Fork in the Road
 

to all,

I have a promise to keep.

There were a few times where I felt light I was hanging on a thread to whether I should continue to be a participating member just by a single friendship. After a few friends I had left MusicBanter last year I was seriously thinking of packing it in and leaving myself. Until I met Paul and I thought he seems like a interesting enough person to talk to about music, well I might stick around after all. I thought if he ever decided to leave, I would too, because back then there wasn't much in way of discussion I was interested in and the fact some of members I knew and liked where leaving then. I thought that then, before I became acquainted with other members I considered to be friends... so now the decision is even harder to make.

So there is always this fork in the road with me whether or not I should continue to use MusicBanter. Personally some of that has to do is should I spend more time practicing than reading other people's opinions on music, and wasting time on the internet. But also there is the problem of trolling and just how it gets handle and the other people who whether or not are see as trolling just air out all their emotional issues which makes me feel less and less wanting to be a part of this place. Instead of airing out what bothers me, which I would feel only open me up to what buttons people can push I would just stop contributing. I am down to contributing next to nothing. So even if I make the decision to leave it wouldn't mean much of anything. It only proves that the best revenge is to make yourself indispensable, which I haven't. I often felt maybe I should put horse-blinders on and ignore all the immature stuff that happens, and just contribute about music, but I didn't so... I just want to add that I do not feel like leaving because of trolling got the best of me. And I feel it would be ridiculous to say to make threats of leaving, because in reality I probably left a long time ago.

So now I see Paul and Steph are out... as a friend I am not going to judge whether or not it's the best possible way to handle the situation. I would do what I would do in real life and lend my support to my friends whether other people think it is wise to do so or not. I am out as long as Paul and Steph are out. So now I have a promise to keep...

Neapolitan
☮ ♥ ♫ ∞ (peace, love and music forever)

I'm too new to fully grasp the situation but I'm sad to see anyone leave. I hope all of you decide to return, seriously.

aww later buddy. this forum will suck more without you

Seeya fella. Your life'll surely improve with less internet anyway so it's all good.

JD and Smeenus are back so maybe you'll be back...

I`m glad to hear that Paul and JD are back. I don`t count them my friends because we rarely interact with each other, but I`ve enjoyed reading their various contributions; JD with her photos and Paul with his interest in all things igneous. As I understand it, JD was briefly banned for recently describing butthead as " a piece of **** ", which raises the semantic debating point, Is it technically an insult to call someone a piece of asterisk ?

Paul and JD aside, I`ve felt something very similar to you recently, neapolitan, and I would be sad if you were to leave us. I like the way you contribute, sparingly but to the point, and you have rightly won the respect of many people here over the years. It may not be announced at every post, but I`m sure the affection is there...

Not so long ago, the thread about "Are we welcoming to newcomers?" clocked up 329 posts and there are no shortage of "MB is doomed" type threads, but do they help retain existing members? At best, these threads are followed by a flurry of well-intentioned efforts before everything subsides back to some natural base level, the way water does. Not much point trying to push water uphill, but I wonder if minor changes in individual conduct here would do anything to reduce the continual drain-off of some of our most worthy members, by which I mean people who came here keen to discuss music, hung around for a number of years, but ultimately found MB unsatisfying. The list of members like that is depressingly long and doesn`t need neapolitan added to it..... :(

this man. this. we were gonna 70s up the plug :(

Nea I seriously do not understand why you are turning this into such a big issue. Same with both of them you mentioned as well. Using music banter isnt ALL IN or NEVER LOG ON. If you are having a busy part of your life or trying to not use the internet much then just posts when you can. Maybe log on a couple times a week for a few minutes to post or reply to some things.

Some months I am on here making 10 posts a day every day and plugging. Others I post maybe 2 posts if that a week. Dont let it rule your life just keep your account and post/contribute when you can.

aka Dont leave bruh.

:clap::clap::clap:

Just to clarify, JD was not banned for an insult. She actually requested a ban because of her annoyance that butthead/dirty was still here. I subsequently banned him and unbanned her and Paul. Sometimes, people need space from here. Many people take it too seriously.

In terms of welcoming new members, that has been kept up to date. Many mods and members welcome new people in their introduction threads. In fact, we have plenty of great new people that have joined the forum in the last couple of months who have stuck around. MB is a pretty welcoming community but at the same time we can argue over things.

My personal commitment is to keep trolls like dirty off the forum so that people don't feel like they can't be bothered to post with the endless drama dominating.