Re: Jazztalk is the greatest website in history!!!

[pig pen]

I assume you're talking about the Hoffman board. I don't go there much because there are too MANY members.

No, I don't know that one, actually I was referring to "sax on the web". I guess saxophonists haven't let go of the BBS format yet.

[bluenoter]

I know that Scott knows this, but lookee there---a new member!

[Monte Smith]

I have steady availability, nearly 'round the clock and 'round the calendar, and I know that I'd have no problem learning to perform most mod/admin tasks. I'm not much of a "people person," but even in that realm, I think I'd be adequate.

Rita as moderator! Now that is a chucklesome notion to contemplate. Maybe what's really wrong with the old BBS model is the occasional grammatical error.

If it will help matters, I offer this board or its successor what I always have: the last full measure of my blather.

[bluenoter]

Rita as moderator! Now that is a chucklesome notion to contemplate.

How about Rita as a moderator, doing mostly "housework" behind the scenes? But if my offer is declined, fine with me.

[BFrank]

My problem with the Hoffman board is that too many of the threads are so obsessively techie, that appreciation of the music is lost most of the time.

[timoleon]

i hope there will be a way that this place continues exist.
rita,an old and precious companion for me from another board,while i was first dealing with internet, is an ideal moderator.
and maybe we should all try to post more,even when time is something slipping away from our hands incredibly fast,which i'm afraid is pretty common to many of us.
best wishes for the board and the new year from the defeaten yet still existing homeland of socrates.

[Jazzooo]

Scott, thanks for your efforts. I do have to say that if it keeps going, I hope that should you decide to participate that you simply not get into the ego battles you're so famous for again. The last time I remember you talking about closing this down was also because you were fighting with someone. You famously fought with people all the time at JC. I'm not saying you cause all the conflicts, but you certainly participate in them. Am I wrong? Would you be using this last fire fight (whatever that means) as your 'last straw' if you hadn't been in the middle of it?

Ron, please--give it a shot. Let me and other people help with funding every month. If we split the burden, maybe it could make a difference. I belong to a beloved music-making/recording forum as well, and it's definitely cyclical. Sometimes, almost dead and sometimes a lot of activity. It never upsets me when it is slow, because it's only a matter of time before it bounces back.


"Justin, I think the responses so far speak for themselves. Nobody is clamoring to try to revive this patient."

Scott, like the last time, you started the thread by announcing that you were closing it. You didn't ask for our opinion--you said the site is dead--that's a condition where 'revival' isn't really possible. This is exactly what you did the last time, remember? You hold the power--nobody can make you keep doing it. If you begin a thread by saying you're quitting, you'll get the reaction you're getting, people saying thanks, and what a drag and so on.

I'll tell you again that I truly appreciate your efforts. But I would be lying if I didn't say that wish someone else, who didn't take things so personally, had been holding the reins. You're like a much more fun version of Goodspeak in that way. You can't let an insult go by, you've just got to get into it. I think forum owners have to be a different type of personality, honestly. I doubt I could do it successfully, but as I said I'd be willing to help fund someone who wants to try. How much $ are we talking about, every month? I know it's more than money, but even still--what are we looking at?

[walto]

I don't think Doug was complaining about your acts as moderator (neither was I, incidentally, when you banned me for teasing you). He's just saying that you take all the stuff--including his post now--too personally. You care too much. So there were inappropriate posts between Pete and Jimmy and you deleted them. Fine. Some people didn't like that. That's fine too. As I said at the time, it was all a tempest in (a particularly bitsy) teapot. The problem was neither your acts nor the fact that they weren't unanimously approved. It was the ensuing high drama. The new threads about a spat, the second-guessing, the apologies, the recriminations, the righteous indignation, the angry justifications.

You care too much.

As Doug and I have suggested, you're a bit too thin-skinned for this type of work. But as I recently wrote you--why is that so bad? You put together a really nice board in record time. You made it better when people had suggestions. You assembled a good mgt team. That's awesome. It's something you should be really proud of. So you're more of a creator type than a good HR guy. FWIW, I consider that a plus. Who the fuck needs another good HR guy? Nobody is good at everything. You've shown you're really proficient at creating a smooth, dynamic website really fast and could probably make a great living at this kind of thing. Who says you should also be thick-skinned? OK, maybe Gandhi was thick-skinned. But was Wittgenstein?

There are creator-types and maintainer-types--why suppose it's better to be the latter? Where would the maintainers be if there were nothing to maintain? Fuck it. Find somebody to hand over the reins to, and build another site to loud applause. Just keep contributing here. Maybe start the occasional fight. Some calm person (like Brian O or Rita) will smooth it all over. And there will be no threads about whether what they did was OK. Let them do their thing while you do yours.

PS: The one thing I didn't like about Doug's post was the mention of Goody, who is neither creator nor maintainer but doofus. Admittedly you both contain a little Shiva, but the rest of him is pure doofus. You're not like that at all.

