ditto and ditto. It's moving in a fairly uncomfortable direction ... for a Vintage Drum forum.

Guys, guys, guys!... let me address a few things if I may:

PurdieShuffle: Thanks for the kudos there John, but as I might have said on more than a few occasions, It's my job!, and that's why David pays me the BIG BUCKS!! LOL!!!!!!!!!! Seriously though: I have been here pretty much from the start with David, and truly, for the majority part, this forum DOES run smoothly with most everyone practicing proper decorum. There are of course exceptions, as one would expect in a PUBLIC FORUM with OVER 9,000 members. Course a rough estimate would be that 5% of that total are ACTIVE on a regular basis. But still, that's a LOT of different personalities, and occasionally CRAP is going to get thrown... which leads here:

drumhack/RogerSling: What has happened here.. ( and continues to happen ) .. is there has been a major influx of NEW members as of late, and with a bunch coming over from other forums too. And let me state this for the record: There is NO PROBLEM with that! This is an open/public forum and we welcome new members to share their knowledge and vintage drum acumen. What we don't want, and I realize I'm stating the obvious, is all the petty BS... mud slinging... slander... verbal tripe... etc. that unfortunately goes along with it. But hey, that's just part of ANY open/public forum when you have so many completely diverse personalities/opinions. If you really take a look here, this forum runs very well in spite of that stuff as we do have some excellent members! There is going to be the ocassional "fire to put out"... or "clean up in ailse 5!" as John aka PurdieShuffle has so humorously mentioned in the past... but really, for the most part in my capacity as moderator, there hasn't been all that much wrist slapping, the asking of people to leave, or banning for that matter. If you ask around, you will see that is NOT the case on most other forums. We DO have a nice collection of contributing members here. Carry on men!!

Tommyp

the best way to deal with it is to use the little red triangle with the exclamation point in the uppper right corner of each individual post. This is for reporting offensive posts. Click it and type a quick note as to why you are reporting it and that way Tommy will know what's going on. Do this anytime you see anyone behaving this way.

I had no idea about that triangle. Color me ignorant on that one. I've often wondered about it, but never really questioned it's purpose. I just figured it was one of those smiley good feeling kinda things. Sometimes it's pants on first, other times it's shoes on first. Oh well ...

Amen to that!!!!!!! Well said Tommy. I use the golf course/country club analogy. You get 3-400+ people together you're bound to have your share of jerks, cheapskates,idiots and back stabbers.

Now you put 9,000 memebers in the mix and the possibility or should I say the inevitability of "our" share of kooks or in their defense, strongly opinionated memebers coming out of the woodwork when something goes wrong is inevitable. I think they( David and Tommy ) do a great job.

Everybody wants to complain when there's a hiccup but that's the nature of this type of forum and pretty much life in general.

Long live VDF!!!!

Well put. I realize it's going to be difficult to believe, but I'm somewhat opinionated ... no, let me finish ... it's true. I have very strong opinions about morals and ethics. There are times when I read posts that are very contrary to 'light' and I ignore them. Then another post ... and another ... etc. Eventually, it gets to the point that the forum has taken on a very dark and seedy 'loose' flavor that really has nothing to do with Vintage Drums. It has everything to do with the SD&RnR mentality that was so pervasive in my youth. It's the stuff of YouTube discussions and really has no place in a mature Vintage Drum forum. But, as you stated, it is an open public forum and as such invites the good with the bad ... and the immature and intolerable. It is 100% my fault because I can only change me. My expectations have no place upon anyone else. I understand that. But, I am human and at times ... I forget and reach that point. That's usually when I find myself in front of a keyboard and begin the dining pleasure that is my foot. So, know that I have grown to respect you and your ability to tolerate me (in all my various identities). For that, I am grateful. There is no other drum forum that I find comfortable. So, I will continue to cull through and separate the wheat from the chaff. Thanks again for the gentle tap back into reality. You will remain tops in the book on my desk.

There's lots of teachers everywhere we go.

Some teach us what to do, and some teach us what not to do.

As always, just the perfect bit of perspective. You are truly wise beyond your weight. x-mas3 Stay blessed, my friend.

Yeah, I've noticed that. As I say, you don't like a topic, ignore it. No need for self-appointed forum police. It's unproductive and unenjoyable. Dumb threads get relegated to the back pages pretty quickly. I will say that the best compliment is for a "hater" to keep your thread alive simply by debating it's worth. But snarkiness is ugly, PERIOD!

Coffee Break2