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

["Brendan Power" <bren@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I apologise in advance to those who are finding this topic tedious -
please move on to something more interesting now!

Anyway, this is my Last Post on it before retiring back to making and
playing harmonicas...

-------------

Hi Elizabeth,

Thanks for your spirited defence of AJ Fedor and his way of running
Slidmeister. It's a strong post in response to a similar one from me, fair
play!

But let's take a breath here before this spirals into unintended
consequences - such as former friends (like you and I) turning into
adversaries.

>From what you say, it seems you are speaking on behalf of AJ, or have
certainly consulted with him first. I've no problem with that, he's
blessed to have strong supporters like you.

First up, I publicly apologise to AJ for likening him to an Italian
dictator of WWII in appearance and actions. That was indeed unfair. It was
written in the the heat of the moment but was totally irrelevant to the
subject, so it was gratuitous as well, as you say. I'm embarrassed I did
it.

Clearly you and I have very different perceptions of Slidemeister and how
it's run! You are very happy with it, but I have always chafed under what
I see as illogical and unfair restrictions on discussion. But that should
not be cause for you and I to fall out with each other, as might be the
danger. Hopefully this post will end things calmly and we can all move on.

As you might expect, there is quite a bit of history leading up to this
point. This is actually the second time I have been banned from
Slidemeister, or maybe even the third! The previous time I recall was
about 8 years ago, because I was talking about slider harmonicas that blur
the line between chromatic and what people on Slidemeister could only call
the D word, or d*******. (It may appear very odd to folks who've never
ventured on to Slidemeister, but the word 'diatonic' could not actually be
written down in full at that time in posts).

To me that was quite strange in itself, and unnecessarily censorious, as
it cut out discussion of harmonicas which I feel advance the chromatic
harmonica by mixing the best of both chromatic and diatonic features.

That has relaxed now, as there is a 'Diatonic Only' board on Slidemeister,
but it's still undoubtedly quite frowned on to mix the two in discussions.
As many know I'm all about mixing and mashing it up with harmonicas, so
I've always found that very difficult to accept - though I have tried!

As you rightly say, it's AJ's list and he sets the rules. "If you don't
like 'em, leave!" Yes, but...  Slidemeister is also the main English
language discussion list for the chromatic harmonica. I could never get
comfortable with the primary public list devoted to an instrument I love
being so heavily censored and policed - which is how I perceive it. You
don't, fair enough, I respect that. However, even though you're quite
content with it, I'm not alone in feeling that discomfort.

Anyway that's of little consequence now, as AJ has banned me again! For
the final time, it seems! So be it - I'll miss my friends on Slidemeister
but not (as I see them) the petty restrictions there on free discussion.

But I appreciate you don't see things that way at all, and thanks for
explaining why so eloquently! Each to their own, I guess.

One thing I want to dispute though, before concluding. You write:

"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 feel that's a misrepresentation of the truth. I suggest you or anyone
interested have a look again at these boards, in which I've posted over
the past few months:

GENERAL DISCUSSION
Straight versus Cross Tuning
CX-12 Fan Club

CUSTOM CHROMATIC STUFF
alternative polyurethane (resin) mouthpieces for my 270 and 270 classic
Looking for 270s with Plastic Combs
Five Octave Chromatic

ALTERNATE TUNINGS
Irish Fiddle Tuning

In all of the postings I offer useful, in-depth information or analysis
for people interested in those topics - as your own comments on some of
them attest. Certainly I refer to my custom harmonica models sometimes,
but only as valid solutions to the problems or issues under discussion.

It's not as black and white as you have construed it in the statement
above; there is a healthy balance there, with plenty of solid
contributions from me to interesting discussions.

That's what any list should be for, I think - experienced people sharing
their knowledge with others in an interplay of ideas. If some, like me and
Greg Heumann, offer harmonica products that can give interested people
extra tools to that are relevant to the topic, I don't think it's wrong or
inappropriate to mention them within the context of the discussion.

That's where the likes of Greg and I diverge with AJ, and so we are
banished! I feel Slidemeister is the poorer for stripping out substantial
contributors in this way, but I understand you and others are perfectly
happy with the forum as it is. I wish you all the best! I will say no
more.