Part of what I do for SE is to see how their web presence looks. When I search for "Chapman Stick" I find all kinds of great sites by players, press, etc. I also find a lot of pages put up by TT, all of which have misinformation on them about The Stick, Stick Enterprises, etc., including ads on google, etc.

I have a choice:

I could completely ignore it, assuming that everyone who doesn't know about The Stick will also be able to figure out his game.

I can make a few posts to this forum, letting people know what's going on (which I think is good for newbies, especially).

Or I can post a lot of counter-rhetoric, dealing with each piece of misinformation, which is not really what I'd like to spend my time doing.

As long as people realize that wherever they see Megatar and Chapman Stick together on the same website, it's probably marketing spin by TT, then that's all I'm concerned with.

You seem more like a stalker to me, hiding behind a screen-name to defend people you are too embarrassed to defend with your face.

Thankfully your post was still in the RSS feed before you erased it:



Excellent contribution to the thread, I couldn't have done it better myself.

Voting is anonymous. But you can only vote once. With the internet, you can cast as many posts as you like under as many assumed identities as your push-button allows. This can tip the scales sometimes.

Sounds like a dead-end job to me.

not only do you only get to vote once, echoing Dan, but by voting you can not misinform, distort or flat out lie about another person or subject matter while hiding behind some pseudonym or fake identity.

Randy

Cyber-stalking!

This from the gentleman who contacted me directly when I was searching for a Stick, presumably having stalked the forum looking for prey!

Now most people would never agree with Mr Tritone .......



But sometimes you just gotta agree with him.

I'm not sure what handing over the focus of this thread to Traktor Topaz does to bolster an argument or make a point. Yes, people sometimes use alter-egos to infiltrate forums. While we can't and shouldn't "do something" about it, it is irresponsible and disingenuous and if they're called out, so much the better. Better still to utterly ignore them after the act. His alter-egos are just that, and easily exposed, as are any that are made on this forum. While it's not exactly hijacking this thread, it is leading us all away from the subject.

This is a serious issue, one beyond assuming an alter ego in order to sell a product. This goes to the heart of our ability to remain secure in our ability to write, speak, and communicate anonymously. I believe Surfindogg and dubyasee made some great points in this thread. What might have happened to the Iraqi people if they were forced to identify themselves before voting? Would anyone show up? Why must I identify myself in order to state an opinion, write an article or book, critique someone else's opinion, state my opposition to a law, or anything else on the internet? What will this legislation accomplish? Who will it benefit?



John,

I respectfully disagree with your opinion in the first paragraph. Any bad review is done either unintentionally or with malice, otherwise the reviewer would consider it a GOOD, FAIR review of bad work... and I'm not sure how one would unintentionally write a bad review, if his point is to commend and agree with one's theory. Also, I'm assuming the validity of the review is in direct proportion to the validity of the theory/research itself, correct? So, that just leaves the malice part, which should be fairly easy to identify as such if the reviewer's facts don't add up regarding the evaluation. Such instances should be ignored by the scientific community, obviously, and will, in time, be relegated to "curiosity" status, as anyone who ever called Einstein a fool could attest.

Kev

Hey Kevin,

I agree with you that anonymity should be protected. I think the point is that there's a difference between anonymity itself and how people use or abuse it. If it's being abused, and the purpose of that abuse is to publish misinformation about something I care about, then I'd feel guilty not saying something.

Much of the time an opinion is not an opinion at all, but rather an agenda (or a lie) masquerading as one.

The more I look at internet postings of all kinds the more I am convinced that the information you find online is even more suspect than what you find published in physical form, especially when it comes to things like "news" where deadlines trump verification, and crowd-sourcing, where the most aggressive majority "wins." And it's not that the information we find is all wrong, it's that enough of it is wrong that we should question all of it.

I do my research and make my points. Since usually the only argument from the anonymous posters with what I write tends to come in the form of personal attacks, I guess at least I'm getting the facts straight.



And to Tetrachord, I love working for Emmett. He has more integrity in one wizened gray hair than I could ever hope to have, but I'm learning.

The next thing I post will be on a much more inspired subject...

Wow - I didn't think I would ever see the day when somebody compares the plight of people being systematically murdered and tortured by a dictator as being comparable to someone wanting to anonymously whine or lie about a $3,000 musical instrument in a forum...

Good grief - this is a STICK forum, not "Human Rights Watch" or the Tunisian Freedom Movement Blog...if you have to state your opinions about playing a Stick or some other pricey musical instrument anonymously, then you need to grow a pair. You think Tritone or LoopStationMoron would say the things that they say in this forum if they were not posting anonymously?

You know why you dont walk up to some big jerk in line who is mouthing off and tell him to STFU? Cuz he's going to turn around and put you on the floor. Just like the reason that Tritone would never walk up to Steve A. or Greg (or me for that matter) and call us "shills" or say we have a "bloated level of stupidity" to our face - because he knows there are no repercussions for his action when he posts anonymously. He just gets more people typing away and acting indignant....

Randy

Greg,

I completely agree. Being absolutely skeptical is essential in today's world. I've called people out before, and I'm in total philosophical agreement there as well.

I do hope that you will join me in fighting this legislation, and that you will investigate and fight implementation of the Food Safety & Modernization Act in our state as well.

Peace,

Kev

Hey Randy,

Yes, it's a Stick forum. And if you want to discuss the Stick, go on over to the 10 or so places where folks are talking about the Stick. This place is called "The Lounge", where it's appropriate to post things that aren't Stick-related. If you take the time to research my posts, you'll find I described the difference between a musical forum and the importance of political dissent. The reason I'm posting such things here is that I find Stick players (and tappers in general) to be intellectual (... most of them...), and older; more likely to be involved in the affairs of state.

No, I wouldn't do anything like what you said. I'm a grown man with a life. Speaking of growing a pair, I have eight children. You?

Kev