Polluting/spamming the forums

[Tyler]

To everyone, I'm not trying to be exlusive or anything or scare anybody away. I was just voicing my opinion that the forum isn't what it once was and that I wish people wouldn't hit the submit button as much.

If that's all you meant to say, then your post would have only been one short paragraph stating the above....
Instead, you lumped all of us who joined after 2004 into one great big Time Wasters Club.

And to people who say I should just skip the posts I don't like. I've tried that but there is just SO much to skip past these days that finding the good stuff is extremely difficult. And skipping everything is kinda depressing because you don't have any idea of what's going on and frustrated because what you do read isn't worth reading.

yeah, cause we're holdin' a gun to your head and making you read all those silly posts that you hate so much...and we're not going to stop making you either......ever see A Clockwork Orange ?
We're going to make you read all those silly posts.

To people who've sent me PM's appologizing. There is no need too. You are entilted to post anything that you wish to as I am. Post away, I just wanted to voice an opinion and get a few people thinking.

I posted my first response to get you thinking.

[jsluder]

Occasionally, I might have something relevant to say in the Whistle or ITM forums, but I'm no expert in either category, so I tend to keep quiet there. In the Pub, on the other hand... well, I find it to be a fun place full of (mostly) harmless, well-meaning folks who I'd be proud to spend time with in a real pub. (And I might even buy a round or two.) Most of my posts are thoughtless, meaningless attempts at humor. I guess you could call it spam. Now that Jack has so eloquently pointed out the error of my ways, I'll shut up and go practice my whistle playing. And, since I'm not expert enough to constructively contribute to the serious musical topics, and I don't like picking fights (except humorous fights with GaryKelly), and I'm not one of Jack's old friends, I guess I shouldn't post anything any more. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

[Tyler]

Occasionally, I might have something relevant to say in the Whistle or ITM forums, but I'm no expert in either category, so I tend to keep quiet there. In the Pub, on the other hand... well, I find it to be a fun place full of (mostly) harmless, well-meaning folks who I'd be proud to spend time with in a real pub. (And I might even buy a round or two.) Most of my posts are thoughtless, meaningless attempts at humor. I guess you could call it spam. Now that Jack has so eloquently pointed out the error of my ways, I'll shut up and go practice my whistle playing. And, since I'm not expert enough to constructively contribute to the serious musical topics, and I don't like picking fights (except humorous fights with GaryKelly), and I'm not one of Jack's old friends, I guess I shouldn't post anything any more. So long, and thanks for all the fish.

Dont you dare quit being you SludeDude!!!!
You're posts are funny as hell!
I enjoy seeing your input!

[Alan]

Is okay...you're holding a flute!

I might be ok as long as I JUST hold it!

Jaysus, you guys are making me out to be some kind of nazi.

Just having a bit of fun here Jack, you naz... uh... I mean... my friend!

[missy]

Slude - I'm with Tyler on this - do NOT go anywhere without us!!!

[MarkB]

Okay that's enough! jsluder start a tune, Jack give him a hand, Tyler go the bar and order another round for us, Jack drinks Pepsi, the others have their favs

If you can't play a tune, sing one, if you can't sing, tell us a story, if you just want to sit and listen that's fine also. There's newspapers at the end of the bar...Someone get the telly...

MarkB

[emmline]

Slude is...how's that go?...taking the mickey on us.

[Tyler]

Okay that's enough! jsluder start a tune, Jack give him a hand, Tyler go the bar and order another round for us, Jack drinks Pepsi, the others have their favs

If you can't play a tune, sing one, if you can't sing, tell us a story, if you just want to sit and listen that's fine also. There's newspapers at the end of the bar...Someone get the telly...

MarkB

'aight. this round's on me!

[MarkB]

It's my round, since I quietly passed the 2K mark a few post ago. But I have congratulated enough here over the year, I made a copy of the key for myself for the lounge, in case I ever reached such a number. Even bought a Cuban cigar last night on the way home from work...legally (got about five shops on main street here where you can buy Cuban cigars).

Hmmmmm taste so good! It's a lovely day in the neighbourhood, cool, sun shining, hubbub from the streets is rising up to the balcony, lake boats plying the river...at this moment life is good.

MarkB

[avanutria]

Something I've found puzzling is the membership to posting ratio. [...] That makes for 4,500, or so, that don't participate with any regularity or at all. If you visit for the purpose of lurking, then why join - it isn't necessary. I've wanted to ask these people why they remain silent. Is it shyness, dislike of the threads, changed their minds...? If it is shyness, I'd invite all those in the silent majority to PM with their reasoning; I'm honestly curious.

You answered your own question (with one reason, anyway) - people can't PM each other without registering. Even if the non-posters had just one question or comment to send to one person, they had to register.

[herbivore12]

8. And finally, If you joined in 2004 and have over 1000 posts I suggest that you might have a time management problem and may want to rethink a few things.

I've been a member since, golly, forever, and I can't seem to get close to 1000 posts. I feel like Achilles chasing Zeno's tortoise. C'mere you little bugger . . .

(ooohhh, but I see I'm sneaking up on The Devil's Number. Mwa ha ha ha...)

