Ok...I have been trying to avoid this, but I can't keep it in inside me any longer.....I have been in this forum 'almost' from the beginning, and was actually around when the Database was being started...so I feel a sort of personal interest in it. .......There are several issues going on here. First: the forum has 'morphed' from just a place to trade, find, and talk about music into a place where a lot of the regulars genuinely 'know' each other--some only online, some in person....and plans are in the works to facilitate more meetings; at festivals, camps, personal pilgramages, etc. I suppose this was inevitable, given the personalities involved...and I am heartily in favor of it! However..**THIS** is where most of us will continue to meet, talk, share, compare, joke, grump and otherwise interact like a group of complex, ardent, vital human beings....and this place has some problems!....The second 'issue' is that the musical aspects of the forum really ARE taking a back seat to the personal stuff. Yes, I know, questions about music...and some song postings are still there, but if YOU wandered in today for the first time, what would be YOUR impression? This, too, seems to be a common problem...for example, in the large and vital folk community I am associated with...FSGW, which is sponsoring the upcoming Getaway, it OFTEN happens that at some ostensibly musical event, some folk are more interested in talk, gossip, personal interaction, etc. I have seen 2nd halves of concerts or song circles really hard to re-convene because people simply would NOT shut up & sit down!....Well, we deal with that...you have all seen it, and there are ways to get their attention. Several times, my wife and I have had large parties/singing events at our house...and we finally resorted to designating one area (in our case, the basement rec room) as a **MUSIC** (read talk free zone. We did not try to stop the 'chat'...we just firmly set limits. "come down & make music with us...and when you feel the urge for extended or controversial byplay...go over there. .......I trully feel that the Mudcat needs something like that. We have a couple of attempts.."NOI".."BS threads"...even private messages...but, as we can see, it is not dealing with the situation totally, or this thread would not need to exist!...Perhaps we need to ask Max about parallel forums, like the proposed auction may have. If one set of threads were ONLY for music, and those who needed to cry, love, complain, yell, politic, preach, pun, joke..(and by gum, I'd be among 'em sometimes!)...or otherwise digress were politely asked to 'go over there', might it not allow the meeker souls to slip back in and peruse musical questions without feeling they were tiptoeing thru something between a political convention and a minefield?
and....the third issue that concerns me...we are seeing right now some VERY heavy personal and unpleasant posting, mostly centered about one or two people. This is not new, but it is still not happy.. Names? Ok...remember Dan Mulligan?...I have not seen him lately, but there were serious personal issues when he decided to attack people in a sarcastic, judgemental way...and now Gargoyle has been raising the ire of some (and NOT for the first time!)
I find it interesting that I know who most of us are...(I edited that album for several months!)...I have seen pictures and/or descriptions...along with places of residence and high-schools for many of you...but I do not believe I have any idea who Gargoyle is, where he is from..(other than a cryptic remark that 'might' place him in Europe), what he looks like, or what his real name is. Now, no rule says it is required, and certainly, some people might have some personal reasons for relative anonimity, but in this case, it bemuses me......Now, whatever drives a person to post remarks that rile so many close friends, it IS a matter of concern to many of us..
gargoyle, if you are reading this, I ask for either an explanation..or, preferably, a cessation of those kind of posts...if you want to say something directly to ME...have at it....'extree@erols.com'...I have a couple of things to say back..
my head is swimming with many other bits of opinion, but I think Id better wait...I care too much about this place to go much further today...I want it to continue! All the good stuff...I look forward to supporting it with time, energy, and offering neat things in the proposed auction. I am TIRED BEYOND BELIEF of bickering and crap that has no place here!...
realizing that if I push the 'submit' button, I have just added one more piece of tinder to a fire that is already too hot....*sigh*....