So, when exactly did this board stop being a whistle board and start being a general purpose bulletin board? Surely there are plenty of other places to talk about politics, baseball, etc…
You can only rehash the sheetmusic debate, the overton vs chieftan debate, etc so many times before it just gets tired, you know.
It’s been happening for quite awhile now, and in case it hasn’t been noticed, a lot of long-time board members have basically quit posting or at least only post occasionally now. It’s discouraging, but I for one am hopeful it’s just a phase and and the discourse will get back onto whistles before long.
Susan
You want to talk about whistles? Then talk about them. That’s how discussions get started here. Someone brings up a subject and the rest respond. If you don’t see the subject you want, go ahead and create one yourself. That’s how the board works.
Seth
Amen to that.
Its just interestng that this flood of OT seems to be limited to the whistle board, and the other boards, (flute, UP, trad) are pretty much on topic…
Seems to me that on a board dedicated to the discussion of the whistle, that people would blindly post on whatever subject happened to be on their mind that day.
There’s still plenty to discuss about whistle technique, tunes, tune history, breathing, ornamentation, recording, etc. before we have to waste bandwidth on religion and politics…
I think the reason you see most of the OT stuff on this board is because there is a far greater amount of people trawling this board then any of the others. Added to that I know that many regulars of the flute board check up in here, but not necessarily the other way around. You get the most OT stuff because this is where people come to “hang out”
Seth
Sure there are. But this is why this one is so exceptional: variety. I don’t go to baseball or political boards because I don’t want to discuss ONE subject ad nauseam all the time. That’s why those boards are boring. This one exists because of our common interest in whistles, and survives because of the diversity of our other interests. I don’t think there is anything quite like it anywhere else.
This place is ALIVE and it goes through phases. This one just happens to be heavy on the OT posts. Which, as we’ve said many times before, no one HAS to read if they don’t want to.
Cheers,
PT
Sure. And if that’s all I want out of this board, I’ll stick to instructional books. One of the things that kept me away from Celtic music (and a few other things as well) for a long time is the “purists”. Somehow, they always manage to make it stuffy and boring for everybody else.
All that changed when I stumbled on this board. I learned loads regarding whistles here, and I have been considerably enriched by conversations that had little to do with whistles.
You ask me, best of both worlds.
But that’s just me.
Always were a lot of OT threads as I recall. The biggest difference I’ve noticed of late is that it’s getting difficult to sell high-end whistles, even those you would expect people to jump at and clear bargains. Since we have a floating population, and new converts all the time, I find this development very puzzling.
Eskin, yer a sharp guy but you have missed the obvious. In a world of personal alienation and hyperactive lifestyles, its entirely possible that many people do not have “plenty of places” to talk about those other things. Especially for the self-employed who are sittin by their computers or those who live in rural areas and have to drive to just see another human bean.
This may be the most personal contact I have today besides my life partner and my kids. Even in band practice, we just play mostly.
For all the natterin’ about politics,etc. the worst thing I see about modern life here in Calif. is that people are so damn busy. Nobody I know plays cards and chatters for example, and I could swear that few people have the kind of chronic friendships that I witnessed as a kid. Noone in my life "drops by, " my siblings live far away and are embroiled in their jobs and families etc. So on a daily business, this is it.
You can say its sad, or look at it as a positive thing. Despite my metaphoric eye rollin (and vice versa) about politics etc, we have quite a range of folk here to bounce opinions off of and refine our views and perspectives. The sad part would be avoiding personal relationships because you HAD the Forum but I have extended my personal life to include people on this Forum, even one who was seemingly complaining about the direction the Forum has gone in a post above. There are others I am looking forward to meeting in November.
Long live the Post-Structural mayhem knows as the Whistle Forum. If I don’t have to go elsewhere to seek friendly humor and fun, why should I? To satisfy some control-freaks’ desire to stay on-topic? If its an issue of wasting your time by not obsessing on whistles, look for the OT and scroll right by.
Or hey, start a poll and find out how many want an all-whistle only Board. You could start one and be the cop who prevents any OT discussion. It’s happening nearby.
Best wishes,
The Weekender
My concern is that eventually, those who have real whistle-related info to contribute go elsewhere…
When I sign on to the board and see 20 OT subjects, it sort of says “so much for this being about whistle”… Just as there are rules on the board about commercial postings, there should be some guidelines about subject matter at least in the most vague fashion having some musical or whistle content… polls about politics and religion belong somewhere else, IMHO.
Then, why don’t YOU contribute posts about whistles. Mention the word rule again and I’ll run. Going by rules was the way music was taught when I was in school. The two don’t go together well.
I don’t have any problem at all with OT threads - I’ve started them and posted to them myself. Recently, however, it seems as if they’ve become the majority of threads and you have to actually look carefully to find whistle-related topics. There are SO many OT threads now that I do scroll past them - in fact I’ve never even looked at the Cubs Win thread and I’m a HUGE baseball fan! I just hate to see people leave (even temporarily) because there’s so little whistle discussion.
Susan
I’ve contributed many whistle-related messages (427 at last count, not including this one) on all the boards as well as many tunes on Clips and Snips so don’t be going off on me… 
Perhaps its time for Dale to add a free-for-all board…
I like to think of this board as a family of whistle players. A lot of us have friends here and it is nice sometimes to bring in another topic the diversity makes us the individuals that we are, but we are held together by a common thread, whistles. Invariably the topic always gets back to them anyway.
Yes 
an it an’t broke so derner try fixin it 
I agree, that this has become as much a social board as a whistle board, but perhaps, just perhaps, the talk of politics, baseball, and religion deserves a dedicated forum?
I often send students and people quite interested in getting more info on whistle music and technique to this site, they aren’t looking to join a social group (at first), they want to know which whistle to buy, or hear some good tunes…
When someone pushes that “submit” button on an OT subject, what it tells me is that they have made the decision that their topic, whether it be the Cubs, or the governor recall, etc. is more important than whatever might be the spirit of the board. Is it whistles? Is it free-for-all? Anyone know anymore?
I think the issue is, what is this board?
If it’s a place where only whistle related discussion is welcome, we’ll have to change what we’re doing.
On the other hand, if it’s a community of people who share an interest in whistles, the OT topics are an important part of what’s happening here.
It’s impossible to have a community where everything happens in a way that irritates no one, and this would be true even if the discussion were strictly limited to whistles. I’ve seen people leave this board, never to return, over things said in an on topic, strictly whistle related thread.
One of the great things about music is, it’s a universal language that draws diverse people together. However, trying to sever the musical connection from the rest of the personal interaction, in my opinion, is to sabotage one of the greatest goods music can accomplish, which is to dissolve the boundaries that separate and isolate people.
I would much rather live with the trivial annoyances associated with this open format than carry on a style of discussion that left the participants islolated from each other except for talk about whistling. Week’s comments are particularly insightful, I think.
Best wishes,
Jerry
My, don’t we put enough signposts to make sure people who don’t like a thread can skip it?
OT, WTT… Even the latter was invented–by whom, Serpent?–since some would complain about others discussing whistles proper, instead of whistle music), etc.
Post a cop to restrict it strictly to music directly related to whistles, and someone will pop up claiming non ITM musics outta be banned.
Btw, when you meet friends, how do you call someone who just can’t talk of anything else but his hobby (or job, or whatever one-track mind he got)? At best, a bore…
So I’ll second Stacey here: “if it ain’t broke, don’t try and fix it”.
Especially when, in this board’s case, fixin’ would take its sense of castration.