Seeking input on Rules

administrator

Since many people have been upset by recent threads (one of which I started), I am seeking input on rules / rule changes to make it more clear what we want on this site.

Please offer your (well-thought) input.

Kehaulani

From what I've seen, forums can have rules but they are either obvious (no profanity) or ambiguous. Behavior usually settles into a routine as monitored by moderators and general consensus. Trying to make a comprehensive list of rules seem to me a big bag of worms. Letting water sink to it's own level seems to me the most reasonable.

A Former User

@administrator
I don't know if its rules you need or a basic housecleaning. I see no need for 1. a worthless string, 2. humor, 3. artists on board, and at least a few more. Its a trumpet site so it needs to be about trumpets. How to play it, how to clean it, proper technique, how different trumpet behave, trumpet work ethic, what the work should consist of, how long to practice, how to be efficient, air, tonguing, slurs, in short, all things trumpet.
Trumpet challenges! for those who want to compete and have the technology to post it on TB via Youtube. An etude is picked by the Administrator (when two trumpeters want to go head to head) that has already been covered by Hakan and the two challenging trumpet players do their best to make it musical and have three weeks to get it ready. A panel of "qualified" trumpeters (5 of them to avoid ties) would adjudicate. Voting by "likes" can be a popularity contest instead of a trumpet challenge. In addition, TB inadvertently creates the first Internet competition for trumpet. Shows like The Voice, American Idol, America's Got Talent are some of the top shows in America. Can TB compete? No. But TB can be the first to have competitions and what a great way to get discovered and get heard and possibly picked up by Post Malone, Bruno Mars, or Garth Brooks to go on tour! Think for a second how many people struck it big via performing on the Internet

Dale Proctor

Keep it simple - no profanity, no name calling, nothing unrelated to trumpets/cornets/flugelhorns/etc. and musical topics in general. That gives topics a pretty wide latitude without excessive rules. Be civil to your fellow members if there’s a disagreement on some point, and keep things PG in case younger people are looking in.

tmd

@Dale-Proctor said in Seeking input on Rules:

Keep it simple - no profanity, no name calling, nothing unrelated to trumpets/cornets/flugelhorns/etc. and musical topics in general. That gives topics a pretty wide latitude without excessive rules. Be civil to your fellow members if there’s a disagreement on some point, and keep things PG in case younger people are looking in.

I like this reply. Building on it, first and foremost, I'm looking for "community", for an opportunity to talk to like-minded people. And although I may have questions from time-to-time, I'm not here looking for answers.

So I agree with @Dale-Proctor. Keep it focused on the trumpet and related topics, with wide latitude. But above all else, keep it friendly.

Mike

Dr GO

@Kehaulani said in Seeking input on Rules:

Letting water sink to it's own level seems to me the most reasonable.

From my experience, water sinking to its on level causes a lot of structural damage.

Pinstriper

I don't know that I have any worthwhile advice on what to do, but I can say one thing NOT to do is start a sensitive thread on a board that is already supposed to not have politics on it, and then reverse course when it inevitably becomes charged. That was a large error.

I agree with Dale and GO about making it a more trumpet focused site, less of the irrelevancies. Unfortunately, the barrier to differentiation while also sticking to "all things trumpet" is pretty high. And the non-trumpetness of this site makes me fear the opportunity has already been missed, if indeed it ever existed.

J. Jericho

Keep TrumpetBoards a community. Most of us here are humans; we have lives, and virtually all things in our lives affect our approach to the trumpet to varying degrees, either directly, such as practice routines, techniques, etc. or subtly, such as health, approach to life, personality, musical preferences, and so on. There is and has been room for participation in varied subjects, some related to trumpet and some not.

We can demonstrate a willingness to help others and share with others that which interests us and find a commonality and diversity among us that enriches all. All knowledge is useful; it's what makes us continue to grow and mature in our trumpet playing and in all aspects of life itself.

I would not enjoy nor often participate in a forum that is restricted and reduced to a narrowly focused catalog of equipment and pedagogy. There are other trumpet websites that fit this description, and they have at best less the sense of community, and I daresay family, that we found on TrumpetMaster and now find on TrumpetBoards. We can have all the trumpet-related information and discourse possible here without resorting to being restricted to a membership of humorless, narrow-minded automatons.

administrator

I want to be perfectly clear. I started this forum as an idea to replace a defunct forum that many of us used to visit.

I don't make much, if any, money off this site. I just disabled the ads, but trust me they didn't earn much in the first place.

If I ended this endeavor it would not harm my life in any way. Perhaps I made an error; I was trying to do what I thought was right. I admit fault in this.

