The future of this discussion board

[midnightmisty]

Silver Heels,
That's an excellent idea! I know there are several posters here who have been in email
communication with Florian for some time. These people seem to demonstarate fair judgement. (like you!) Instead of giving the entire responsiblity to just one member of
this community, perhaps Florian could depend on a few trusted volunteers to alert him to trouble and then let him decide what to do.

2Much2Loose and Florian,
The only other site I visit has recently
installed a mandatory registration policy in
order to post. The individual's email address
need not be posted for the general public or for other members unless the person wishes it. It's the member's choice. Mostly it's for the moderator's use in case warnings, temporary suspension or banishment if it's needed. All involved at the administration levels there never, ever wanted it. But it finally came to that and the environment is much more inviting.

The only thing that I find a bit unsettling is that should a member chose to have their email available to others - even unregistered
trolls can still read (that's ok) but then they can also obtain member's email addys &
respond to unknowing individuals. (not ok) I'm registered there, but only the moderator has my email addy.

midnightmisty

[This message has been edited by midnightmisty (edited December 27, 2000).]

[loveandmaplesyrup]

Observer,
Upon thinking about your post. Let's talk about this privately. If you have the courage to confront me one on one, let's do it privately. My e-mail address (which you could have found easily enough if you had had the intelligence to look for it) is loveandmaplesyrup@yahoo.com. I think we need to take this off this discussion board and to a private conversation. I have come to the conclusion that you resort to many different names to post here and I would like to see who you really are. Be Brave. Obviously you have a personal vendetta against me. So let's leave this discussion board alone and discuss this privately. My e-mail address is loveandmaplesyrup@yahoo.com. Let's take this on privately and spare Florian this grief. If you REALLY mean what you say you will have the guts to e-mail me privately. So, let's see -- do you have what it takes? (So we can settle this without Florian's message board having to pay the price?)

Stay loose, eh?

LAMS

------------------
"Love and maple syrup
go together like the
sticky winds of winter
when they meet....
If you go into the forest
Gaze up through the trees
The sky is white.
You can understand
What makes the forest
Greet the man
Like a mother's only
child ..."

To LAMS:

> Let's talk about this privately.

The topic was posted publically and several have responded publically. Why do you fear public discussion?

>(which you could have found easily enough if you had had the intelligence to look for it)

This is exactly the kind of juvenile and insulting response that has driven so many off this board. You don't refute the facts presented, you make personal attacks.

> I have come to the conclusion that you resort to many different names to post here and I would like to see who you really are.

Wrong again! This is exactly my second post here. You have no proof otherwise, but of course that does not stop you from another ridiculous conclusion.

> Be Brave. Obviously you have a personal vendetta against me.

I have no idea who you are so how could I have a vendetta against you? You are much too modest in evaluating your ability to irritate people.

>If you REALLY mean what you say ...

I meant nothing personal by what I said. I simply gave my observations on what led to the problems on this board. If you drew conclusions from what I said you can only reconcile that with yourself.

>(So we can settle this without Florian's message board having to pay the price?)

The topic was posted and I was only one person of several who replied. You have the right to disagree with what I posted, but you have no right to presume that my post created a price to pay. The biggest price to pay is the price of censorship, which is exactly the point of my post.

I have no desire to deal with you as it is clearly a waste of time. If my post offended you I am sorry, but I unequivocably stand by the content. Sometimes facts do hurt. I can see why you support the censorship option as it will limit the board to the few willing to always agree with you. In any event I will make you happy and join the others who have left this board. Your rash assumptions and juvenile insults are not worth one more second of my time.

Best wishes to all Lightfoot fans.

[loveandmaplesyrup]

Observer,
You don't have to leave. I just thought perhaps we should take this privately and off the message board. I think the real reason you don't want to do that is because you would have to reveal who you are. For some reason, you don't want to do that. Which is fine. It's your choice.

Anyway, from the wording and certain phrases in your most recent post, I have a pretty good idea who you are.

So don't leave this message board on my account. I definitely will respond no further to any of your posts.

Stay loose, eh?

LAMS

[joveski]

I think B is the way to go. What's with all the sudden flaming in the last week or so?

However registering someone won't stop them from making obscene comments if that's what they've set out to do.


But, B would B the best choice

[Patrinky]

I, too, missed the unfortunate posting referencing LAMS, but I have always found in the past that completely ignoring the offending post/person is often effective. No one should have responded to this poster at all.

I had originally wondered if the screen name could be blocked by a moderator, but then quickly realized that another could be created just as easily.

So, let's not give this loser another thought -- the anonynimity of the Web makes some people lose sight of The Golden Rule.

I LOVE this site, warts and all. Keep up the good work, Florian!

Happy New Year to all!




------------------
Patrinky
"Just think about the fool who by his virtue can be found in a most unusual situation playing jester to the clown."

