLE SOLUTION AND NOT A COMPLAINT ?

Here's a thought.
Consider if... this were an e-mail based message board, like LISTSERV.HEANET.IE or ITRAD... then EVERYONE would get a copy of every message posted. That would mean HUNDREDS of e-mails would be in everyone's mail box every day.
How long do you think it would take before "WE" decide to curtail the non-musicial "I found a dried booger in my left nostril" type of posts?

Custom modifications to the software that runs the board is not an option, so blocking posts from individuals is out of the question. We need some self discipline here more than anything.

Would a 'COMMON SENSE' rule to exercise courtesy that as the board continues to grow and the percentage of 'new things musicial' keeps shrinking as our 'personal life interactions' seems to be talking over.

Perhaps a reminder screen when making a post "Am I making a valuable contribution to the board" make you reconsider what you say before hitting the enter key?

Has any question of serious musical nature gone unread and unanswered on these boards? Has anyone seen another person floundering for info on one of the music specific boards? Has anyone chained off the entrances to the music specific boards or dynamited any of the music specific threads so that visiotrs are forced to go through political and/or religious and/or fluff and/or humor threads against their will?

I most assuredly have not seen any of this.

This is not an email style forum, though, and so no-one is forced to go through buckets of frivolous stuff to get to the meat and potatos. If you are interested in the post, you go there. If you are not, you don't. If you don't care to read any of someone's posting, you don't. Pretty darned silple, really, and very easy to control. Your choice.

Also, you said, "Let's all reconsider what is going on here.
The board really is out of control.
Dale admits it and admits to not having a solution that suits everyone."

"The board"?? What Board? This board? The Chiff and Fipple Poststructural Pub board? This board set aside for posts and threads that hold interest for the widely varied population of the whole community to be used specifically for threads that were not appropriate for the music specific boards? This board that was specifically set up for religious/political/fluff/humor type posts? This board is "out of control"? I think you must have the wrong board.

And as for Dale admitting that it is out of control, I believe he said something more to the effect that it was not in need of much control.

I do agree that he said there is no solution to the problems claimed by some - at least none that would suit everyone.

So, we do agree on one thing. Sort of.

[Redwolf]

Maybe I'm going senile or something, but I seem to remember that the whole point of creating the Poststructural Pub was so we could post off-topic posts to our hearts' content without disrupting the whistle forum, the trad music forum, or any of the several other fora here that are devoted specifically to music. I don't see that a "solution" (beyond what's already been done by creating the pub) is necessary. This IS where you go for random conversation, current events, and yes, even "fluff." If you (generic "you" here) want discussion targeted toward music, there are plenty of boards here at C&F to keep you happy.

Someone said on the other thread that we are a community, and that's very true. We don't, and never have, talked about music all the time, and this board was created to give the non-musical chat a non-disruptive place to go. Sure, it doesn't suit everyone, but Dale offered the perfect solution himself...if it doesn't suit, hang out on one of the other boards! It really isn't that hard to skim this board once or twice a day to see if there's anything you're interested in reading or responding to.

Redwolf

[s1m0n]

....You're making way too much fuss about not much....

Actually... 'the fuss' is everyone complaining about MurphyStout's request for more music and less current events.

If we could agree on what constitutes an appropriate post, we wouldn't have this "problem" in the first place.

And anyway, the pub is the place for non-musical posts. "More music" would be off-topic here.

[jGilder]

Here's a thought.
Consider if... this were an e-mail based message board, like LISTSERV.HEANET.IE or ITRAD... then EVERYONE would get a copy of every message posted. That would mean HUNDREDS of e-mails would be in everyone's mail box every day.
How long do you think it would take before "WE" decide to curtail the non-musicial "I found a dried booger in my left nostril" type of posts?

This format is far more entertaining than an email format like Irtrad. A lot of us have fun working images and such into the dialog. Like Dale and others have pointed out -- the pub is for the OT stuff. If someone doesn't like the OT stuff -- stay in the music forums.

What I don't get is why people that don't like the sort of topics in the pub even come in here. It's as if they wander in with all their preconceptions about what the music forums should be and want to clean everything up in here. All of the suggestions from them seem to require throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Why can't the people that enjoy what the pub is be allowed to enjoy what the pub is?

• Maybe I should start political threads in the music forums so they'll be
  happy that there's a pub to suggest I go post in.

*P.S. Murphy, you know I love you but for feck's sake you're posting too many threads about what's wrong with the Pub. Don't you think about anything else? I'm having a real hard time finding the political threads with all these whining threads you keep posting. Go learn some tunes or something.

*Brought to you by the Taste of Your Own Medicine Department.

