Ralph...for your information.

FACT 1: I am no longer banned by the BBC, I choose not to go there.

FACT 2: I was banned, for one week, for repeatedly asking the BBC to give me an explanation on WHY they closed down threads on *certain* artists, and *not* others. I am STILL waiting to hear from them.   

However, there now follows a very long post, for which I make no apologies:



And now, back to the subject of this thread:

Part of the problem, imo, with Ian's board, can also be seen very clearly on here. Messageboards are often 'ruled' by small groups of people who want things run 'their way' and their way only. Take the BBC board for example, it states this on the board 'details', which I have copied and pasted:

"A place to explore and enjoy this genre and talk about gigs."


That is what I and others often did. It does *not* however, in *any* way state this:

'This is a board soley for traditional musicians, preferably English, preferably who know each other, preferably with no humour, no empathy, no tolerance and no compassion.....to come in and talk entirely amongst themselves about music and instruments, to the exclusion of all other 'non-musicians' at all times. It is also a board to be used for very personal remarks about other posters. If these wretched 'other posters' (henceforth known as 'trolls') **dare** to remain on this board and talk about subjects which *they* deem suitable/enjoyable/interesting then they shall be bullied rotten, deeply insulted and chased away...etc. etc.'

Nope! The BBC board states *none* of that, just the first quote only.


Now then, Ian's board states this, again, copied and pasted from his site:

"From our own correspondents - the electronic mailbag! Carefully crafted arguments, theories, reactions, diatribes, stuff you'd like to know etc. Unseemly personal squabbling will be zapped. We reserve the right to dispense with correspondents who are terminally boring or wilfully provocative (a.k.a. "trolls"). And not for news announcements - these go on the board below . . . "


Now, that doesn't strike me as being very welcoming actually. I'd get rid of that completely and put something far warmer on. I'm not sure what Ian's definition of a 'troll' is. Or 'terminally boring' either. Obviously he has a low tolerance threshold about certain things. But it's my opinion that the fRoots board is 'controlled' by the same small group of people who wanted to control the BBC one, and that is the group who will ONLY permit what THEY deem suitable to be spoken about.

That is NOT freedom of speech. It is *not* open-minded, it is not fair, welcoming, or just, either. Also, if you have a particular poster on your board, who uses their knowledge purely as a weapon, to destroy the confidence of others, to belittle and humiliate....then guess what? Loads of posters, who may be sitting 'out there' *desperate* to write something on your shiny board....WON'T!

In my opinion, the sooner Ian becomes far more lenient about what is and is not allowed to be talked about on his board, and more vigilant about the way that other posters are often insulted by er...mainly one person...the better and busier his board will be.

Ian Anderson has done a huge amount for World Music and for many, many musicians, but....he could do far more for many others as well. His board *should* be buzzing with sparkling threads and posts. There literally IS a whole world of music out there....and he needs, imo, to ensure that his board is used for the *right* purposes and that is, for the open, friendly, warm, humourous, interesting and *sometimes* serious discussion, of some wonderful music.

And far from hitting the man whilst he's away, I'm trying to get others to come forward with *their* opinions on how it could be made better. Because ALL music is world music! Yes...even that which is discussed on Mudcat...yes..EVEN (altogether now..) Show of Hands and Seth Lakeman! And Ian deliberately put that thread on just before he went away and he *announced* he was going away, so therefore we can safely assume that he WANTS discussion about it. And the more views he has...the better he will be able to sort it all out!

I personally think that he desperately needs to let down those fences, take down his 'radar', open up his boundaries, enjoy his posters.....and RELAX!! And then...THEN...he may be *very* pleasantly surprised and his board may start to bring in loads of people who will yatter on and others who will read it to find out masses about some stunning World Music. And below you will find a miniscual selection of World Music and THAT is what Ian's board should be about...yup...all those different musicians and many, many more.


Ladysmith Black Mambazo:
http://www.myspace.com/mambazo

Ellie Skinner:
http://www.myspace.com/ellieskinner

Bombay Dub Orchestra:
http://www.myspace.com/bombayduborchestra

Athena Andreadis:
http://www.myspace.com/athenaandreadis

Show of Hands:
http://www.myspace.com/showofhandsuk

Zuraya Drum Collaboration:
http://www.myspace.com/zuryadrumcollaboration

Seth Lakeman:
http://www.myspace.com/sethlakeman

Miriam Makeba:
http://www.myspace.com/miriammakeba

Jim Causley:
http://www.myspace.com/jimcausley

Ron Sexsmith:
http://www.myspace.com/ronsexsmith

Latafat Ali Khan:
http://www.myspace.com/latafatalikhan


And I fully expect that people will come on here now and say that a lot of the music above should *not* be discussed on the fRoots board or anywhere else...and *that* to me is part of the whole problem. If you want a narrow view of music, then you will get a narrow audience.

The Folk World is *not* 'THEM * US'....it is '*WE*'

Lizzie :0)


PS: And now....back to the Lizzie Bashing.......apologies for having taken up so much of people's time talking about the fRoots board. ;0)