Aggie87

As a spin off to the long thread about the board, let's have another one to resolve the issue of Moderators. I think Jim should let go of this responsibility and become more of a CEO type figure, as suggested in the other thread. What are some of the options worth considering for moderation? Different moderators for each forum? A couple of global moderators? Moderating only certain forums (i.e. Political & Misc Non Political)? Are there folks who want to do this? I know MG has volunteered already. Would others be interested in helping as well? What type of rules should we more strongly enforce, that perhaps didn't previously exist, or weren't really being adhered to? PS - Maybe we could discuss the other issues with board maintenance - software upgrades, hardware issues, etc. too. Is that worth working out some alternatives?

Charlie ? goes to Charlie P very quickly with a black Sharpie.

I was surprised too, at first. But maybe that option is really saying to let Jim finance it in any method he chooses, such as soliciting for donations, making it a subcriber-only board, etc (?).

Would love to go to a day-long show featuring all of our board-member musicians! Allen Lowe Paul McKee Paul Abella Trio Quartet Out David Beardsley Mike Weil Frank Kimbrough Phil Grenadier Root Doctor Organissimo Who am I forgetting? That would be a cool show! Chicago, next summer!

Yep! I like it alot as well! One of my lucky purchases at Vinyl West in Stuttgart (a TOCJ no less!). R.I.P. Patato.

Yep! I'll just continue to bring my musical baggage along with me - in particular the bag where I think you guys are committed to what you're playing, which allows me to appreciate it. Or at least the bag that allows me to differentiate what I hear as dedicated musicians versus ones who are coasting or whatever.

As far as moderating goes, I'd venture a guess that the Political and Misc Non Political forums would be where the greatest attention would be needed. I don't see alot of fighting or negativity elsewhere, generally (except for Big Al's apparent disdain for Charlie Parker! )

Obviously I'm not a musician, but taken from the listener's point of view - isn't this normal for listeners of all music? 10 listeners will have 10 different experiences listening to an artist play something. It's all about their past experiences, likes/dislikes, baggage, etc. No? Sure, but can you see why that would engender cynicism (or cynicisms) and other "losses of fiath" in somebody trying to be "honest" in their music? I guess it would depend on who you are playing for (and why you're playing) in the first place (?). For a listener, what they get out of the music is what they get. That IS the music to them. It may align with what your intent is, or it may not. How can you as a musician control that? Why should you? Don't you just have to play what is honest to you, what works for you? Others get out of it what they get. I haven't put alot of thought into this, so maybe I'm missing some key point or three.

Obviously I'm not a musician, but taken from the listener's point of view - isn't this normal for listeners of all music? 10 listeners will have 10 different experiences listening to an artist play something. It's all about their past experiences, likes/dislikes, baggage, etc. No?

I like the thoughts that are bouncing around too. If the following happened: 1. Make the board membership responsible for the cost of operating the board - not the band. Whether it's through an annual fund drive or regular (quarterly?) donations, keep a running tally of donations and income somewhere visible. If and when the fund pot gets down to a set amount, remind the board members that it's time to donate again. 2. Offload the moderation issues to a handful of level-headed board members that are willing to take on those responsibilities. 3. Offload the tech/admin responsibilities (board upgrades, coordination with the server host, backups, etc) to a willing board member(s) who have the computer skills to handle this. I'd guess there would be a few that could do it - I'm lucky to remember my password. Would that allow us to keep things going here in a manner that makes everyone generally happy? More importantly would it free up enough time/mental energy for Jim to devote to other far more important priorities?

Matthew - I hope you'll reconsider, if the board ends up staying open or we migrate somewhere. I enjoy your posts and your insight to the music.

I think I got insulted in there somewhere!

To be honest, I think AAJ is on the sterile side for this group. Plus we did that after BNBB closed, and ruffled alot of the AAJ poster's feathers. Some of us stuck around there and post, but not too many post there in preference to posting here (maybe Bev Stapleton is the lone exception that I can think of). Jazzcorner is maybe a little more similar, but the signal-to-noise ratio is much better here. For those that mainly post outside of the music threads, maybe Jazzcorner is worth considering. SH Forums are too controlled, and there's not a sense of community there (IMO) - too many posters. Maybe we should all descend on Musicboy's Norah Jones forum, if that still exists!