[Doug_Tipple]

For the obsessive/compulsive personality type, the idea of a pub, where anything goes, may be a little too much to handle. Although somewhat chaotic, unstructured input allows the freedom that may be refreshing, creative, and useful.

[anniemcu]

For the obsessive/compulsive personality type, the idea of a pub, where anything goes, may be a little too much to handle. Although somewhat chaotic, unstructured input allows the freedom that may be refreshing, creative, and useful.

Ah... but the 'entertainment' value isn't up to snuff for some... and the decor is a bit frumpy. Perhaps we should hire some prettier waiteresses? waiters? waitrons? And installing a few free taps of the good stuff might help. ... well.. maybe not.

[Flyingcursor]

There's plenty of boards here on C&F to post music related topics. For not IRTrad, or whistles or flutes or pipes there are dozens of sites dedicated to other instruments and musical genres. I hate to say it Murphy but you're reminding me of those people who think the government should legislate morality on TV for the whole population because that person doesn't approve of a particular show.

[oscartherabbit]

Here is a suggestion for those who want to cut out the noise. There is an extension for Mozilla Firefox which allows you to hide/unhide posts by particular users, which seems to be exactly what murph is looking for.

Get Firefox, and then get the phpBB User Hide extension.

I use Firefox but, fwiw, I don't use the phpBB use hide extension as I think it is very silly. I tend to be of the opinion that I can just not read stuff that doesn't interest me, in much the same way as I can turn the TV or radio off.

[Tyler]

Dale asked what could be done even about fluff even if he wanted to. So I did a bit of thinking and I thought of the view posts since last visit botton. Is there any logistical way to create a few last posts with exception button? Like type in certain names and have the forums show new posts except for those people?

I think this would really increase my enjoyment of these forums. But then again it is extremely rude and counterproductive. I mean what's the point of community if you ignore or delete one half the contributions?

If you don't like what goes on in the pub, stay out!
This is the place for all the "off-topic fluff" people would bitch about before the Pub's inception.

Jeeeez, Murph...talk about floggin a dead horse....

[Tony]

If you don't like what goes on in the pub, stay out!

....

Tyler... is that you ??

[Cayden]

Dale asked what could be done even about fluff even if he wanted to. So I did a bit of thinking and I thought of the view posts since last visit botton. Is there any logistical way to create a few last posts with exception button? Like type in certain names and have the forums show new posts except for those people?

I think this would really increase my enjoyment of these forums. But then again it is extremely rude and counterproductive. I mean what's the point of community if you ignore or delete one half the contributions?

If you don't like what goes on in the pub, stay out!
This is the place for all the "off-topic fluff" people would bitch about before the Pub's inception.

Jeeeez, Murph...talk about floggin a dead horse....

To be honest your going on about it is getting a lot more annoying. Maybe you should stay on the test forum posting mindless empty message to trump up your post count.

[Tyler]

To be honest your going on about it is getting a lot more annoying. Maybe you should stay on the test forum posting mindless empty message to trump up your post count.

But people like you make it so much more fun to be here!

[Bloomfield]

*P.S. Murphy, you know I love you but for feck's sake you're posting too many threads about what's wrong with the Pub. Don't you think about anything else? I'm having a real hard time finding the political threads with all these whining threads you keep posting. Go learn some tunes or something.

*Brought to you by the Taste of Your Own Medicine Department.

jGilder, speaking of medicine.

What I am taking away from this thread and the other MurphyStout started is that you aren't really up to message boards. You are too quick to take things personally, everything is always about you, you can't handle well-meaning criticism, and you keep going on and on about your perceived grievances. Now, I have no business saying this sort of thing, so here are three reasons why I say it anyway:

You're probably the nicest guy in person, and it's hard to do this in an online medium. All I have to go on is your posts, and how they come across. It's not about you, it's about your posts.

I only post this after about a week of witnessing your unwillingness to even cede the smallest points, for instance, that you have changed the character of the chiffboard (and that people may well be nostalgic without being mean), or to concede that you, too, are human and don't get everything right every time (although you are certainly a better man than I and aren't wrong nearly as often as I am).

Finally, nearly all your posts here are about debates and controversies. For better or worse, "facts" only go so far to resolve debates and controversies (if you want to know why, try this link), and we are dependent in society on our ability to debate and argue. You debate and argue a lot around here. Finding now in an area that I feel I have something useful to add (the chiffboard), that you don't listen to criticism (and not just the crude overstated criticism, but also the careful & respectful), that you don't handle subtlety well, that you brow beat those around you, and that everything anyone seems to say is a reflection on you personally (after you were singled out), makes me feel that if you can't debate or argue, perhaps you shouldn't.