Subject: Re: [Harp-L] Banned from Slidemeister

EGS1217@xxxxxxx · Wed, 10 Dec 2014 04:48:13 -0500

"Message: 11
Date: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 14:52:13 -0500
From: Ronnie  Schreiber <autothreads@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [Harp-L] Banned from  Slidemeister
To: harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx

> It is also the only  harmonica list with strange non-harmonica 'child 
> boards' such as  "Christmas, Patriotic, Church, Religious Tabs, 
> Prayermeister",  apparently pushing Mr. Fedor's own conservative 
> religious  agenda.

Brendan, are you sure those aren't for people who want to use the  
harmonica to play Christmas, patriotic, church and religious  music?"

Ronnie, that IS exactly what they're for! Slidemeister doesn't allow  
politics or religious discussion specifically because no one can manage to keep  
their personal prejudices out of such discussions. AS a religious man who 
only  discusses his personal religious life for those who are INTERESTED and 
does NOT  push any such 'agenda', it was a big step for him to ban religious 
discussion so  all would be comfortable posting. 'I' would not belong to 
Slidemeister otherwise  since I'm not religious. What I think of as my 'home 
away from home' has posters  from around the Globe of all persuasions, for the 
record.

The 'child-boards' have nothing to do with children but are separate places 
 people can go to post about their own particular interests and include the 
music  you've just listed. Thank you for pointing this out!

As for the rest of the furor now being stirred up on one harmonica-centric  
site about another? Highly unfair. In fact, over the last couple of weeks 
almost  every discussion on SM involved Brendan and his new THS system. It 
created quite  a buzz long before, during and now that he announced it...and I 
daresay he got a  ton of publicity from our many, many, many discussions of 
which he was  relatively uninvolved other than originating the threads and 
following through  here and there on questions put to him specifically about 
his new system. He was  feted and kudoed by everyone including me, since 
I've long since been a huge fan  of his and defended him against others who 
claimed his system was a 'copy' of  their bolted-together diatonics. So much 
for 'tyranny' and 'dictatorship'. AJ  graciously allowed all of this while 
assuming Brendan would begin actively  participating as a MEMBER of the forum 
(as I see it). While I remain a fan of  Brendan's, I'm not, 
however--remotely a fan of bad-mouthing the owner of a list  on his own forum purely because 
one refuses to play by the rules.

Adding in gratuitous references to dead WWII Italian dictators kind of  
seals the deal and leaves a bad taste. AJ is a friend of mine since he's  
treated me very decently over the years. We met at a harmonica convention and  
got along wonderfully, and ever since he's never allowed the misogyny so  
prevalent on most other harmonica forums to prevail against me or any other  
woman. The behaviour of the owner of Slidemeister is the epitome of a 
democratic  human being--although it's decidedly not a 'democratic' site per se when 
it  comes to the major decisions, as he emphasizes. HE built the site with 
his son  through trial, error, hard work and 'on a dime and a prayer' (that's 
purely a  figure of speech). Invited a few of his chromatic friends to join 
to talk about  chromatics without the constant discussions (on other 
harmonica sites--of which  there are many) of amps, gear and whatever. What's 
wrong with establishing  ground rules? It turned into an incredible place for 
chromatic players to  gather. If it wasn't as good as it is would all of those 
who are badmouthing it  have wanted to join or post there? They read those 
rules so shouldn't be  complaining now. If Slidemeister was so 
inconsequential, why bother? If it truly  was 'tyrannical' and such a terrible place to 
be, why is Brendan asking  Slidemeisters to stand up for him? Many of us are 
also harp-l members so does it  really matter? We're still being 'clued-in' 
about the instruments.

For those not in the know, AJ's rules and regulations were recently  
finetuned, updated--and re-published on the site with input from Members. We ALL  
read them. AJ set it as a requirement for every member to do so in order to 
join  the forum. He doesn't particularly care about whether or not a single 
member  disagrees with his take on things--and isn't averse to privately 
discussing any  problems offlist. In fact he reiterated this constantly - that 
if any member has  ANY problem, to contact him. The rules and regs are what 
they are. HE owns the  site, he gets to make the rules. They work. We all 
play by them --or not. If  not, then don't sign up as a member, one can easily 
read the list as a guest  instead or simply allow one's membership to 
elapse by not poking one's head in  every couple of months. AJ will then weed you 
out. He's not about 'numbers' but  about the camaraderie and quality of 
those who join. All this negativity is just  entirely off-base.

