O-10, I always appreciate your attempts to bring calm to the proceedings here. You are correct, we do know that Rok's gotta be Rok; same as everyone. I would say that Rok insists on being Rok with little interest in filtering his comments; comments which are, at worst, sarcastic, provocative and disrespectful of those he addresses or their message; and sometimes completely out of touch with the reality of the subject we try to discuss. Case in point, and I use a personal example only because it's recent:
To suggest that Michael Brecker, a player that just about every current significant musician and critic considers to have been if not the, then certainly one of the most influential jazz saxophonists since John Coltrane, has contributed no more to jazz than a classical trumpet player is so ridiculous that it transcends being an expression of personal taste and should be considered nothing more than provocative rabble rousing. We all post on the thread because we feel passionate about this music . There is clearly room for different opinions and viewpoints, but I don't think that anyone should have to endure the kind of sniping that he routinely does without reacting. The net effect of Rok "being Rok" is the derailment of the discussion into "the mud" and the inevitable return to the Blue Note, Wynton, or Proms clips. As one of our contributors pointed out a while back it ends up feeling like a kind of bullying and return to "the Rok show". It's really a shame because of Rok's obvious and undeniable passion for ONE slice of the total pie. The pattern is as obvious as it is in the audio side of things: why participate in an audio forum if one is going to be so anti-audiophile and derisive towards the interests of others? The same can be said here.
Although I certainly would prefer not to, I can deal with occasional rolling in the mud with Rok; it doesn't change the facts. But obviously not everyone can or is willing to deal with the mud and its a shame that the thread loses interesting participants as a result. As I have done many times before, I would encourage Rok to reconsider his stance and his attitude. I know you're out there, Rok.
