Piano World Home Page Forums Our Most Popular Forums Piano Forum Moderators: Why was my Old Steinway Thread Deleted?

Retsacnal - Thank you for your kind words!

Yeah I understand this one haha, being civil on the internet is something that took me long time to figure out. Maybe I don't quite have it yet .....it's just so easy to call someone an idiot! I always try to do better at it.

Quote of the day!!!

What we need is the "Piano World Thesaurus of Derogatory Epithets."

Next time you threaten another member with a severe whippen, you might think better of it or they might call you a total back check!

It might have been a little better to just delete everything from the first bad post onward, and lock it. But there wasn't much lost with the whole thing gone. Either way works for me.

I have known Rod Verhnjack since he was a teenager. I knew his father. He is a very honorable person whose integrity has always remained intact. His posts here are always civil. His reaction to Norbert did not come from nowhere. He refused to back down because he knows his facts. That the moderator couldn't handle that is a shame.

But life ain't fair and that is a fact!

I don't like how these forums are moderated. No offense to any of the moderators, I just think the moderators are unnecessary and too much is left to their own subjective judgement. We're all big boys and girls here and I think the whole moderator thing feels a little too much like grade school.
I'm a member of a few forums where the only role of the moderator is to ban members who break the rules. The rules are CLEARLY stated and all new members are required to read them. If they break the rules their membership and right to post is revoked. Simple. No need for subjective judgement calls. The rules are the rules and that's that.
I've read a lot of threads here that have been locked JUST when things, IMO, started to get somewhere (ie: thought provoking).
So what if things get a little heated? We're humans, not ostriches who need to find a hole at the first sign of conflict. We have opinions. Sometimes we passionately disagree. Who cares? It's why forums are stimulating to read, as well as informative and thought provoking. Yeah I know, if I don't like how things are done here I'm welcome to go elsewhere. But I DO like it here. I just don't like the whole Gestapo moderator thing. This is the internet--it's hardly even real life.

That's not fair to the moderator. He does not have the luxury of choosing sides that you afford yourself, even if his sense of the situation happened to be the same as yours.

I'm annoyed by the decision myself because if you keep referring to some of these people as respected industry members and keep cleaning up all their dirty laundry every time they screw up, then they'll continue to e respected industry members even when they don't deserve to be.

But regardless of what you or I might think, the moderator did handle it. He took action. He didn't ignore it and hope it would go away.He tried to intervene privately. When that failed he did something else. Whatever he decided was bound to bring on criticism. That's the nature of the job.

I wouldn't compare the moderators to the Gestapo! I don't think anyone here needs to fear them.

100% Agreed.

I prefer the old un-moderated Newsgroups. People
take care of themselves, and police themselves. And
useful threads don't get deleted. 4-letter words are how
humans communicate in the English language, why delete them?

Heated disagreements are a sign of passion and love
for the subject, in this case a common love of the piano.
We are not going to agree on everything, so why try to stamp out arguments if they are fruitful? Sometimes breaking the status quo is a GOOD thing!

If you compare Rickster to Gestapo (because that's what it implies) you are completely out of your mind and in my humble opinion are just begging for a permanent ban. INCREDIBLE..

For those of you who do not know what the forum rules and regulations are, please read; for those who need reminding, please read. Piano World Rules and Regulations

Again, not that I feel the need to defend myself as a volunteer moderator on PW, or justify my actions as moderator, I would like to comment on some of the comments made in this thread thus far…

Thanks to those who have come to my defense and supported my decision (whether they agreed with me or not) in this particular matter; to those who continue to gripe and complain about my decision to remove the thread in question, and criticize me as moderator, you should be thankful that you are allowed to gripe and complain about my decision openly on the forum.

Next, I know for a fact there are members here who do not like me, period. But, that’s okay… the lyrics to one of my original blues tunes says “I learned a long time ago that everybody ain’t your friend”. So, that’s a given.

Personally, I think the Piano World forums run pretty smoothly and provide lots of valuable information, as well as a lot fun and entertainment to the internet public in general and the piano industry in particular. However, remember, this not a democratic forum and there are times when Frank B or the moderators have to make a decision they deem necessary in order to keep things somewhat civil and running smoothly; and that inevitably makes someone mad or upset. Such is life, I suppose.

Those who do not like the way things are done here on the Piano World forums, in the words of the late, great Ray Charles… “Hit the road Jack”.

Rick

I 100% disagree. I don't think a lot of folks here have any idea how bad things have gotten on some unregulated forums. Heated disagreements I don't mind; I don't think these types of discussions are usually regulated by the moderators. But when thing get nasty and personal NO good comes from that. Normally the original intent of the OP is completely lost.

Piano World is a private forum, not a governmental one. There are no free speech rights on a private forum, and the owners of the forum are entitled to set and enforce the rules as they see fit.

Having said that, the moderators here are more than tolerant. While I agree that some of the slanging matches are entertaining for those of us who observe them, they can get to a point where their very existence (as well as content) reflects badly on everyone who participates. It seems to me that the moderators do their best to balance the various interests involved. I might well get upset with the moderators if I felt that they were themselves not acting even-handedly, but at least so far I have no reason to believe that they are.

Having said that, even if I felt that the moderators were acting inappropriately, I would have NO RIGHTS with respect to this, except to stop reading or posting on the thread.

And finally, having said all of this, and as someone whose father's extended family was wiped out in the Holocaust, I find it outrageous that anyone here would compare anyone else here to a member of the Gestapo.

+much

In certain cases, Moderator does a service to everyone when deleting a thread altogether. Once recognized, embarrassing remarks can be bad enough. To enshrine these forever is far worse.

(By the way, thanks, Rick, for sending that thread wherein I wrote ****** and ****** to the bats and the moles.)


"Whosoever keeps his mouth shut when he realizes that he is wrong is wise and he who holds the mouth even if he is right is married." - Author unknown

Rickster didn't think the postings were positive for PW. Making that decision is his VOLUNTEER job. I respect that and appreciate that we can also complain about it.

The GESTAPO comment is not warranted. Sure you have a right to make that statement-but given the way it has been taken-do you really want to express yourself that way?

Geez, I take back the word Gestapo. I love how people choose to zero in on ONE inappropriately chosen word and make that their focal point rather than actually GETTING the point of the post. No wonder these threads all always getting derailed.
You know what? I take it back. Keep your moderators. There are obviously enough overly sensitive people here to warrant keeping things comfy-cozy for everyone.

Well, ultimately, you cannot please everyone.

Piano World is still AWESOME!

Ricky Nelson, "Garden Party" 1972.