From the looks of it, I might not have been the only one who engaged in some off-line exchanges of views here. 8)
And it seems there is some need for discussion as to what the nature of a forum is and what is deemed acceptable.
Personally, I hold the view that forums should not be the spot to publish illegal propaganda or to do nothing but engage in dogfights in which gross swear words are being used. Consequently, I agree that there is a need for rules and that the deletion of posts/threads is acceptable on principle.
But what is it people that makes people read/post on forums? There’s reasons aplenty, some are searching for information, some are looking for new friends, some want to buy or sell something, some are in…. for gossip and entertainment. And some are in for all of it at the same time.
And I hold the view that once a forum has been opened, on principle it does not belong to anybody although of course there is a person who has all the labour, who has to carry the cost incurred and who deserves a lot of credit for it.
The forum in question now is directed at people who love music that fell out of favour with large-scale popular interest ages ago and will thus attract people not quite in line with the sign of the times. It will attract strange people and people with big egos. And when those people come in contact, things are bound to happen.
Of course it is hard to say if what you see happening here really is representative of an entire scene, as the number of people actually posting is relatively low compared to the number of members which just hit the 2,000 mark. But negativity is just part of life and MW’s protagonists are out there for real. Now if some reader thinks “hey, they are just records” (as in “old plastic”), well, it simply is a different kind of ball game for some and anyways this still really is nothing compared to the already mentioned story of a person who killed for a virtual sword.
And what I really like here is that you just never know what will happen next.
Somebody might claim that David Bowie played triangle on the Transparent Illusion LP, not loud enough though, so unfortunately you can’t hear it. Another person might claim there was no band called Seeing Red and the 7”s were all made in a shed in India in 1995. The great thing is it’s not a daily soap written by a guy with a commercial mission and a rather bad cocaine habit. It’s a book that’s being written by a number of people.
So, to cut a very long story short, I don’t think I am blowing anything out of proportion when I am voicing my view that the deletion of a post discussing the musical value and business case of a Seeing Red re-release – even if its form was of course provocative - is against the very concept of a forum.
That’s it, err.
Lest if forget: amen. :wink:
