• Ernie Ball
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  • Sterling by MusicMan

bovinehost

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I’m going to paraphrase and outright steal from some of the things Sterling said to the moderators, but I also will add a bit of my own outlook, having been around since pterodactyls darkened the Texas skies.

We have to tighten up control on the forum. Secondary responsibility for that falls on us, the mods and admins, but it will of course primarily be the members’ responsibility to control things. In other words, don’t make a mess and we won’t have to clean it up!

Sterling: “Familiarity and comfort can lead to forgetting that this is a corporate forum. Your comments ultimately reflect on our company and not the offending poster.”

There is nothing inherently wrong with familiarity and comfort, of course. Many of us have met or know each other in real life and so on. As an example, I am friends with Sterling and his family and many of the EBMM employees, but this doesn’t give me carte blanche to answer questions that are better answered by, say, Dudley or Dargin or Sterling. If after all these years, I still think carefully about how to approach a given subject, I don’t think it’s too much to ask you guys to do the same.

Sterling: “The forum started with no rules. Period. Every rule and change has been made necessary by people who get crazy. We are just going to delete posts that don’t work.” And please, don’t PM me or anyone else about your First Amendment rights. If you don’t know by now that I hate deleting things, you know it now. But delete it I will, and the only person I have to defend it to is BP.

Some things should be obvious but are not, so I’ll be as clear as possible.

1. Sterling: “Any threads that contain negative criticism of other players will immediately be deleted.“ I can’t imagine there would be any question about this. No one expects you to absolutely love every new band you hear, but “Wow, these guys suck” is simply unnecessary. If you don’t like it, don’t comment. Negative response is not an option. And this isn’t just about EBMM artists. Everyone in the music business is working hard to do the best they can. Let’s respect our fellow musicians even if what they do isn’t our cup of tea.

2. Sterling: “Posts containing politics, race, creed, sexual orientation, and country of origin will also be deleted.” He reserves the right to make English dental jokes.

3. Sterling: “Sexual innuendos are out.” Every time a female member joins up or Kevin or Derek post a pic of a female endorsee, I can tell you that a few of us hold our breath, waiting for the junior high sexual commentary. We’re seldom disappointed. Yes, the female endorsees do check the forum and yes, they are offended. Treat them like you want your daughters/sisters to be treated and let’s put an end to it without moderation. PLEASE.

If the mods get three PMs about a particular member being “rude, abrupt, combative, or terminally negative”, we will contact the offending party and let them know that they are not making a positive contribution here. The offender will be on double secret probation. Any further trouble and the account will be terminated. And yes, we DO get PMs about certain obvious troublemakers, although as a bassist I’m relieved to say it’s mostly on the guitar side. But not always.

My take is that all of this should be common sense and usually is. The vast majority of you guys are positive, contributing members and I don’t want you to feel as if everyone is being painted with the same broad stroke. Not the case at all. A few – a very few – bad apples really can spoil the whole barrel. I have lived through and dealt with a case or two of this on the forum and it’s just no fun for anyone involved, especially the good guys.

So just tighten it up a bit if you need to, please. I thank you on behalf of Sterling and all the moderators. And as the boss said, “It sounds like a bummer but I think that the vast majority will appreciate the more positive friendly environment.”
 

2ndBassGuitar

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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
Just a quick note to say I have read the thread (the first one I believe) and to say that I enjoy the forum and will try to scale back my dry "north of your border" humour (yes that is how that word is spelled) - oops did it again. Well I did say try!
 
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oli@bass

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Jul 23, 2007
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Switzerland
2. Sterling: “Posts containing politics, race, creed, sexual orientation, and country of origin will also be deleted.”

Does that mean Gearhunters post above will be deleted because he mentioned he's Candadian? Joke aside, I'd like to better understand the "country of origin" rule. Please explain.
 

bovinehost

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Does that mean Gearhunters post above will be deleted because he mentioned he's Candadian? Joke aside, I'd like to better understand the "country of origin" rule. Please explain.

