Has the site lost it's spark??

[nrgbeat]

Lately, the site doesn't seem as much fun to me. Not sure exactly what it is.

Any other board members feel the same?

[markydefad]

No shit, Sherlock. :lol:

OK, I'll say it. Obviously, certain folks are not posting here anymore. Something to do with the flap over Quinny's "modest proposal" that the GAYS not call attention to themselves, I would guess. :roll:

Ya know, it's most interesting that when you stop posting the folks that always find fault with your posts stop posting also. You'd think they'd relish the opportunity to just "take over." But no, they disappear too. :o

Where are all the right wingers and homophobes now? It's your turn. Amuse, astonish & enlighten us.

[paul]

Well it has been a little dull 'round here lately :(
Has this been in part due to what Quinny said? If so, Marky and the rest of the other gay members, what about people like me who aren't bother by your "gayness." We enjoy the posts regardless of how "gay" it is! :D Look, as y'all well know I throw my breeder points of view in all the time. I do it to the point Bernie gets pissed and perhaps one day tosses me off the site :roll: :lol: This goes double when I start talkin' Salma.
I for one love to read about you men and women who travel on the other side of the tracks.
Ya know, the language here even at it's most heated is generally mild compared to some of the other boards and discussion groups I visit, esp. the political ones.

[markydefad]

Paul, ya know I luvs ya!!!! :D :D :D :D You're a BREEDER with a sense of humor. You get the jokes, you play along. It's just for fun. Some just don't get it.

If this is a HE-MAN DISCO LOVER's site--NO SISSYS ALLOWED, as some would seem to prefer it..... then let the testosterone, sports, pussy-talk and other "guy things" flow. :roll:

BUT, trying to keep the GAYS out of a DISCO site seems like a lost cause. Face it, it's considered "GAY" music by your fellow breeders. Now, I know, you've suffered untold indignities at the hands of your straight friends because you love this music--hence, your "sensitivites" may be a tad raw & vulnerable.

I can't speak for the "others", but I think a little "controversy" keeps it interesting. But, it's always STIFELED IMMEDIATELY lately. Of late, I have little to respond to. :roll:

I'm waiting for someone to post something interesting. I'm waiting........................................... .......

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by nrgbeat

Lately, the site doesn't seem as much fun to me. Not sure exactly what it is.

Any other board members feel the same?

Do you mean the atmosphere or the content of the topics?

I'm fairly new here so I can't judge on it. But for me the site is sometimes good amusement, sometimes very educative and sometimes I get a little angry about some posts. Especially the gay-straight division which is not relevant to me. I'm talking to people here not to gays or straights. But I can understand that some members get offended when certain remarks are made (both sides) and I hope that those things don't get out of hand.

So, enjoy and keep groovin'!

[Bernie]

I can't speak for the "others", but I think a little "controversy" keeps it interesting. But, it's always STIFELED IMMEDIATELY lately.

Marky, you know I enjoy your points of view/humor... and I do agree with your first point, but not the second. My only reason for putting a stop on the last round of bashing was because of just that. It wasn't the subject matter it was just the way it degenerated into some nasty name-calling and back-and-forth nonesense. I thought Barry's British remarks and Disco-Tex write up were clever and hilarious and even publicly said so, but the whole thing was just getting out of control and my locking the topics was more of a time-out and was never meant to single out any one party or group.

There are times where I am torn between just letting you guys fight it out and hope for it to burn out on its own or locking topics... Perhaps locking topics... is the wrong thing? I just don't want the site tunring into a war zone and people getting upset. Please don't think for one minute that I'm stifling anyone's ability to have a good time here. I love to watch fireworks too ya know :-) It all has to be kept within reason and everyone has to know when to lay-off things that are spinning out of control or getting nasty.

[Nano]

I subscribe Paul's post. In fact, I was kinda expecting a "Hunks, hunks, hunks" thread in response to my "Girls, girls, girls" :)
It's true that other forums are far more explicit and aggressive. That's the main reason why they're less appealing to me. The main appeal of a forum like this one is to exchange information. I don't like pissing contests.
However, I found two problems in the time I've been in this forum:

1) Sometimes I feel that certain people doesn't respect the "democracy" in this board. They get to the point of making discriminating comments or even insult other members. Then they are told to shut up; but what it's done is done and those comments are still in the threads for everyone to see.
I've been "victim" of these attacks several times and I am yet to insult anyone in this board. My guess is that this problem is unsolvable, and the only thing one can do in that case is to "hit first". Still, I can't cope with this kind of behavior. See, people in Argentina sometimes follows the rules

2) This will sound like against point #1, but I think that lately the forum has grown restrictive for its members. Surely Bernie has reasons to do this, and maybe he did it against his will (or maybe not; it's not my business anyway), but certainly we all know there are things we can't do or talk about anymore. The feel I get from this is one of increasing frustration.

These problems are related to the forum (still a helpful and entertaining resource), and not to the main site, which I find useful and getting better all the time.

[paul]

Hey Marky, Nano and da rest, I luvs ya too...in a manly man kinda way :lol: :lol:
Marky, I do agree that controversy and diversity keeps things spicy and interesting. I guess my only limitation would be if someone threatened someone, esp. if it's criminal.
And now...for pussy talk with Nano. Ok, not quite. Nano, I did believe as you did that the gay men here would have followed up with a Hunks, hunks, hunks thing. I guess they just aren't as passionate as us straight guys.

