Future of this Forum - for AGM on Saturday

[SOP]

FTP, you probably would get a lot out of the Music and Liturgy journal and Summer School is just wonderful. Pretty sure by going to the home page you can ask for a sample edition to be sent out to you.

However, back to the topic. Perhaps it is the registration process that needs to be tighter - real identifying email addresses. I was surprised when one of the moderators said they did not know the identity of posters. It is so long since I joined, I cannot remember what details I gave but I assumed the moderators knew who we all are.

Like Ooops, I like meeting people and accepting them for who they are, how they treat me, how they act - sometimes surprised when i find out later who they are on this forum!!! Sometimes knowing who they are puts a completely different slant on their posts and that is something people seem to forget, including me, when posting on a forum. The reader does not know the history, the tongue-in-cheek manner that is normal for someone - once you have got to know them.

I agree with the aim of protecting the moderators by stopping the role of moderator becoming a full time job in itself.

[musicus]

It's OK, SOP: admin knows who everyone is; we moderators do not. admin can do anything (on the forum); moderators can only do a subset of what he can do.

[HallamPhil]

Peter Jones' last comment seems to suggest that if you become a member then you can access the forum and all will be fine. I was unaware that there was psychological testing prior to achieving membership.

I would want to continue to welcome to membership of SSG both the sensible and the fruitcakes but to exert some scrutiny when members go public on an internet forum like this. Non-member-observers should be able to continue to do just that (and hopefully to their benefit). Membership should merely give the provisional option to contribute to the forum. Moderators should either strike folk out when they transgress the agreed forum rules or refer the matter for litigation if considered appropriate.

[Wildcat]

It has been a long time (too long!) since I have visited the forum, and I found yesterday's goings-on contrary to the spirit of SSG. I'm happy with anonymity as long as it does not encourage people to hide behind a pseudonym in order to abuse others. I have been witness to sometimes vigorous debate on the forum in the past, but it has remained courteous, on the whole. Let's keep it that way, please.
There aren't many places where Catholics and Catholic musicians can share their doubts and frustrations, or their accomplishments. Likewise, where would people go for frank debate and the occasional quick tip or suggestion?
After all, while we're agonizing about that staccato Csharp, the music goes on, just like the present "wrinkles" in our liturgy are in a given part of the Catholic world, and for a certain time only. Eventually, we'll make it work. Catholics always find a way.
I will be at the AGM on Saturday, and I will be sure to pay special attention to the forum debate.

[HallamPhil]

I would want to say that I know nothing of yesterday's discussion. Since they have clearly caused offence I trust they have now been removed.

[Peter Jones]

Since they have clearly caused offence I trust they have now been removed.

Phil - given:

.......admin knows who everyone is; we moderators do not. admin can do anything (on the forum); moderators can only do a subset of what he can do.

I'm not sure that the moderators have the capability at present to remove posts and threads.

[musicus]

Sorry. I don't express that very well. Admin is, if you like, the forum's webmaster. He decides what everyone can do, whether they be moderators, registered users or guests. In fact, he has (fairly recently) given the moderators all the powers they need (we always could remove posts and threads).

We are, of course, reviewing all the recent activity and will act accordingly. For more on this, see the forum's House Rules.

[Calum Cille]

I am confident that we will see changes for the better following the AGM on Saturday. There are several ways in which we might weed out the trolling and the invective, thereby restoring both the supportive and friendly atmosphere of this forum and its reputation, and debate at the AGM (and, indeed, on here and by PM) will inform the decision making.

This is a very timely discussion.

Indeed it is. I'm very pleased to see that, at last, the Society of Saint Gregory are showing serious concern about serious matters which concern this forum.

[HallamPhil]

There would seem to be a danger in occupying high ground. When the mists come you only see what little is at the peak rather than the panorama all around. (oh ... I'm sounding like Cantona!)

[Calum Cille]

There would seem to be a danger in occupying high ground. When the mists come you only see what little is at the peak rather than the panorama all around. (oh ... I'm sounding like Cantona!)

Presuming you would want to be on the mountain having seen the panorama!

[SOP]

There would seem to be a danger in occupying high ground. When the mists come you only see what little is at the peak rather than the panorama all around. (oh ... I'm sounding like Cantona!)

[Gedackt flute]

Okay,

Here's my 5 cents.

The forum should be closed, then re-opened as a members-only forum along the lines of 'Lotus notes'.

We are all human, and perhaps the place for vituperitive blogging lies elsewhere (if at all).

John Quinn

[musicus]

Thank you, everyone, for your helpful contributions. Please keep them coming.

[keitha]

It is a little unfortunate that this thread was opened without any prior notice to the Chairman or Secretary of the Association, because it gives the impression that decisions about this forum might be made at the AGM on Saturday.

The effect of the Society’s constitution is that all matters pertaining to this forum are the sole responsibility of the Executive Committee (the ‘Trustees’). In addition, if any member wishes to have a resolution put to the AGM, he or she must give notice of it to the Chairman or Secretary at least 21 days before the date of the meeting, supported by the signatures of at least two other members. The Trustees do not have the power to waive this requirement.

The Trustees discussed the forum at their last meeting and will be doing so again at their next meeting, planned for early December. In the meantime, the Chairman has decided that members should be invited to express their views in a discussion at the AGM so as to enable the Trustees to take them into consideration during their deliberations.

Keith AInsworth

[quaeritor]

I seem to have missed all the fun - turned my back for a few moments and Mayhem! (Haven't I written this post before some time ago?)

Thought I'd try to see what all the fuss is about, so went to read a certain thread - big mistake

My plea: - however deep the c**p is piled, under no circumstances close this forum. Thoughts of babies and bathwater come to mind. I came to the forum to find stuff out (the clue's in the name, as long as I made it up right). There was the Maqurray thread not long ago (should have guessed from the title the tone it would take) in which "despite my very best endeavours" as the saying goes, I got embroiled in a discussion which seemed, shall we say, to lack point. Solution: stop posting (unless, you wonder, he was posting under another pseudonym ) Result: some really interesting and useful information then emerged, which I would never have stumbled on in any other way.

When I joined I hadn't even heard of the GIRM. Those to whom such matters are the bread and butter of daily life should realise how patchy the disemination of information is outside of the inner circle (not a pejorative term in this para) of involved people. I doubt if there are more than about three or four people in my parish who have ever heard of the GIRM and CTM. Where would someone like me start if not in this forum?

Would you really want me to learn about the liturgy from the Daily Telegraph blogs? - come to think of it, even there I am ahead of the curve (as indeed anyone reading here is) in that I know about Google, and Blogs and such things in general, but specialised sites that I have learned about by references here would have passed me by

Save the forum!!

Q