Attempts at humor regarding country of origin. Americans love to make fun of the French, the English like to make fun of everyone, the Peruvians hassle the Ecuadorians, the Argentines hate everyone - you know.
 

Big Poppa

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Feb 9, 2005
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Coachella & SLO, California
Basically Oli it comes down to people getting personal....Making broad negative statements because of the country they are from. For example there have been a few threads where someone from France got bashed and then his homeland followed.

Jack is trying to be nice and I have a choice....either I ignore most threads, leave or try to get this place back a little.

HEre is my take. Most issues arrive when someone states their opinion. We are good up to now. Then someone states a dissenting opinion. As long as there are no personal attacks we are still great....Where the problem ALWAYS starts is that one or both decide that it is not possible to believe what you believe and then they start trying to win/defend their argument and then it ALWAYS gets personal. One person who stirs it up always is rude and then says that the people who he offended dont have a sense of humor. When you decide that you are going to beat your point into the ground all but the first opinion will be deleted. I call this the agro last word syndrome.

The Female thing has caused the company a lot of headaches.......The memberts here drive away all females....Notice that none of the female employees post here? Notice why female artists always leave? The comment about not saying anything regarding their gender or a clever innuendo regarding their anatomy is the great first rule....the second is that dont say anything that you wouldnt like your sister to hear.

I will not and neiother will the mods debate this. Most of the time you wont notice a difference.....

To summarize

Dont try to win every argument...make your point and agree to disagree.

Stop being rude to minorities, women, etc.

Dont bash musicians here. I dont personally like a lot of stuff but I was raised to respect fellow musicians. That is only right here too.
 
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RobertB

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Denver area.
Notice that none of the female employees post here? Notice why female artists always leave?

Yes, I definitely had noticed this, as well as the decline in posts from female members in general. I think it stinks, and the reasons are obvious and embarrassing. And like you guys have said, it's not that offensive comments are prevalent, necessarily, but how many does it take to be offensive and to discourage more active participation? Not many, I would think.

All the points being discussed are important, but this is one I've been particularly mindful of, due to the rarity of posts from the women - it didn't used to be that way. I hope we can eliminate the occasional flare up of "locker room mentality" that's responsible for this. It gets old hearing from just the guys all the time.

Regarding my own contributions, I have a tendency to get negative in one particular type of case ... it's usually when someone new is being rude, or some times when I just THINK they are. But it just adds to the overall negativity, and as BP said, reflects more on the forum itself than on the OP, so I hereby recommit to keeping my mouth shut in those cases. It's slightly neurotic for me - a non stakeholder in the matter - to be that concerned about it anyway, and I'm personally better off to just chill.
 

FunkyPunky

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All around the world...
1. Sterling: “Any threads that contain negative criticism of other players will immediately be deleted.“ I can’t imagine there would be any question about this. No one expects you to absolutely love every new band you hear, but “Wow, these guys suck” is simply unnecessary. If you don’t like it, don’t comment. Negative response is not an option. And this isn’t just about EBMM artists. Everyone in the music business is working hard to do the best they can. Let’s respect our fellow musicians even if what they do isn’t our cup of tea.

I am totally with you - comments like these are simply unnecessary.

Though it leaves me wondering what is wrong about saying "I like player X better than player Y"? I remember that such a reply from the "Ozzy Content" thread was deleated some days ago. Just asking: Isn't that maybe a bit too much?
 

bovinehost

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I am totally with you - comments like these are simply unnecessary.

Though it leaves me wondering what is wrong about saying "I like player X better than player Y"? I remember that such a reply from the "Ozzy Content" thread was deleated some days ago. Just asking: Isn't that maybe a bit too much?

No. You're misremembering the comment.
 

LawDaddy

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May 3, 2009
Messages
764
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Auburn, CA
Jack, thanks for this. My bass-playing daughter would love to be an endorsee some day, and I would hate to have her subjected to some of the comments. She hears enough of those at high school.
 

rizzo9247

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Nov 2, 2007
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NYC, NY, USA
I consider this one of the very few civilized music forums available, let's keep it as cool as the other side of the pillow.

w00t
 
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