Hold your horses, opi, please. There's a poll in operation. Vote. I don't think John or Michael are unresonable men. If it's important, it's worth a fight.

It would appear that the punters voice is not going to be heard, poll or no poll.

Well, I thought it was worth a try.

Opi, I'll miss your posts, especially your enthusiasm for all things Janacek and Mackerras. I see you've already starting the process of deleting posts...it makes the start of the Musical Connections thread seem bizarre!! Do post on the old R3 boards....I'd love to know what you made of the Haenchen 'Rheingold'.  Leb wohl for now...but I hope you can hang around.

John, I don't know whether to laugh or cry....

IGI, I hope you don't cry, it's only a music forum 

It's fairwell from him 

I voted in the poll, and then saw the mod's unreasoned and unreasonable dismissal of its results.



John, you've made a terrible decision and you've become exactly the sort of moderator this site was set up to avoid, pushing exactly the same people away who first abandoned TOP.  These boards were an utter joy for me, a real place where I could interact w/ friends and colleagues, make new ones, learn an immense amount, find disc recommendations, engage in trivial but community-building chatter, talk about music's and life's difficulties and joys and frustrations, learn about upcoming concerts, discuss crucial issues central to the creation/interpretation/perception of music... 

I made some terrific friends here, and for that I will be very grateful for quite a long time.  I'm extremely saddened that you've managed to cut that all short.  I had shared the pleasures of this board w/ many friends here in the musical e-wasteland in the USA, and have been quite thrilled to see the contributions of Evan, CD, and Colin.  I simply cannot recommend this site any longer. 

We had a truly international forum and a real sense of companionship.  I will miss it greatly.



Two final things to clear up:  I'm very sorry to have offended Baz -- it was absolutely not my intention!  I intended my comment to show that I was mystified at your frustrations, not that I was angry that you were posting.  (And my smiley-faces to Colin were an inside wink -- Colin writes regularly on NewMusicBox, and I used to be a regular reader and occasional poster there ... I didn't mean to offend.  I do see how/why I misjudged, though, and do fully apologize.  I wouldn't actually wish NMBx on anyone!)

And second, the suggestions from Reiner & others that the mass exodus in the last 24 hrs or so was somehow manipulated by behind-the-scenes coercion by Ian or anyone else is patently false and, moreover, extremely misguided.  In fact, the friendly/social relationships (and even in some cases professional ones) b/t several of the departed members are not particularly close and in some cases outright strained.  (Several of the posters you assumed to be in collusion don't even speak to one another!)  The implication that I am choosing to leave the board b/c somehow my professional life depends on my ability to step in w/ the official party line is frankly offensive.  I'm choosing to leave the boards b/c I don't want to participate in a forum where a single member or two can, w/o any checks or accountability, decide what a viable topic for conversation might be.  I come here b/c I see this forum as a place full of friends, and I simply wouldn't be friends w/ anyone who behaved like that in real life, so why on earth should I put up with it here?

What makes it all the more insulting is that you seem awfully proud of yourself, JW.  It's the most obscene and insensitive and power-hungry display I've come across on a forum like this.


I won't be joining in on the spin-off boards, either.  This is all just a bit too Lord of the Flies for me.