I’m not certain I fully understand what you’re saying, Dale, and I’m also wondering if something in my latest run of nonsense has somehow triggered some negative reaction in your mind. Does this mean that I’m encouraged to not give things away in my silly little games? Should I not be running the charity raffle here? And quite important to me, should I avoid being polite and thanking people (publicly) who have complimented my product (publicly)? These people have put their own credibility on the line for me, and of course, I thank them in private email, but I think it’s also important to do so in the same venue in which they presented their opinions. Hey, if I thank them in private, only, how does that make me look? People can (and will) say, “Joe said such nice things about his work! I wonder why he’s ignoring it!”
This is rather perplexing to me. Maybe I’ve got it all wrong, and I most sincerely hope that I do. But my analysis is that, in the way in which you said your piece, you are relegating makers to the role of “second class citizens” here on C&F.
Were we to blatantly advertise, it would be quite understandable that you would take issue with our words, but mere participation in a thread involving our products? Responding to questions about same? I fail to see how those could be deemed negative.
Some time ago, I tried to put forward the idea of a small area for the makers, where we could talk technical, answer questions, maybe get into specifics about our work with interested people who might come over and visit from the PS board. That idea was met with silence from you, yet now you address some of the very things that such an area might be used for. I want to remain constructive about this, although I must admit that it’s disturbed me considerably, because, in large part, of the fact that I’m pretty much the only maker who’s been in evidence here “in the open”, for some time.
As a maker, my primary focus is, necessarily, on my products. Yet I am prevented by the nature of the board, and now by this latest turn of events, from actually participating? I’m sorry, but if the latest run of OT and utterly nonsensical, huge threads, are what C&F’s PS Whistle Board is all about, to the exclusion of people who actually make whistles and are interested enough in what they do to try to glean what people who play them think and want, then I’m forced to wonder what I’m doing here!
Perplexed? Got it in one.
Bill Whedon
Dale said straight off in his first post that it was a suggestion. I imagine he just wanted to spark some thought. Maybe there was something in particular that brought this to mind. Maybe not, and it’s been kicking around in his head for a while. I don’t know. I do know the issue has come up before, though.