It's okay to take a break once in a while, Murph -- I have, for a variety of reasons -- to sort of let the junk clear out of your system and then to come back a bit fresh.

I agree that in the pub things have on occasion gotten a bit cluttered or oppressive or bullying or loud, but it's serving its purpose, mostly, of keeping the clamor in this forum, and out of the whistle/flute/ITM/uilleann fora (well, maybe not so much the uilleann pipes forum, but you know those pipers). It's fun to enter the fray here, once in a while, and it's nice to have the other fora to escape into for a breather and to pick up real info on tunes, technique, recordings, and so on.

My personal pet peeve is the rampant and willful hijacking of threads, which I think is sometimes a bit rude to the original poster (it's the thoughtless hijacks that annoy me, not the inevitable thread drift that happens), and the propensity of a couple posters to chase others from thread to thread to hector them, wasting bandwidth and time and goodwill. But I've accepted that there's no way to stop that sort of thing except by heavy-handed moderation, so I just wince and move on.

Compared to just about every other forum I've ever visited on the web, this one is amazingly civil, very lightly moderated, and worthwhile. It's impressive; a testament to the members and the moderators (and yeah: thanks, Dale and Rich especially).

But a break is still good once in a while.

[Cynth]

Cynth, you say you can only discuss the music so much and then it becomes pointless and you run out things to talk about. I disagree. I have so many questions to ask and discussions I would like to have but there are just so few knowledgeable people on the forums to provide good answers.

But, wait, what I meant was that because I am such a beginner I don't have enough experience to bring up interesting things right now---or else I'm just dumb (JUST kidding)---not that it was pointless. If you are still trying to change from B to D nicely, and that is the big issue in your life, you just aren't going to bore people with that after you have ascertained that you are doing the only things possible and that you just have to keep practicing.

You have more experience so of course you will have more questions, having encountered new problems and situations and tunes as you've progressed. I would really encourage you to go ahead and ask them. If they are specifically on flute playing technique, okay I might not get really into those, but if they have anything at all to do with ITM I would be really happy to see more discussions in that area. I like those discussions a lot even if I can't add much or anything to them. The questions that do get asked seem to get discussed and answered in a pretty thorough way to me. I have learned some very interesting things in those discussions.

[Teri-K]

For the record, Jack, your post did make me think and look back over some posts. A glance in the old mirror isn’t very pleasant sometimes.

There have been instances where I’ve had regret: why did I post that, what did I think I was contributing, was I just rambling to hear myself talk – maybe I was just blowing smoke up my own.

Yes, this is a community, of sorts. Because of that, I try to remember to how I would act face to face. If people were having a serious, focused conversation and I plopped by butt down in the middle of it for the purpose of making some unrelated one-liner, I’d certainly be ashamed of myself afterwards. The looks on the faces around me surely wouldn’t be appreciative. I know I’ve done that here, and to all those I interrupted, I sincerely apologize. The belief that “I can” doesn’t always translate to “I should”.

Conversation should be a give and take sharing experience, not domination, or forceful expression. I forget that and the essence of your post reminded me of that fault.

[Wormdiet]

To everyone, I'm not trying to be exlusive or anything or scare anybody away. I was just voicing my opinion that the forum isn't what it once was and that I wish people wouldn't hit the submit button as much.

Jack,

I can't see how the original post was not intended to be exclusive. I am sure we would have a lot in common if we met in person and played some tunes. I respect your enthusiasm and knowledge tremendously. I regretted the fact that we spent "Celtic" weeks in different locations over the summer. But. . .

The initial post in this thread came across as, forgive me, incredibly arrogant and condescending, not to mention immature. If the nature of the forum as currently stands is such a problem, one could always start one's own website. Which would be a shame.

- John McKelvy

[clarinetnut]

Something I've found puzzling is the membership to posting ratio. [...] That makes for 4,500, or so, that don't participate with any regularity or at all. If you visit for the purpose of lurking, then why join - it isn't necessary. I've wanted to ask these people why they remain silent. Is it shyness, dislike of the threads, changed their minds...? If it is shyness, I'd invite all those in the silent majority to PM with their reasoning; I'm honestly curious.

I was going to post something to explain why I haven't posted anything, but then I checked and was shocked to find out I've got 40 posts! I was expecting half a dozen at the most.

But I guess I'll still explain my lurking. For me, it's a matter of not feeling qualified to post anything in the whistle forum, and not wanting to post anything here because I never contribute anything seriously to the other forums (I feel like it should balance out somehow...you're allowed to be silly if you've shown you can be serious). When I signed up, I was just starting to learn pennywhistle and had a very strong interest in it. I had questions, and I wanted to learn the ins and outs of ITM. But I never really got anywhere with it because of 1)lack of a place to play, 2)lack of time to practice, and 3)not being able to get over my ongoing classical training as a music major (see number 2). So pennywhistle fell by the wayside (sadly, I haven't touched it in at least a year, except to pack it for my move to graduate school), but in the time I'd spent on this board, I felt like I'd gotten to know all of you, so I couldn't just leave.

So that's why I'm still here. I like to check in occasionally and see how everyone's doing, even though you don't have the slightest clue who I am. If I ever get to the point where I'm playing enough to be able to contribute to the whistle forum, then maybe I'll start posting here too.