What's the deal with the Hoffman boards? I posted to a thread about plagiarism that was 32 pages long. I posted 3 times, and my final post was the last I was aware of in the thread. Now, when I try to refresh that page, I get an error message that I n longer have "permission” to access that web page. And the thread seems to have been deleted, I can't find it anymore by either searching or browsing. What gives?

32 pages? You must have used up all of the character allotment.
Please provide the "Cliff Notes" version if you have ideas of posting it here.

Rick A.

32 pages?

you probably said something about someone or something that is a no-no there. many many subjects are off-limits over there.

The Cliff notes version is that I mentioned the Eagles "Long run" was very reminiscent of the song "Trying to Live my life without you" written by Eugene Williams. First popularized by Otis Clay in the 60's and then Bob Seger in the 80's.t Someone posted saying it was Otis Clay who should feel aggrieved. I pointed out that it was the songwriter Eugene Williams that had the right to sue for plagiarism. Then all hell broke loose.

Badmouthing the Eagles is a good way to piss off middle-aged white people.

I've yet to hear a compelling reason to join the Hoffman site. The more I hear, the more convinced I am that it's best to stay far away.

I have to agree. Sometimes I'll go through their archive, such as when an SH thread comes up in a Google search--for example, the recent Japanese SHM Who remasters--but I have no interest in joining in. (Althoiugh the fact that I would likely be banned within four seconds of joining is also, admittedly, a factor.)

I think you have to know how to pick and choose the threads you get involved in. Some are set up from the jump to be argumentative, some aren't. The best ones are informative and fun, and you can learn a lot about all types of music. A lot of the members write well and know what they are talking about, with quite a few industry folk involved. The Off Topic section gets into some pretty interesting areas, and if it's kept civil, they're usually allowed to run their course. They can get a bit heavy handed as to what gets edited out or just made flat out gone, but I think the positives outweigh the negatives by a wide margin. I even managed to re-connect with an old buddy of mine from the CBGB/New York Rocker/Maxwells days there. I'd say give it a shot.

Actually you'll find some of the same members from here (myself included) on the SH boards. I find some of it interesting, however, it IS tiring that that are like 50,000 threads about the Monkees, the Beatles, Led Zeppelin, et al., but I basically ignore those -- just like I do here

It's always encouraging to read about some of the OTHER artists out there! When I start a thread there, it's nice to get some feedback on it -- unlike on here, when I can see my threads are being VIEWED, but no one is COMMENTING (too busy on those Monkees and Van Halen threads I guess)!

Yeah, but how many Britney Spears threads do they have over there in Hoffmanland?

I rest my case.

So start your own! I mean someone started a thread about an upcoming LaToya Jackson CD reissue and other members joined in (and most of them, positively)!

I've been a member there for about 2 1/2 years and sometimes it surprises me. As "family friendly" as they like to keep it, and as non political as they like to keep it, I had started a thread last Father's Day about my dad being gay and how that tied into the upcoming vote on gay marriage. It stayed up for a bit, which, as I said, surprised me. But you can start a thread on the most obscure band and get hits on it. My only problem is the whole Beatles/Macca/Who/Monkees/Zeppelin overkill. Threads on new bands don't tend to last long, and the misogyny/veiled homophobia rankles me no end. But you learn who to ignore, who to pay attention to, and you can have some fun.

I've never been to the Hoffman boards, but from everything I've ever heard about them, the guy's a ginormous douchebag, and this kind of thing (people getting banned without warning, threads disappearing for no apparent reason) is just par for the course.

IMO, you're better off well away from there.

I am an audiophile, & would be interested but............. I don't do fascism which is what that board sounds like from most of the descriptions here.

I very occasionally will read a thread there either from a Google link or a link from here.

Wait, who were we talking about again?

I ignore probably 85% of the postings there because the bands simply don't interest me. I feel pretty good though that I started threads on some relatively obscure artists, like Tina Dickow, Jill Barber, the Lijadu Sisters, etc. and there were actual conversations that ensued! I mean they are not 55 pages like some of the others, but hey, it's nice to know there are others that were interested enough in my post to read it and respond! As a gay man myself, there IS veiled (and not-so-veiled) homophobia there, but I also find it in some instances here on IMWAN, so I just speak my mind or ignore it.

You know.... Self-loathing "Artiste". Used to be top dog in his field, but now mostly hangs out on his vanity forum, surrounded by yes-men & grousing about the current state of the industry that's passed him by.

My musical tastes are...pretty much my own, and I recognize that. The problem is that I don't really like message boards that are devoted soley to a particular artist I like (with the glaring exception of http://www.elvis-collectors.com).

For example, I'll start a Dylan thread here, and there's not a lot of Dylan collectors here, I know that, but I try and pass along stuff of interest to collectors and fans and nobody really seems to mind...but I tried joining the Facebook group for the UK "Isis" fansite, and I don't fault the admins over there, but I'll be damned if within a couple of weeks A.J. frigging Weberman wasn't posting his psycho crap. (I have to believe it was the real AJ Weberman--I mean, why would anybody with any self-esteem try impersonating that guy online?) So I quit that group in a hurry.

This place is also somewhat more organized. Particular titles by an artist tend to get their own threads, but there's really only one dedicated Beatles thread on here.

All that said, I'm not much of an audiophile. A few years back, somebody here pasted a link to a Hoffman thread in which they were ripping into some guy who had posted--not at SH, but on Amazon--his audio preferences, which ran afoul of the famed "breath of life" theory of...whatever. Ugh.

I enjoy the Dylan threads! Just never have anything to contribute.

Well of course, now that you put it that way, it clears everything up!

I actually heard back from the Webmaster of the SH site. He blamed the deletion of the thread on industry types who lurk but don't post, and them complain to him.

Of course, there is a completely separate thread about plagiarism that's still up, but . . whatever. Like many who have posted here, I just pick and choose over there,