The canker of contention, pride and division is everywhere right now. Maybe we all just need a break from the damn internet for a while.

Kehaulani

I was drafting a response and then it hit me . . haven't we had this conversation before?

J. Jericho

@Kehaulani Yup. Maybe some things bear repeating.

administrator

Probably. Here's what I'll do. Leave the rules as is. I am going to take a back seat and post a lot less. I will continue to moderate and improve the site.

J. Jericho

@administrator Your posts are always appreciated.

Dr GO

If the intent of the moderator is to mirror TMs policy use, perhaps recruiting a prior TM moderator may also assist. Rowuk has many times offered his experience wtih monitoring as suggestions. Perhaps recruiting Rowuk to assist would be helpful, and I apologize to Rowuk in advance for suggestion he be drafted.

Dr GO

With the above said, I might add, Barliman has been doing a fine job of policing as well.

barliman2001

Three important points:

I would be extremely honoured if Rowuk were to consent to share the Holy Office of Moderatorship.
I acknowledge that administrators are human beings with all human failings. But perhaps the administrator could be persuaded to open a second account as "admin - private" to voice those topics he/she/it can't address in an official capacity. Then we could soundly abuse him without abusing the office...
The main reason for the disappearance of TM was that no one knew who the admin was, where the community was based and how to access the server and such small technical details. I am not aware that the situation as to TB is in any way different. If we don't want to have the same thing happen to TB, we need to make sure someone else apart from the admin knows how to manage things in case the admin has toothache or the runs or is incapacitated by the three main reasons why trumpet players disappear: Drink, Dungeon or Death.

OldSchoolEuph

I think my past posts on forums have made my view on the value of open sharing of ideas well known. Just the same, even I will admit that there have to be some boundaries, or any forum is doomed to failure.

The last thing I want to see is the Administrator posting less, or less involved. I know there are those who don't see it this way, but I will always recognize that the owner of the site, owns the site. I may vehemently disagree with that person, and I hope they will allow me to, but at the end of the day, if someone undertakes creating a forum, it is theirs to run as they see fit. If no-one likes how they run it, well, it will be more of a blog.

Now, if the Administrator is open to suggestion, and the title of this thread pretty much says so, then I suggest minimal rules.

Any content that crosses the line into actionable defamation, thereby placing the site owner at risk financially, has to be deleted
The site owner can refuse membership to anyone for any reason
Content should be topic-related
Moderators should recognize their own biases and strive to be neutral in any debate - protecting not only their own point of view, but that with which they disagree (this is the hard one, and the reason for one last suggestion)
When something is controversial in the world at large, particularly if morality is declared a determinant, that debate should not be welcome - it wont be resolved in a forum. (And for those who object to proscribing moral advocacy, sorry, but you are forgetting that what a society considers to be good or evil changes over time. Right and wrong, regardless of how strongly we feel them, are opinions and only become truths when universally accepted. Want to change the world? Great! Start a forum for that.)

Notice I did not mention profanity or personal attacks. Maybe I am too much of an optimist, but I think that when people make fools of themselves in that way, maybe the world should get to see it. . . .

Dr GO

@Dr-GO said in Seeking input on Rules:

With the above said, I might add, Barliman has been doing a fine job of policing as well.

Barliman and Kujo are very capable as is our administrator. I think we have a good team and am happy with this. Perhaps having Leadership meetings on a regular basis may help distribute the load and minimize the burden, which again argues to adding another mediator. Team work always wins.

Tobylou8

I think it is fine the way it is. I do not like the degrading way some members treat other members, but that is on them. We all have noses and noses are just like opinions. All work, no play, makes Jack a dull boy. I've never been on any forum that did not have a non topic related area for miscellaneous discussions. ALL trumpet only would leave a lot of recreational players on the sidelines that don't feel competent to reply. I tracked down the owner of TM and had zero results in making contact with him. He may have simply gotten bored with it, who knows. There were some really wild stories circulating at THe oTHer site! LOL I like the idea of a trumpet competition on TB. Although with my work schedule now I don't know if I would dare compete. Too many rules and it won't be enforceable, too few rules and some will run roughshod over others. I do think members should be civil to each other and if they can't, THere is a place for "oneupmanship" and name calling. For me, it is not a pleasant forum as the simplest question can be met with ridicule and derision from players that aren't even "players", just forum trolls. In closing, I like it pretty much the way it is, and I do like the competition idea of Dr. Mark as long as we can all get along.

Dr GO

@Tobylou8 said in Seeking input on Rules:

...I do like the competition idea of Dr. Mark as long as we can all get along.

Tobylou, I challenge you to a duel! My Harrelson and your choice of horns at 50 paces. You in?