[Mister hoot'n holler]

It is so sad to see something (this Website)that grew out of something so beautiful(Gord's songs and his incredible career)and which has been lovingly attended to(by Florian) and which has been so enjoyably participated in(by new and old fans)be violated by people(who's only wish is to cause dissention and gain attention for themselves)Everyone has a right to their opinion, but, if someone posts something that is disgusting(over the line) we should contact Florian and bring it to his attention and let him decide if it should be erased(which I am sure that he would do.)I also see no harm in having to register your email address to be able to post in this forum. Human nature being what it is, there are some people who will try to desecrate anything beautiful or enjoyed by others and while it momentarily shocks us to see it here, it shouldn't surprise us. Generally, these wackos will go away and bother somebody else until they push once too hard and somebody sets them straight. I just hope that too many people don't leave this Forum in the meantime. John

[Bill]

I don't find every posting here interesting, but I'm sure glad it's here. I don't mind mandatory registration to get in, and would support that. This is by far the best group I've ever encountered on the web.

[Mister hoot'n holler]

Be calm in the face of all common disgraces
and know what they're doing it for
and the house you live in will never fall down
if you the pity the stranger who stands at your door

[SilverHeels]

Nice one, John!

I'd say go with A:Closing down the discussion forum altogether. This discussion forum is probably the reason why people have arguments. There is probably someone around whom I would imagine create problems here and although everyone has there own opinion about Gordon Lightfoot, I would say that if people have different points of view or gripe or look at the negative aspects or the minuses, than people will continue arguing or provoking people until there is a war. After what went on, in one topic with a fight between a member, and unregistered, the forum almost turned into a boxing ring. We want peace and that member who may claim he/she is right just because that unregistered was the same person who zotted Gordon on his birthday card, wanted to defend the others by using his/her psycho-powers to track a bug, or play mistaken identity games to antagonize someone. Another member did not like people abusing Gordon, or his fans/band members or members of this discussion forum. If a person doesn't like to hear bad messages, then maybe its time to get rid of this thing. People who use this do have to be very careful of what they say, but they also have to be careful of the consequences of writing what they write. Maybe this Supaiblue person: the person who claims he or she is correct about the mysterious unregistered person should "de-memberize" himself/herself from this website, before being the bouncer costs him or her a psychological black eye. I am not taking sides on the story, but I think we are lucky enough that this is just a computer website, but if this was a building, and people were real and in that same building together, this discussion forum would be like a bar, and these arguments would turn into bar-room fights. If that was the case, then Supaiblue would change his/her name to Black 'N Blue which would be the color of his/her face if any bad guy were to fight him/her and win.

I'm not saying that Florian is doing a bad thing about having Gordon Lightfoot website, I think that it is excellent, but sorry Florian, if you don't want it to turn into a boxing ring between members or surfers, that discussion forum has got to go.

I just found your site. Why shut it down because some idiot found it? There will always be idiots. I'm a long-time fan and performer, who plays a lot of Gord's stuff. I was hoping to learn something.

[2Much2Lose]

You're right, 30yr Fan.

That's why I'm here too.

But just ignore "A. Nonymous."
The A stands for Ass. As in jackass.

2M2L

[SilverHeels]

Anonymous: what a load of undiluted ....
rubbish!

[Chuck Darling]

Silverheels..DITTO!

------------------
Ever Onward...

[Florian]

Greetings, Anonymous.

I have read your posting several times now, and I failed to grasp what you are trying to say to us - but please, by all means, don't try a second time. It's not worth wasting your and our time. If you have nothing nice to say, don't say it at all. Take that as advice.

The only paragraph whose meaning I could understand is where you flame/insult supaiblue. If this is all you can contribute, I suggest you troll elsewhere.

Florian

[joveski]

I don't agree with shutting down the messageboard like the guy/girl said, but something has to be done to stop all this flaming. After coming back from an interstate trip, i was surprised to find this stuff on a GL website. There are a few people here who think that they're are right about everything and won't listen to other people's opinion, but they have to realise that everyone has their own opinions and there's bound to be conflict somewhere. Since it's only a website, you can't stop people from entering the discussion board and maybe causing trouble. It's just a way of life on the net and people need to chill out a bit. I don't visit the site as often after this started and seeing my name mentioned as one of the people who don't post as much a while back. Another thing I've noticed (not naming names), but the discussions here are usually centered around 4-5 people with lots of people, including unregistered ones, being ignored.

[Janice]

Joveski,

That's an interesting observation. I've never noticed anyone being ignored on this board. I've noticed that some topics are more popular than others but I always assumed the lack of participation was, as in my case, lack of knowledge on that particular subject and certainly not related to the individual initiating the thread.

What you have to understand is that everyone who visits this web site has different levels of knowledge in regard to Gordon Lightfoot and/or his music. I consider mine to be low to moderate. While I enjoy his music, I don't have every album/CD he ever released; I'm not familiar with every song he ever recorded; and anything I know about GL as a person (beyond his name and the fact that he's from Canada) I learned from this board and other areas of this web site. Consequently, there are many threads to which I don't feel I have anything to contribute. I always assumed that was the case for other noncontributors as well.

I don't think the posters here want anyone to feel ignored whether they're members or unregistered. Thanks for pointing this out -we all need to pay more attention.

Janice

[This message has been edited by Janice (edited January 19, 2001).]

[This message has been edited by Janice (edited January 19, 2001).]