Polluting/spamming the forums

Poststructural Pub
21

Argh! A thread that I 80% agree with, but don’t think should be posted! What’s a Cat to do?

Murph, I agree that there are a lot of posters now who aren’t worth the reading, and happily I can ignore every thread they start and most of the threads that they join. But they do have the right to post as much and as foolishly as they want.

Their presence on the board has given me the impetus to spend more time practicing, and even more time on other hobbies, so there is some good that comes of it. I don’t know if I’m on any of your lists…but I could probably say that every one of us ‘old timers’ who have taken sabbaticals from the board have truly benefitted from the experience and have a far more laid back attitude when the sillies erupt, or the politics roil, or the christian proselytizing spouts.

On another board I’m on through Yahoo there is an associated board of ‘insiders’…call them hobbyists and hobbyist-flamers. The sole purpose of the second board is to post scathing remarks about the first. No holds barred. Thin-skinned need not apply. It actually works quite well. The insiders reply to intelligent posts on the general purpose board, and use the rest as fodder. Its mean, its fun, its harmless as the people who are chewed up and spat out don’t tend to join, and if they do, they don’t hang around long. I don’t post there…but I do read it to vent and say ‘Yeah! Right!’

Meanwhile, the Pub is the Pub…it is as Poststructural as they get, and I spend a lot less time posting and reading than I did before.

Sincerely,
(old and grizzled) Tyg

22

Jack, you absolutely slay me. There does seem to be a lot of blather to wade through on the board these days (and I’ve added to it, I’m afraid), but maybe it’s in a cycle (wash? rinse? spin?). I actually have been practicing a little bit in between doing nothing…I’m afraid things are very slow at work for me so I have alot of time to spend reading newspapers online and posting stuff. I’ll try to become higher quality!

Susan

*big hug for Jack, because I like him a lot

23

I nominate the following for best … um… I don’t know what category it would be, but it’s the best in it. Category suggestions anyone?

24

Type A personality? Warning Heart Attack alert!!! Ulcer Alert!!! :boggle:

25

I’m actually a really laid-back kinda guy, but mostly because I’ve found ways to make money doing things I love to do…
if I did all the “stuff” I hate 24-7, you bet I’d have a breakdown somewhwere :stuck_out_tongue:

26

I think the key word is ‘community.’ We are human, at least most of us are, and we like to communicate. What was originally created as a whistle board developed into a larger community as people got to know each other. Most other message boards on the 'net are the same. I urge anyone with complaints to read selectively and avoid the Pub if you are averse to chit chat.

Besides, I think anyone who wants to talk about whistles all day needs to be slapped with a slappy salmon. :slight_smile:

Mukade

edited to correct the quote

27

Well, thank you, Jack, for allowing my nose to enjoy the morning cup of coffee.

Some may not like or agree with what you had to say -
Some may like and agree with what you said, but not how you said it -
Some may like and agree with what you said, and how you said it -

You just can’t please them all

All I can offer up is that you stated publicly what I’ve heard from many people privately

Tyg, I’ve been mulling over your comments about “‘old timers’ who have taken sabbaticals”. You know, I honestly can’t say if that’s true for me. The best I can come up with is that the jury’s still out. But, I do appreciate Jack’s feelings about my return.

28

Well said…

p.s. make that salmon with holandaise sauce and you gotcher self a deal! :stuck_out_tongue:

29

Ummm, I kind of like maraschino cherries.

Is that bad?

30

'course not!

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

31

Troublemaker.

Best wishes,
Jerry

32

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.

33

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.

34

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 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.)

35

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?

36

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.

37

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

38

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

39

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! :laughing:

40

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