I suppose if it became too expensive, you'd sacrifice it so someone else could shelter you from it? Partial freedom is not freedom.

The fool has always been and always will be the free man's burden. We live in a world of violent goons, and if we don't fight to preserve our freedoms in the midst of their violence we will become their slaves.

K

This is the price of preserving any freedom and it's a price worth paying ... as difficult as it can be at times.

I agree

Kev said: "Pseudonyms are not only common on the net, they are the rule rather than the exception. Preservation of anonymity is essential if we are to preserve the free nature of the internet. That's why people do it. Doesn't matter what their identity is, only the content of the message."

I like pseudonyms and use one. B# would be C of course, a nice reference note and it also stands for Chapman (in case nobody knew). I like costumes too but never wear one (I'm always just me). Avatars are the best of all, imaginative and liberating. I'd like to have one.

But I still don't get it. Why is anonymity so important to the virtual world? And why does free Internet speech depend on it?

Nature provided us with distinctive faces, and voices, and the subtle but powerful capacity to recognize these. Members of a small town community are easily identified. Also, reputations gained over time are taken into consideration when evaluating over-the-fence gossip.

Someone new to the community is a "stranger" for a while until trust is built up. This seems to me to be the natural way of human culture.

In a virtual community like ours, the Internet offers a new capability, anonymity, and on top of this technical feature we have a cultural trend in the same direction. We do get to know the stranger through his written language, but solely on that one dimension, it seems.

So what are we doing besides expressing ourselves? (Tower of Babel, babies playing "together" in a sandbox.) Is there a community being created or are we merely writing in the sand?

So again, how is Internet freedom bound together with anonymity? Emmett

Hi Greg, (and Matt of Heartstrings) I come in peace, but I hope you take a moment to think about what I need to say!
I haven't been writing to this forum for a while, simply because I have been so busy with my guitar duties, that my stick playing has been on and off the shelf lately. Fortunately now I will have more time to dedicate to the Stick so I will be writing here more often .
I have been lurking here though, and every now and then try to keep up to date what's going on here.. Each time I have been VERY close to logging in and writing a reply here and there, is when there has been a fight! Simply because it saddend me to watch how tension arises and how much bridges get burned, because of mis-interpretation and unresolved sarcasm.



Quoted text:
-----I've noticed that the only time you (and Tetrachord) participate here is when there's a fight going on. Sorry the forum isn't interesting to you at other times. At least now we know why you're here (cheap thrills, indeed).-----

By this statement, I think you are way more out of line than Tritone (btw, I don't think tritone is out of line at all) or Tetrachord!! By saying something like that you are practically asking people who are admiring you or/and who respect you to think poorly, ignore and just not take tritones and tetrachords posts seriously anymore----> and thus making them feel alienated in this forum (...and thus making the rest of the posters who support your statement look like the "acolytes", or "fanboys"). That is simply wrong

I would feel very alienated from this forum if it would have been my name you mentioned along with Tritone and Tetrachord! If I might pop up to say a thing or two when things get hot in here, it is because in the years that I have played the Stick I have noticed that there is something terribly, terribly wrong in the tapping community (I'm sure we all have a different perspective what that is,hence all the tension...)!!

Again, I come in peace. I would not want to risk my online reputation, or friendship with you for beeing totally honest!

It looks like that this form of anonymity more and more builds the basis of speaking and living free of boundaries within the internet . That explains why some participant hurt the feelings of their fellow men by stating their opinion in a harsh way because they loose control. They would not loose this control if they would talk to the person they criticize eye to eye. And this seems to be the problem. In the Internet most people are no longer acting as if they were talking to a living human being, because from their point of view (in front of their computer screen) they are more or less talking to an avatar, a user name, an artificial placeholder that, in the best case shows more or less the personality of the one they are "talking" to or "shouting" at. This anonymity, which seems undoubtedly to build the basis of the so called freedom of the internet, seduces members of all kind of forums to act rude while stating their opinion. They freak out and nobody takes them and their arguments seriously, even if their intentions are good or at least intended to be constructive.

