Music Banter - Musicbanter Improvement Thread

Wow, aren't you guys glad I lurk as a guest? :laughing:

I'm sorry Occult got the banhammer, but I guess it was coming. My bigger issue was with Frown. Sorry, if I ruffle your feathers a little here, but you're a bit of a baiter. While I don't agree with Chula's reactions (his GIF attacking Texas Boy a few months ago was very banable imo), you have to admit you guys as a whole are pretty good at getting under his skin. And, Frown, it doesn't help when you respond to someone saying he's leaving under protest or whatever with this- :wave:

As an interested outsider (I'm still interested to see if the atmosphere really does improve here.) I agree that maybe some modifications should be considered in the mod ranks. I think there needs to be a commitment to be willing to have someone's back when he's attacked and certainly to try to soothe disagreements in threads when they get personal. One thing I would recommend is that other mods would intervene when insults are directed at a specific mod. We had a policy at the writing forum that you did not attack staff in thread and that has worked pretty well. Frown banning Chula looks rather biased considering their feud. It would have been better if other mods felt that the ban was necessary and someone else could have wielded the banhammer.

How you guys would revamp the mod ranks and how you conduct yourselves is up to you, but if you're looking for new blood, may I suggest Lisnaholic? I don't know if he'd be interested, but he is well liked and I think he would be a fair arbiter and maybe afford some protection for our more sensitive members.

Okay, I guess you guys are thinking, 'Is Rubber Soul back?' Honestly, I don't know. I'm still dealing with my mother's death to be honest, and I'm not sure I'm in the right state of mind as I discovered at my writing forum. Meanwhile, I'm still working on my top 25s that I'm slowly posting on a blog that nobody will see with some bad literature added. If I ever do make it to 2017 (I'm reviewing 1999 now) I may resume my journal if I do come back but that would be months down the road. Frown was right to some extent that my music knowledge in some periods are more on the surface; that's especially true with the more recent music as I'm more into 1963-1999 for the most part.

Anyhow, I think mods, ane maybe all members, need to know the difference between good natured ribbing, maybe some controversial subjects like Merit's conspiracy theories (which I have to admit are pretty entertaining), and downright personal swipes. I know it isn't all that easy and I know you have to err on the side of caution.

But when it obviously crosses the line, you can't be afraid to take action whether it be in thread warnings, a direct warning by PM (we never liked to confront an offender in thread at WF), or a ban. The disciplinary part of being a mod is always the hardest, but there are times you have to be a disciplinarian on rare occasions if you want to have a healthy forum where people who love music will want to join and stay.

Anyhow, I'm glad to see Troll back. I know it's hard to leave after putting in seven or eight years here. I'm still trying to wean from WF after three plus years so I get it.

And who knows? If there really is a commitment to a friendlier Musicbanter, maybe Pet Sounds will come back too, who knows?

Okay, rant over :)