[Bernie]

2)I think that lately the forum has grown restrictive for its members. Surely Bernie has reasons to do this, and maybe he did it against his will (or maybe not; it's not my business anyway), but certainly we all know there are things we can't do or talk about anymore. The feel I get from this is one of increasing frustration.

No, it hasn't become restrictive. Everything remains the same as it always has been and everyone is able to discuss just about whatever they want. I even reinstated the Non Music forums after overcoming some server issues!

No one here is a prude-I'm not. The fact that so many people: straight, gay, black, white... can interact and be friends is what makes this site so unique and I want to keep it that way. EVERYONE is welcome here.

[nrgbeat]

It isn't just the gay issue that has caused the site to lose it's spark there are other reasons as well.

At one time you could listen to sound clips, mixes, you could PM other members. Now all of that is gone.

I understand the reason why they were taken away, but they made the site more enjoyable.

[Nano]

Thanks nrgbeat, you're speaking my thoughts here, and you do it with far less words than I...

Bernie, please don't take it personally. I appreciate your thoughts and sincerity on your first post (I didn't read it until later; I was making my own post at the same time).

The thing is, this mp3 thing is causing a gap between what is represented in the forum (the "legal" music market) and what happens in reality (many people copying CDs or downloading freely). And I guess some members suffer -at least I do- because of this. OK, "suffer" sounds too extreme: let's say when I do a post, I keep consuming more and more time thinking about what I can and can't write, issues it's better not to post about, etc. Hence my frustration (point #2).

On top of this -but you're not to blame really- there is a growing list of "danger" issues that, yes, can be used in a thread but at the risk of getting into useless debate with some angry members. Say, I resigned long ago to do any rap thread here because there's always someone getting into the thread only to say "I hate rap" over and over, hence interrupting the chat between other members that really dig it (point #1).
This is just an example, I really don't want to protest for an incident that happened long ago. But I wouldn't get in a Costandinos thread trying to convince an Alec fan that he's wrong. This is obviously useless; in fact, in doing that I would be offending another member, violating his right to express his feelings and thoughts. Hey, even I dance to Ethel Merman sometimes
The bottom line being, now I restrain from opening some potentially "hot" threads because I know sometimes I'm a bigmouth and don't want to get trapped into those debates. And still I get leashed sometimes!
Many fireworks and some no-nos make Nano a lousy boy. :roll:

[Bernie]

Since we are on a roll so to speak, let's openly air any issues anyone might have and see what we can do.

[originalbigm]

Originally Posted by Bernie

Since we are on a roll so to speak, let's openly air any issues anyone might have and see what we can do.

There is certainly a lot of validity in the issues raised as I have noticed the some of the same. My personal observation is that it seems the actual information side of this site has grown somewhat stale. It could be that the subject lines have all been covered off at one time or another.However I see nothing wrong with ressurecting old threads as it gives new insight to the newer members and gains some fresh input or questions from them at the same time.

As far as the rap thing goes personally while I'm not a big fan of it,it did at one time play a part of the disco scene.So maybe Bernie can devote a forum to Rap & Hip Hop for those who wish to discuss and argue it's merits.

Bring back the gayness to the forum .I'm a full blooded testosterone laden hetero but have never felt intimiidated or threatened by our gay friends.Marky is right disco with out gayness is like cereal without milk a little too hard and crunchy.If there are homophobes amongst the members then they should move on or at the least keep their mouths shut.I thought by now we would have moved beyond this.

Finally I think some of us need to step back and take a deep breath and realize that everyone here has different tastes and perspective when it comes to our love of disco. There is nothing wrong with healthy debate but let's not let these debates develop into my opinion is better than yours discussions or I know more than you na!na!na!na!na!. Mine is bigger than yours.Know-it-alls and braggarts piss me off to no end.:x

Bernie created this site as a focal point to discuss and exchange ideas and information about a wonderful era in the history of modern music . Let's not lose sight of ithis!

[Videoskooter]

Originally Posted by originalbigm

Bernie created this site as a focal point to discuss and exchange ideas and information about a wonderful era in the history of modern music . Let's not lose sight of ithis!

That's the whole point of it. The forum was originally invented by the Romans to talk with eachother and exchange ideas and views. That concept is still the same nowadays. The one thing that connects us all here is our love for Music, especially Disco and Dance. We all have our favourites, we all have our memories. Since it's a worldwide forum, the whole human race is represented here.

We can all open topics and give our opinions and when things go wrong, Bernie (or like Nicky did) can adjust, close or delete that topic. And indeed, sometimes certain things are said and people are hurt but that's life!

My point : freedom of speech is an absolute human right.

Share your thoughts, give your opinion but allways try to respect the others. And I personally think that when everybody keeps in mind those 3 things, the forum will stay fun for all of us here!

Johan, live from Belgium :D

[Joisey]

...with all due respect, some of you people pushing your Gay agenda on others. People, leave it for the bedroom. There are other people that were into Disco, not just Gays.
OK, so you put a post on a Gay issue --- that's ok, but the Gay innuendo here is written all over the board. Don't get me wrong, I don't have any issues with gays other than seeing them in "parades" dressed as Drag Queens; now, that's pathetic. Let's talk about such things as shitting on the Koran or carpet bombing Islamic cities. You Gays think the Republicans are your enemies --- haha; do you know what they would do you if you were in Iran, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Sudan, or any of those inferior filthy Moslem societies? Besides, I know plenty of gays who are Republicans.