Renny,
You and I have something in common. Out in California, I used to fear Sister Regina Marie's noogies she used to give to guys on the top of our heads. She used to do the headlock and then apply the bony knuckles-the whole nine yards. I'll tell ya, I'm scarred for life. LOL!

The Hoffman board is atrocious. I once wrote a post about the band This Heat. They're not all that well-known, but I've liked them since high school and they do have a legion of fans and the respect of critics and their place in history and all that. Drummer Charles Hayward was in Quiet Sun and played with Phil Manzanera, as well as the Raincoats and Everything But The Girl and many more, just to give you some idea. Recommended Records reissued most of their work in a great 6xCD box called "Out Of Cold Storage." I mentioned all this to support the boxed set and described them (in part) as "somewhat political in tone, although their politics are vague aside from feelings of unease from the horrors of modern war and the threats implicit in nuclear proliferation." Immediately, the post was removed, because (and I quote - because I wrote and asked why) "Not everyone hates war and a lot of people believe that nuclear weapons help us." Hence, my post was "political" and no longer allowed.

I hasten to add that this is an accurate description of the band, and does not advocate any position per se. (And I find it odd that anyone's "pro-war" stance is such that they're just for war in general!) It's unavoidable to describe them as political, in much the same way as one would describe the Clash or Gang Of Four in that way. I wrote back and wrote this, and this person's response was that the board did not appreciate posts by "insignificant" bands, and that on reading my previous posts, he noticed that I had written about an early (1940s) country star, a jazz/soul vocalist (who's regarded as a legend, but never sold millions) and that it would be "appreciated" if I would write about artists from the "golden age" of music, which, he noted, was the 1960s-1970s. In my next post, responding to a question about which version of a Wire CD ("154'), I wrote that "The new version sounds a little better, but the older version has bonus tracks that don't appear elsewhere. In my opinion, the sound quality issue is pretty minor, so I'd be the older version of this." (Meaning "154." And yeah, that was my entire post.) An hour later, my post was deleted and I was banned. Why? "We warned you about writing about insignificant bands. You've done it again and you've recommended a CD with lousy sound quality. Goodbye." As side from chart action, I'm not sure what makes Wire "insignificant." There have been other posts about them. I guess I forgot to mention the Beatles. I wouldn't mind being banned if it had actually been for breaking a rule!

That is absolutely sickening. Who judges which bands are significant to people? A Whitburn book? Hoffman? His knowledge of music made after 1975 is practically non-existent. What is the point of a forum that size if collectors can't talk about anything except the "approved" releases by "approved" artists?

Dee,

Wow -- quite a story! Beyond bizarre . . . .

Jay

Linda's let me yammer on all by myself in various threads for months about the Lovin' Spoonful deluxe boxed set of my fantasies...maybe someday I'll start a thread on these boards devoted solely to my dream in which I share my full vision for such a package with the rest of the world...or at least the 5 people that the IMWAN server will actually count as having viewed it.

Hey I'd buy that in a heartbeat, AMW. Now we just gotta find the 3 other people who are interested besides us, right?

Seriously, it would be a lot more than 5 people in line to buy such a boxed set. But it might be as many people as would buy a box by Wire and any other number of "insignificant" bands. I'll ask again, who gets to judge what music matters? It's ridiculous ~ if YOU love a band then they're significant, they matter, and they're worth bringing up as a topic in a music forum.

Hmmm...this sounds very familiar.

Our ICErs aren't going to know what you're referring to, but the parallels are uncanny, Jeff.

(Jeff is talking about a website run in a very similar manner to Hoffman's, but by a former big shot of the comic book industry.)

That's a pretty obscure reference. Linda can you tell Jeff to stop it or ban him please?

With the kind of names I start threads on here at ICE, I wouldn't last five minutes over at Hoffman.

Good God! Monkeyboy, it sounds like they really hammered you over there. They might want to check themselves when they get into one of their Jazz threads and start mentioning some names that I haven't heard of before. Some of them go very far back as well. My jaw dropped when I read your post though. It's unbelievable. They've now begun regulating taste in bands?

I needed to add something concerning the Gorts treatment of people over there and some of the culture being cultivated among themselves in their smugness as well (and you may quote me on this)- Fucking jackboots!

Steve Talia - actually, this happened quite a while ago, so it's not that they've "started" to regulate taste in bands, they've been doing it for years! I've seen several threads banned or removed for infractions of unstated and unspoken "rules." There's one gort who was halfway cool - at least I was never been banned or censored by him, and he always provided me with explanations of events which would otherwise be imponderable. For instance, one thread on an artist was closed for no clear reason. It turns out that Steve felt this artist was "drug-using scum" and should not be glorified on his board. And guess what, it is his board - sort of, at least, it appears to be funded by users. But what's obnoxious is that none of this crap is ever stated (i.e. that Steve's own twistedly conservative stances against certain behaviors and even certain genres of music are the arbiters of what can and cannot be posted.) It's a little fucked up that Steve runs has this board for reasons of personal aggrandizement and to bolster his failing career (and it is really failing, believe me) under the guise that it's "open" with "clearly posted rules" but then does what he wants with no explanations and is quick to shut down anything he doesn't like. I regard it as a sort of board for squares and amateurs. I started keeping track of what I "learned" there that I didn't come across five minutes later somewhere else, and after a couple of months, I learned this was nothing. There are usually a couple of professionals there, but they tend to leave in a hurry. And most of the people who post there don't have any real knowledge of what they're discussing (at least when it comes the business itself.) I like some of the enthusiasm people have for some things there, but I can't say I've been turned onto anything new there, and most threads on interesting bands that do survive the "jackboot" treatment die for lack of activity. So it's a fairly worthless place, IMO.

Also: I should let everyone know that the "private messages" at the Hoffman board are not private to gorts. I assumed they were, until a gort quoted one of my private messages which I'd sent to a (real life and personal) friend about an artist. It was just innocuous talk, but I was shocked to find out that the gorts can (and seemingly do) read PMs at will. So fuck 'em.

oh well.

if that's true they must really hate me.

i PM people about this place all the time!

renny

Yeah, as all the above detail, the Hoffman board went from bad to worse. As Monkeyboy put it, "I started keeping track of what I 'learned' there that I didn't come across five minutes later somewhere else, and after a couple of months, I learned this was nothing." I couldn't agree more.

Well I'm banned from SHF because of this funny (I thought it was)post:
SH responded in one (1!!!) minute with an angry response.



He edited it a minute later to cool it a bit off.



After that the 2 posts were deleted and I received a PM from Gort Mike Dow:


Baba,

In the James Taylor SH Mastered "Sweet Baby James" thread, I saw this post from you.

---Quote---
Quote:
Originally Posted by jojopuppyfish
Who wrote the letter? Anyone we know? James Taylor himself?
---End Quote---

---Quote---
Baba O'Riley: Or SH himself?
---End Quote---

Are you suggesting that Steve may have written that letter? I would like to hear from you as soon as possible.

Sincerely,
Mike Dow
---End Quote---

I responded with:
I can't post anymore? Without any notification, and *you* want from me an explanation about a post?


And now I'm banned.
Sad abuse of "power".

This is really bad. Not being allowed to mention new bands and now this?? Boy, they are really paranoid there. More so than I realized. God, I hope we never get that way. And we won't as long as Miss Linda keeps things fun and irrelevant.

Well. I guess he really did write that letter to himself.

I would buy a Lovin' Spoonful box in a second!

To celebrate it I ordered the $9 cd version Sweet Baby James

One thing is certain--I find Linda's avatars are considerably more...er...engaging than that Steve guy.