[bluenoter]

rita,an old and precious companion for me from another board,while i was first dealing with internet, is an ideal moderator.

Right back atcha, timoleon! (I hope you get that, but I'm pretty sure that you do.)

____________________________________________________________________________________

OK, maybe Gandhi was thick-skinned. But was Wittgenstein?

Hey, we all know exactly why you cited Wittgenstein in that regard.

Some calm person (like Brian O or Rita) will smooth it all over.

Bless you, but . . .

[walto]

Wittgenstein was famously prickly and quick to be hurt and take offense. See Wittgenstein's Poker for a fun book that's largely about his (and Karl Popper's) personality.

As for your calmness--you take a ton of abuse (and did so at JC too) for stuff like grammatical or spelling corrections. You never return fire. It's impressive.

[bluenoter]

Well, thank you, walto!

[jwaggs]

I would have posted more, but the site is blocked at work (where I do 99% of my posting). I'm only doing this on my cellphone (a pain in the ass). I'll try to do better if the site survives.

[walto]

I agree with you that Doug should apologize for comparing you with dingleberry. That's ridic.

[John L]

Let me join the chorus of those who believe that this site has value, even if it is not always as active as we might hope, and would like to see it stay alive. But the perceived benefits obviously need to be weighed against the costs. So let's discuss the costs, both in terms of money and moderation time/effort, and see if there is a division between us that we can all be satisfied with.

[Ron Thorne]

I wholeheartedly agree, John.

My son, Justin (jtx), and I will be discussing the continuation of Jazz Talk tomorrow. It's our hope to keep it going, despite the recent relative inactivity. We feel that forums still have a place on the internet, even with the increased popularity of "social media".

Please stay tuned for further developments.

[BeBop]

I'm in the "there's value" camp. I'm not going to claim there's SO MUCH personal value to me that Scott (and/or anyone else) should keep the place going for me. (Sheesh.) But I do like dropping by and seeing friendly faces and engaging in a bit of conversation - even if "a bit" is all I can manage.

It isn't AAJ or the OrgBoard, but if it was, we wouldn't need it. It has its charm. Its value.

[Tom Storer]

Just checking in for the first time since mid-December, haven't even read this entire thread yet. But yes, let's keep it going, if at all possible!

[crawjo]

I just registered. You can't kill it now.

[LennyH]

I just registered. You can't kill it now.

What made you join now, crawjo?

Glad you're here, of course.

[crawjo]

I just registered. You can't kill it now.

What made you join now, crawjo?

Glad you're here, of course.

Mainly just felt like saying something about Amiri Baraka. But I also wanted to see some of the old folks from JC again, try to recapture some of the old camaraderie.

[Jazzooo]

You see how that works? You lead with "I'm shutting this down, period" and you get people saying "shit, well... goodbye, I guess."

Then someone says "maybe we can keep going" and people say "yes, please!"

[stonemonkts]

Mainly just felt like saying something about Amiri Baraka. But I also wanted to see some of the old folks from JC again, try to recapture some of the old camaraderie.

Stick around! Something about FB makes me feel as if I were standing on the shoulder of a busy highway trying to spot cars I'm familiar with, mouth agape in mid utterance. These message boards feel more like an expansive drawing room.

[steve(thelil)]

I find it funny to hear people talk about Facebook as it it's a single consistent experience. Like this board or any other forum, the quality and type of experience depends on who the participants are and what they talk about.

I have something like 75 FB friends (NOT on my steve(thelil) FB page) who went to my high school and we converse (often on special pages for our school's alums) about all kinds of stuff, including music, art, books, TV, movies, politics, culture, nostalgia, etc. in much the same way as JT and JC when they were thriving. On top of that, we are extremely supportive of one another and there is very little negativity, drama or bullshit. It's been a treat and even a thrill talking about music, instruments, etc. to some of the slightly older schoolmate musicians I looked up to in high school and didn't have any contact with until FB.

If someone's FB experience is different, maybe it's because you don't have enough interesting FB friends. Blaming FB for the quality of discourse is like blaming a telephone or a piece of paper for what is transmitted on them.

[stonemonkts]

If that was directed at me, all I can say is I expressed what FB felt like, without passing judgement whatsoever.

I read FB every day, and most of my "friends" are all from Jazz Corner, who are far more interesting than almost anyone I know otherwise. Definitely more interesting than most of my family. I too have approx. 70 "friends" there. But I'm not complaining about FB, my acquaintances, or my interactions on Facebook. Just saying what it feels like to me. Just a stupid metaphor.

[steve(thelil)]

Stoney: Your post triggered mine, but I really wasn't focusing on what you wrote. Sorry if it sounded like a dis. I was just reminded that I do often hear or read comments about Facebook that suggest it's a consistent experience for all users. Before I became involved on FB with so many of my homeys, my experience was quite different from what it is now and even more different than a good board like this or JC in their respective sprimes.