We need to rethink and brush up our behaving and manners in the internet and especially within this forum. It is one of a kind. We should be aware of this fact and appreciate the possibilities Manny, our host, offers us. Otherwise we will destroy it and reduce it to a sort battlefield.

This might sound drastic, but every time Traktor rears up his head in this forum everybody seems to freak out, myself included...This is not good. This does not have anything to do with freedom.

Just my 2 Cents...

This is the nature of discourse on the modern day internet. Being an aging technology guy, I worked with usenet and other early forms of communication before there was a www. Back then and even in the early www, the level of discourse was amazing. Then "Black Sunday" happened. That's what we in the business affectionately referred to as the day America Online provided internet access to all of their customers. Almost overnight the discourse degraded into the Jerry Springer show. It was really quite remarkable.

The question begs however, which is the real you (or me). Is the discourse we see online representative of people's true colors? Is this the personality that, prior to anonymity, people would hide in fear of the repercussions? Kind of a "chicken and egg" kind of question I guess.

Personally I made it my ambition years ago to never talk to someone online in any way that I wouldn't do it to their face. Have I succeeded 100% of the time? I don't know. Probably not. But I try. The other place I tend to frequent as much as this one is a forum made up of professional hockey fans. When certain city residents are logged in at the same time, the discussions would make any fight that has ever happened here look like Sunday mass. My buttons have been pushed once or twice

Hi Tom,

The fact that you sign your posts automatically gives you more credibility in my eyes. Perhaps I need to change my way of thinking to adapt to an anonymous world. The fact that so many of us here know each other personally complicates things. If we were all anonymous we'd all be equal. Some of us have to watch out step. Sometimes I fail sometimes I succeed.

I try to read everything that's written to me as an opportunity to learn something.

George Washington wrote, "The opinion and advice of my friends I receive at all times as proof of their friendship and am thankful when they are offered."

I definitely agree with this way of thinking. So I take what you say to heart. I suppose I could extend this to anonymous people too, but it's admittedly harder for me to do this.

I once started participating in a discussion on Tappistry anonymously. Though no one asked me who I was I felt like I couldn't really affect a change until I came forward and wrote from my heart and under my own name.

I did that and it made a difference. I would submit that people who want to make a difference should sign their name. People who just want to make a point don't need to.

I'm here to make a difference.

Thanks for your input. I hope, if you still think I'm being out of line, that you'll let me know.

omfg.

It's like I've landed in Fairie Land;
Where nobody swears
and everyone is sickly sweet
and cool-aid drinking princesses twirl and spin
and there's the most God Awful lute-like Stick music playing everywhere I turn.

Kill me now.

Thanks Greg, you and me are cool, don't worry! I apprechiate that you take my remarks seriously and other people will value that as well!

Greg, you speak very devotedly for the things you stand for. That alone makes a difference! That alone inspires a lot of people (including my self) who are struggling on wether they become serious about tapping! But sometimes it's easy to become a little un-conditional on the things we stand for! We all stand for different things, at least a little bit. So occasionally I might/will disagree with you Greg (and other members)! I guarantee you though, I will address my point of view with the utmost ethiquette of speech, and would not expect any less from you in return! I would never want to be in a situation, like where I would feel un-confortable to come up to you and shake your hand if I someday attend one of your seminars!!

I too stand for a thing or two...and I too would rather be the kind of person who makes a difference!

Did I make a difference?
Let's put it whis way: I have no reason to hide my identity. I'm a friendly guy, and would not start fights here, but I will intervene if things get unfair! I have done a tremendous amount of work in my devotion towards music and playing, so I am very proud of the little achievements I might have gained on my career. I only barely make a living as a musician.. and I have learned the lesson of ethiquettes on the internet: I would never compromise my achievements, reputatuon and connections over some internet forum quarrel!
I consider ALL tappers to be my brothers and sisters: from Emmett to Adam Fulara, from Bob Colbertson to Stanley Jordan, from Trey Gunn to Pascal Glanville...list goes on. I respect talent and devotion, what ever the genre is and what ever the instrument/tuning is!

That is what I stand for, and I will not compromise that!