Plus, I heard that site was infected with a lot of spyware.

Per year? Hell yeah! I'd pay twice that! Good, then you can pay my share too! J/K, I'd be glad to pay that as well!

Maybe a team of administrators would ease the stress of one person having to do it all. I hesitate to compare it to the Gorts on the SH forums, because I think they're wayyyy too strict and heavy-handed over there, but they do share the work at least. Also, I think some of the "negativism" just sort of happens with any group over time - particularly online, where we don't have to see the effects on others of what we sometimes type. We all get on each other's nerves once in a while. But if you take a small break, get some fresh air, etc, and come back, it usually helps. Maybe some people leave and don't come back - maybe that's their only method for coping - but all groups evolve over time. If we accept that as a given, I think the plusses of this community largely outweigh the negatives. I don't know about the financial aspects, but if that part is solve-able, then I think we can get past the negativism.

I don't know if I care for the facebook site's interface. It's certainly not like this board. What would be nice is if we DO in fact migrate elsewhere, that it's something like this board in structure and feel. I love this place! (another thanks to Jim for all that he's done). I'm guessing the cost for this board was a work-related tax write off (?) as a promotional tool for the band, but could be way off base. Is there anyone else that could host something like this and justify it in a similar way? Assuming donations would still be allowed by the board members?

I'd like it to continue as well, but with musical AND non-musical topics. I think the primary tension causing stuff is a result of the political (and religious) threads. If that were done away with, 90% of whatever hostility exists would probably go with it. There will always be some disagreeing about other stuff, but most of that is manageable, I think.

This place is my favorite bulletin board, and I'm sad to see that it's going away, but I also understand Jim's situation with the board - both the expenses involved in keeping it up, and the time/stress it takes to police and keep things running. What are the choices we have, moving forward? Any ideas? I'd also like to thank Jim for all he's done for our community over the past few years, since the BNBB shutdown.

You're likely right, Conn. I do hope you realize though how big that unlucky timeout call by the Ravens coaching staff was. You could see in their player's reaction how significant that was. Had the play counted, the Ravens win.

That poor management cost them the game. Had they not called timeout on that 4th down play, the Ravens stopped the Pats and run the clock out and win. They deserved to win. edit - Plus, that last Pats TD didn't look like a TD to me. He didn't have full possession of the ball.

Ravens are playing a good game. After tonight, the Pats have the Steelers, Jets, Dolphins, and Giants to go in the regular season.

What's a thelil? or is it a lil? The Lil? Is it steve(thelil) because there are other thelil's? Mike(thelil)? Barbara(thelil)?

Astronauts test sex in space - but did the earth move? US and Russian astronauts have had sex in space for separate research programmes on how human beings might survive years in orbit, according to a book published yesterday. Pierre Kohler, a respected French scientific writer, says in The Final Mission: Mir, The Human Adventure that the subject is taboo both at Nasa and at mission control in Moscow, but that cosmic couplings have taken place. "The issue of sex in space is a serious one," he says. "The experiments carried out so far relate to missions planned for married couples on the future International Space Station, the successor to Mir. Scientists need to know how far sexual relations are possible without gravity." He cites a confidential Nasa report on a space shuttle mission in 1996. A project codenamed STS-XX was to explore sexual positions possible in a weightless atmosphere. Twenty positions were tested by computer simulation to obtain the best 10, he says. "Two guinea pigs then tested them in real zero-gravity conditions. The results were videotaped but are considered so sensitive that even Nasa was only given a censored version." Only four positions were found possible without "mechanical assistance". The other six needed a special elastic belt and inflatable tunnel, like an open-ended sleeping bag. Mr Kohler says: "One of the principal findings was that the classic so-called missionary position, which is so easy on earth when gravity pushes one downwards, is simply not possible."