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Thoughts about these forums

I would like to make a few comments. I have been away from Audiogon for quite a while now and thank all of you who have so warmly welcomed me back.
My absence has been two fold. First my health has made it difficult to be involved on a daily basis. Secondly and far more importantly is a philosophical view of how we use this site.
Over the years a number of us “older” members have had the opportunity to share, grow and learn as audiophiles, as people who enjoy music, as people who share a passion for a hobby and in our communication abilities. I applaud all of us for how far we have come over these past six years, and the incredible knowledge base shared here at the best audio web site on the planet. I also must thank Arnie (founder of A’gon) for his passion and concern for making this work. We once had to shut this site down as the threads lost their direction and purpose, but Arnie stood up and asked twelve members to help rebuild this site with a stronger wiser vision. Many hours have been spent by a large number of people trying to make this the great site it is.
So… so my point. Please let us try to remember what we (some of us) are trying to achieve here at Audiogon. What is the purpose of these threads? For me it’s education and sharing of a passion with other audio people. For me personally I enjoy sharing the experiments in tweaking, this is what I have become known best for. My purpose is education and sharing of experience. I love having constructive conversations with knowledgeable informed and educated people who can push my thinking forward and expand my knowledge through other people’s experiences. I enjoy people who put the effort into learning, pushing the norm to a new level, always trying to improve on the systems and musical qualities our systems present. Constructive discussions with people who have credible experiences are great.
What I dislike about this forum and have always struggled with is the comments made flippantly by people who have no known foundation from which they speak. These people as not educating, they are not growing and they are not enjoyable. They simply live here, under rocks waiting for the opportunity to make comments detrimental to the discussion going on, or they are unhappy people who wish to drag down our enjoyment. Many of these trolls left when the site was shut down and the forums required monitoring, but it is not possible to eliminate them completely, nor would it make an interesting site without all views.
I guess what I’m asking is that those who have nothing constructive to offer, to please leave your keyboards alone. There are plenty of threads available where people are simply chatting and not actually intending to learn. But if there are threads that are exploring ideas with knowledgeable and educated experienced people, leave it alone. We do not need your flippant off color remarks. I hope those of us who want to share and learn can have the respect to be allowed that right. The other option, which I have resorted to is private emails. These are great, but input is limited and thus my opportunity to learn is limited, as is yours.
Do you understand? Please allow truly constructive threads to be just that, Constructive. I am back to try one more time to share my ideas and knowledge and to gleam more wisdom from so many old friends, I just thought I’d ask for the respect we deserve and ask the trolls to leave the educational; threads alone. There are so few truly constructive threads at any one time; we can not afford to lose the momentum of the truly good discussions. There are tons of threads where trolls and the ill informed can do there work.
Just my thoughts as I return to Audiogon, and begin to see the old behavior creep into the couple of places I’m talking right now.

Thanks for your respect
J.D.
128x128jadem6
bin
119 posts
 
J.D.,
A truly heartfelt welcome back! I hope this means your health is better and all is well. Hey did you make it to Fargo for the pyrotechnics display? I hope so it was the best in years!
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
Marco,
Sorry for the confusion with my post. I'm having a rough time physically, and from hour to hour it seems to affect my clarity as well as my mood. Hopefully, neck surgery in a few weeks will help to quell some yucky symptoms I've been experiencing over the past couple of years. So if you want further elaboration on my post, I'll be happy to clarify it. At this point, however, I don't think I have anything to offer in terms of furthering this conversation, other than to say thanks for the post, JD. I've always taken an inexplicable comfort from the senior members of this community.
Regards,
Howard
boa2's avatar
boa2
1,550 posts
 
I forgot to respond to your other point, Marco, which is to say that I've yet to pull the Jergens from the shelf while logged on to the 'gon. So when I yearn for good porn, I'm sorry but you fellers just don't get me excited in THAT way. Though I did once turn the screen sideways for a better look at a topless DK.
avguygeorge
2,300 posts
 
I'm sure the long-time members remember the brew-ha'; re. when they were first going to start charging for adds?
I have a different take on asking folk to check old posts to get their ans. No response at all is better than a scolding(IMO) to such a poster. I mean,if you got time to read the post and time to scold?? Might as well have been a nice guy,while you're at it. (instead of---)I don't visit any other audio site; I think this place is great--works for me.
jadem6's avatar
jadem6 OP
1,071 posts
 
Brian, Rives, Elgordo, Bin, thank you for the warm welcome.