Slidemeister has been denigrated on harp-l before. It hasn't made one whit  
of difference to how highly its members think of AJ and our beloved 
chromatic  site.

To verify (or not) that what I was told was accurate, I just did a scan of  
Brendan's postings on Slidemeister - searching for ANYthing which would 
indicate  he'd been an actual participating member of the forum. What I found 
were tons of  references to and about products and his music (many by me). I 
found a single  comment by him over more than a dozen full pages of posts 
that was not an  announcement or discussion of his new products and set-ups, 
or about his  discoveries or links to his website. I DO fully understand that 
at the moment  his focus is single-minded about his new products but that's 
not what  Slidemeister is about and everyone there knows it.

 I'M more than willing to cut a certain amount of slack..perhaps  giving a 
bit more leeway before insisting that someone so very busy either  
participate 'for real' or ?? but it's not my site. AJ has long-since refused to  
allow his site to become a place for 'wares' to be sold or advertised - in  
effect using it for free advertising. IF one wants to go ahead and ignore his  
rules to do this--I guess there's a price? Then again--if time could be found 
to  write all these current complaints here, couldn't time have been found 
to  actively participate as a regular forum member of SM? I guess that's how 
AJ  thinks--and I wouldn't attempt to second-guess his decisions on HIS 
forum.

Harp-l might not allow advertising (as owner states), but it also now  
accepts financial support. Several of us talked AJ into doing this as  
well--rather than let the site close for lack of his personal funds. In  fact we just 
sent in donations separately from each other to help keep the site  going. 
HE decided on his own that it wasn't enough to accept that support  without 
acknowledging those who did--so established a method to recognize the  main 
supporters (not that any of us care), but then to give back to people who  
might also wish to contribute --but have less, a way to be recognized. It's 
all  about (with him) of trying to thank those who have been either generous 
or kind.  Those of us who are able to contribute specify that the rules 
still fully  apply, even at the highest levels...no preferential treatment.

Misunderstanding what lies behind this is so wrong. Also unlike harp-l and  
other harmonica sites, AJ is someone who's hands-on with his forum - he has 
to  be with the way it's set up. While owner-harp l made it clear he no 
longer  wishes to read everyday posts, AJ does (or tries to)--but the system is 
 different - is not done by email. This makes for entirely different  
forums--entirely different approaches. One isn't 'wrong' compared to the  other.

As much as I've personally supported Brendan for a very, very long time -  
in this case first threatening to air this particular grievance on harp-l 
and  then following through as payback (while tossing in other gratuitous 
insults)  against someone many of us care about while expecting intervention 
from the  other Slidemeisters is beyond my ken. Really? I had truly hoped 
cooler heads  would prevail by today and a compromise reached. By posting as was  
done here, how is that remotely possible now? 

AJ's also long-since stated that he'd just as soon shut his site down than  
compromise his values, so threats and insults are entirely ineffectual. If  
everyone left, he'd likely simply close the doors and get some 
well-deserved  R&R. However, he hangs in for those of us who want him to. I've noticed 
over  the years that no one else is ever remotely interested in beginning 
their own  'all-chromatic harmonica' site since it's a huge amount of work, yet 
some people  still persist on coming onto the single really great chromatic 
forum and then  trying to force its originator/owner to change what works 
for him along with his  established principles. He makes that point in his 
rules' statement. That isn't  going to happen. Who would allow this on their 
own blog? Harp-l likewise has its  own specific rules and regulations 
although many here seem unaware that they do  exist.

For the perusal of any who don't yet know anything about Slidemeister, or  
those who refused to play by the rules and are no longer members, here are 
two  paragraphs accepted by all who are currently signed on with the best 
chromatic  forum on the World Wide Web and written long before this current  
contretemps. (I have permission to post them here).

Elizabeth

"SlideMeister  is a place for Chromatic harmonica discussion, not a place 
for retailers to  "hawk their wares," promote themselves or otherwise "milk 
the group." If this is  your intent, save yourself the embarrassment of being 
publicly booted off the  forum and banned for life.

and:

SlideMeister  IS NOT A DEMOCRACY; and therefore does not provide dissenting 
members a platform  from which to voice their opinions on the forum's 
rules. This policy IS STRICTLY  enforced. SlideMeister is SlideMeister, and while 
its policies aren't actually  "carved in stone" for all intents and 
purposes; they are. If you think you're  coming here to change things; spare us all 
the drama by leaving now! 