You might also have liked to observe the etiquette in which posters don't call each other by their real names without consent

There have been a lot of heated words from various sides in the last few days, both on and off these boards. I hope most of you will appreciate that it hardly seems fair for personalised criticisms to be posted on the board when I have no opportunity to reply to them. The precise reasons for which oliver first contacted me (to do with the amount of politics on the board), and then afterwards the moderator made demands, have been discussed at length, and it is probably not productive to continue that. I do have a few simple proposals which I believe can help bring about some sort of amicable solution to all of this. Obviously there are some rather fraught personal relationships which have resulted; in those cases I would suggest simply that we all try to keep these off the boards if possible, and simply choose not to reply to others' posts if there are some other antagonisms involved. I would most definitely adhere to that as long as others will do likewise. There have been other things at stake, complicated matters that go well beyond the boundaries of this board, and in some senses extend back to the earlier board (well, earlier version of the 'official' board!).

When a board is new, the manner and style of posting does take some time to work itself out; clearly my feelings on what might be an appropriate style are not shared by numerous others. That is fair enough; one of the things I like about this board is that it seems to be able to combine casual and flippant stuff (for example, in the various Coffee Bar threads) with more serious discussions about musical matters in other places, and various things in between. Now, it seems as if the contentious areas, as far as my own postings are concerned, have to do with debating style, amount of explicit politics involved, and length and frequency of messages. To which I might suggest the following:

1. There is surely a place for heated debate, including that between quite antagonistic viewpoints. However, I can see how this can get out of hand and should probably be taken elsewhere (the exchange between Alistair and I on the Orientalism thread is an example - the whole thread would read very differently without that). So I would simply suggest that, does that occur, whoever is involved, either a moderator or another poster can simply suggest that it is taken somewhere else, or that the tone is moderated. I will respect that if the other party also will. It would be unduly limiting if only things where there is a reasonably clear consensus can be debated.
What I would ask in this context, and mention in my own defence, is that people do not intervene in a thread to declare a subject unworthy of discussion, or to pass patronising judgement on others' posts without offering anything of their own. That to me seems a type of attempt to impose closure, and I find it rather aggressive when the poster concerned has not tried to contribute any actual arguments to the debate.
The other point has to do with whether some things become too academic, dogged, and seemingly aggressive and intimidating on my part. I do post references and things (I had hoped that taking the trouble to do so might be welcomed), sometimes to simply give some information that I have to hand and is not available online, sometimes to try and broaden perspectives and (hopefully) widen the scope of the debates. I can see this is not always appropriate, though would point out that some of the more trenchant posts that do so come about when called upon to substantiate some rather more contentious positions, especially when some argue that they are nothing more than some cranky ideas exclusive to me. I just wonder if we could have some guidelines on this in the mod rules?

2. Explicit politics. My own political viewpoints are, I would argue, simply more explicit than those of others, and I don't believe that many things are not 'political' in some broad sense of the word. Now, I perfectly accept and respect that others will disagree with me on that, and my own views have fluctuated somewhat over the years, not least after discussing such an issue at length with various others. What would clearly be a real problem is if in musical threads or boards, political issues unrelated to music forever come up and take over things (as often happens at r.m.c.r., for example). We have a separate News and Current Affairs section for that. Personally, I find attempts to relate the very fabric of music to the social context from which it emerged an essential part of deeper interpretation, and would argue that whenever we hear music, we somehow 'interpret' it in terms of wider contexts. I know some disagree with me, I respect their right to think differently, and just hope they respect my right to hold my position (arrived at over a long period of time) as well. If we were not forever debating whether or not it is even legitimate to talk about music in these terms, then I think a lot of unnecessary heat would be dissipated. Could we simply draw a line under that debate and agree to differ? I would point out that some threads that I've posted extensively to, or initiated, such as ones to do with Chopin, Faure and to some extent Godowsky, are not obviously 'political' (if pushed, I would argue than in a wider sense they are, but that argument maybe does not any longer need to be pushed).

3. Length and frequency of messages. The fact that this board allows successive postings without delay was welcomed by many. Again, if it is seen as unreasonable to post more than a certain amount, could we arrive at some guidelines on this. With respect to length, there is a limit to how long a post can be. If too-long posts are a problem, could this length not simply be made less?

As I said before, there has been a lot of heat generated for which I certainly bear some responsibility. What I cannot accept is that I bear *exclusive* responsibility for this - much of it has come from exchanges between myself and just a small handful of other posters. There surely needs to be some give and take on various sides on this matter. I will do that so long as I am not alone in that respect. What is sauce for the goose, pots and kettles, etc. [insert appropriate cliche at this point! ].

There is another final serious point I have to bring up. This board was set up in response to what were seen as draconian regulations on the other boards, brought about for all sorts of reasons, including because of criticisms of those in charge. If that was an objection, then I can hardly see how a suspension for arguing with a moderator here (the reason given was 'repetitive and argumentative posts') is any different - would anyone, if called to account, not feel justified in trying to defend themselves if they thought some of the criticisms were unjust, and when massive demands were being made? Furthermore, many here are criticising Radio 3 itself for dumbing-down, becoming too safe, and so on. The irony of so doing when asking for similar things on this messageboard surely cannot go unremarked upon.

I hope it will be possible to resolve things in these sorts of ways. I do actually learn a lot from others posts here (some of which I don't comment upon, simply because I have nothing much to add, or don't know much about the subject). I started the 'Camp' thread whilst preparing a piece of writing of my own on the subject, as part of a book, and wanted to solicit the thoughts and views of others outside of theorists on the matter. The resulting text I later completed would not have been the same without absorbing some of the contributions on here. And some of the thoughts on orientalism and occidentalism in particular are already further stimulating other stuff I am independently writing on that subject. I would like to think I and others would be able to continue this sort of process; simply if some people don't find the subjects of interest or even worth debating, then why don't they just skip to another thread? No-one surely finds everything on this board of equal interest.

I hope the suspension will be lifted soon and things can become calm and friendly once more.

Ian