Jependleton, First part of your post sums up my thoughts. Your ending comment is right on, but for reasons not pertinent here, I have a hard time letting these people go.

Sonny, Again it’s all about the knowledge, and I agree this site is light years ahead of other sites and the real world. Humor is not the problem, Humor is the solution, I’m not referring to a good pock now and then, or a worthless thread for the sake of humor. (See my “Bubble Man” threads)

Jaycotoy, Entrope, Thank-you

Lugnut, Man you are special, so I’ve learned in the past couple days. If anyone needs to understand my point on this thread please read the “About Lugnut, Patrick Malone” it’s all about respect, love and kindness. It’s about kindly passing when there is nothing positive and constructive to add. Put yourself in Pat’s shoes and you will walk in mine. From this point it will be crystal clear.

Avguygeorge, I’ll bet your rating is up over 10,000 by now. As I recall you were right there with Albert with the conductor insignia. You could be a poster boy for what I’m talking about, helpful, honest, sincere and fun. Who is avs?

Kelly, I’ll try to find a place for you to join in. I too would like that.

Albert, I wish you would have written. No I wish I would have taken the time to a number of my friends here, it wasn’t your job, it was mine. I wish I would have. Thanks old friend.

Marco, I agree 99%. All I’m looking for is when a really strong, educated conversation is being played out (not an everyday experience) simply move on if you have nothing meaningful to share. A comment like “I disagree, this just shows what’s wrong with the audio industry” said nothing. A comment like “wire is wire and all of this is hype” is not constructive and damaging to a thread that is actually trying to learn from the science. It’s this type of comment that will derail a good exchange, and suddenly the entire post turns into a sward fight. Not useful and not necessary. I am not looking for censorship, people to conform to a standard or anything like that, just respect and some sort of humility.

Hack, you nailed it and as you say, you participate in topics you know. If that was simply the way we approached these forums it would work. Jeffloistarca was a bit hard to write.

Trelja, My old and good friend, thank-you for the welcome. You misunderstand me; I agree 100% with your comments. No I want freedom and lack of suppression. I too need to feel I can sat what I want, I’m just asking for respect of other and their freedom to share ideas without being sidetracked.

Mtl0425, Point taken. You also show me your understanding.

French Fries, Great moniker. You bring the point out very well. What I hope for is that those who have never experienced some product or DIY tweak not feel the need to down trod those who are sharing real experiences with the old, “those are just expensive ….that doesn’t work…” If people have no first hand knowledge, please simply read and move on. If you have first hand knowledge and you wish to share that your Bose wave radio sounds as good as… to your ears, fine. I could never argue with that. That is your impression and in your ears a fact. If a second guy felt cones under his Bose helped the focus, great, that is his experience. Now if Joe Blow comes alone, and has never owned or heard a Bose radio and states these guys a smoking something and their experiences are not possible. Well that was wrong, Joe Blow had no need to insert that comment, all it does is sidetrack the thread off into Bose vs. $70,000 system. Not on point and not constructive. It’s just simple respect. Is it not?

Mike, Thank you and yes, you got my point exactly.

Boa2, You get it.

Kana813, Your post is perfect and one of the reasons I started this thread. Improvement and growth it always good on this site. The only way for the people behind the curtain to know our thoughts is a thread that asks for…..

KP, how many pebbles and what size work best. Welcome back, let’s work at making it worth your while.

Jayctoy, Right on.

Fun to hear from all of you.
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