Next: a good ol' fashioned book burning. elambo is even handed, open minded, and utterly fair, which is more than I could say of other "participants". tom

quote:

Originally posted by Guitarhak:
I'm ready to vote...

Maybe I should start a poll?

Thanks Sonoman!

Just a fact, Jack. I've been called on derisive tendencies, and properly so. It's tempting to burn an idiot to the ground with language alone, but that's not why we're here. Regarding polls, I vote no. That's not a poll, is it? If we head down that road, it's right back to early New England style shunning. Let's keep The Scarlet Letter antique fiction. tom

Sonoman wrote:

quote:

I know alcohol causes more problems than it solves, but it does solve some.

"When I read about the evils of drinking, I gave up reading . . ." (Henny Youngman)

A "tyranny of the members" should be avoided -- let Elambo rule -- even if you don't agree with a particular decision, he hasn't abused his discretion.

"It's easy to stop drinking. I've done it hundreds of times" WC Fields hic

quote:

Originally posted by redavide:
A "tyranny of the members" should be avoided -- let Elambo rule -- even if you don't agree with a particular decision, he hasn't abused his discretion.

Ha ha... but thanks - I really do appreciate that. What's probably not understood is that with the task of moderating two things tend to happen -- 1) you inevitably anger some people when you have no intention of doing so, 2) you risk losing your edge, your character, your ability to swerve all over the road and scare the children in the back seat.

I'm not really as center-of-the-road as I seem. Not as diplomatic. Not as forgiving as I'd like to be (but I'm working hard on that one). I spend half of my day telling jokes to people who then try to one-up me, which leads me to take it yet another step further, and this can continue for hours. It's amazing how work gets done. But when the job gets tough, you'll never see a more serious person. Here, after becoming moderator, I'm a bit more reserved.

In my efforts to be fair to everyone, and to preserve the positive and informative nature of the forum, it's sometimes necessary to get involved and censor posts that fall outside the lines, but I try to reserve that kind of proactive monitoring for extreme situations. I'm a very strong believer in open air-discussions and free speech, but more important is the right for each member to feel comfortable amidst a conversation. No one should ever leave here feeling like they've just been squashed. Nothing angers me more than seeing that happen to someone. Every now and then you'll see a complaint about how the forum is too controlled. The truth is that this forum requires less maintenance than just about every other on the net (I belong to MANY) and that's due entirely to its members. The tragedy comes when good people begin to leave because of a rotten apple or two that have taken it upon themselves to change the environment for whatever selfish reason that drives them (many of us have seen this happen to other forums). If I have to be the bad guy in the eyes of a few folks in order to prevent that from happening, so be it. I can easily wear that badge. My momma raised me tough and Chicago made me tougher - being called a dictator doesn't get very far under my skin.

Elambo, thanks for providing that explanation. Your efforts to keep this Forum movin and grovin are much appreciated.

The fact that a thread has been locked so few times here shows that the Forum members do "play well with others" on most occasions. On those rare ones where intervention is needed, I've noted you've held off "pulling the trigger" until you felt it was really necessary. Again, much appreciated. Now, if we could just get you to lend out your Borges to each of us for a few days....

Announcing an attempt to get personally involved in someone elses private transaction was not wise and at least in part a stimulus to some further grief down the road. Otherwise things are usually smooth sailing, so kudos on that.
Rick

Personally, I think moderation is very important. I have left some forums that became free-for-alls because of no moderation. Vicious personal attacks, endless political debates, endless debates about religion, just ruin a nice place to come and talk about guitars. I think this forum is well moderated and am grateful.

So Tom, wassup with the CJ?

Mike

mike: s'not up, it's down- in Austin, still curing in the varnish smokehouse or whatever. It's okay; I have a couple here to get me by. Lastly, regarding "moderation": Ben Franklin, champion of the moderate life and author of many aphorisms about such, was famously immoderate in many ways. Elambo is our moderator. The rest of us should be polite, but not tepid. We have enough strip malls of the mind, far too much lassitude, and far too little thoughtful conjecture and contention. tom

quote:

Originally posted by rick-slo:
Announcing an attempt to get personally involved in someone elses private transaction was not wise and at least in part a stimulus to some further grief down the road.

I hear ya, and you might be right, but that transaction stopped being a private matter the minute he voluntarily posted the repercussions of his botched sale on this public forum. It also appeared that he was asking for advice and/or assistance - maybe so, maybe not. In either case, we all wanted to help. And there were other elements that drove me, but they don't need nor can they handle further public discussion, as the other thread proved. I can tell you that that issue is closed in the eyes of the two people involved, so closed for me as well.