did you know?

[Jim]

I understand what thongs are. Both kinds.

Great research Prof. Here are a few more numbers; my estimates were off.. it was two in the morning...

Registered users: 436
People who registered and have never posted once: 178
People who registered and posted 1 or fewer times: 267
People who registered and posted 2 or fewer times: 308

Posts in Blah Blah Blah: 1510 (that's just currently... 6 months ago I pruned off hundreds of old, unread posts)

Posts in all other forums combined: 2000

Yes, there have been some great posts in the past year, and I know I need to get them into the Library. It's on my list of things to do right after I upgrade the forum system, update the rest of the site, do the gigs I'm booked for, update my personal site, work on my act, pay off my house... I'm busy; sorry. I'll personally refund everyone's membership fees if the site isn't updated in the next 5 minutes.

My point is this: A lot of times, the atmosphere in these forums is less than inviting to the new visitor. I know I'd be intimidated to post here if I thought I'd be attacked or made fun of. I'm not saying we shouldn't kid around and have fun, but the flames, and antagonism and needling has to stop. Also, it doesn't look good for any of us when a new visitor comes in and the only active topics for a week are "Out yourself here" and jokes about Stan the sheep f***ing cowboy.

There is no censorship here. Yes, there is moderation, but I have never, ever silenced anyone's voice. Everyone has the ability to post whatever they want. But I will discourage people from flaming, 'last word' wars and personal attacks. I encourage these people to continue their arguments offline. It's amazing how fast flames die out when the involved parties are asked to email their messages directly to each other. The fact that the posts are public adds and egoistic element and people will continue to agure for the sake of agruing. Even if no one else cares about what's being argued. [Hey, Imagine is being played on the radio right now!]

I try to do my best to keep the discussion on these forums in the general categories of "Performing stuff" and "Stuff performers talk about." After all, that's what this site is supposed to be about.

Rememeber that there are far more people lurking here than posting or even registering. The people visiting performers.net include hundreds and perhaps thousands of potential clients. Despite all the useful information and POSITIVE dialogue, one joke about a sheep-f***ing cowboy can turn a lot of people off and that affects us all. ("Why would I want to hire someone like that?" "Are they going to act that way at my event?" "Street performers sure are unprofessional, have you seen their web site?") How do you want to be perceived to the general public? Would you tell a joke like that to an audience on the street? Would you get into a heated discussion with another performer and attack their intelligence in front of an crowd? How professional are you? Does it come across in your posts? I know it's easy to get carried away, but that's when the moderator is supposed to step in. I do my best and I think I'm VERY fair and reasonable.

Here's what I wrote for people to read on their way into the forums: "So good luck and have fun and please respect the work and maintenence that goes into this site. Use your judgement, don't FLAME, and by all means... be nice to each other."

I still mean it.

Jim

[martin ewen]

Did you know.
That if you're cooking anything liquid and oversalt it, peeling a potato and immersing it will soak up the excess.
I'm prepared to vigorously defend this statement

[Jenny]

Jim:

I want you to know I really appreciate this site. For me so far, it has been more of a creative outlet for verbal intercourse with kindred spirits than an exploration for the advancement of my career. It's winter and that's just the mode I'm in.

I have given thought to the professional risks I take by the racy (joking) things I write. I have decided that even though the site is public, anyone (ie; prospective client) who goes looking in the "unadulterated drivel" section is going to take it for what it is. Maybe they won't, but I'm willing to take that risk for the freedom of this sort of absurd, creative, carefree play with abandon.

So, thanks for creating the outlet, Jimmy Jim, my (big) brother!

Love,
Jenny

PS: Now, back to the drivel...

[scot]

I had no idea that Mark Farneth had a sister.

[Airborne Dan]

I would wager a guess that if any posts were to be censored it would be one of mine. To your credit Jim, you have held to your word and not deleted any content I have contributed. I would like everyone to know that it is not my intent to offend or antagonize anybody. I happen to be a person who embraces, respects and genuinely likes people. Regardless of race, religion, politics, sex, culture, education. I am also one of those p.neters who have posted entirely on the Blah Blah Blah topics. That is probably because I find them the most entertaining. Isn't that what they are supposed to be? I laugh out loud almost every time I read the "jokes" or "out yourself here" threads and have never been offended by anything. Am I the only one? or am I just a little thicker skinned (or possibly thicker headed) than everyone else?

All I know is that I write a tender love story about a man and his sheep, and this is deemed somehow offensive? Where a violent joke wherein the punch line involves me being murdered in cold blood is not. I think it is a product of our overly violent and sexually repressed culture.

I thought both jokes were funny and laughed when I read the murder story and when I wrote the love story. I even came back with two, count em, tag lines for Stan the sheep fucker. Do you want to know why I laughed? I'll tell you why, because it's comedy. They're not true stories, they are jokes. The joke I wrote was not meant to offend or insult the person I wrote it about, it was meant to make him and all of you laugh. Just as I'm sure the joke he wrote about me was meant to do.

Would I tell a joke like this in front of a crowd? Yes, this crowd. Would I tell it to a family audience or to my own children, of course not. Are festival organizers so stupid they can't tell inane banter from artistic endeavors? I don't think so.

Any way lighten up everyone, nobody is being censored (except Bobarino, thank God) and Peter Voice, please do not delete all your posts as I enjoy reading them so much.

[Jim]

Sorry to use you as an example, Dan. I guess the sheep joke somehow left an impression on me. Got me thinking, actually...

If Stan had a herd of sheep, wouldn't that make him a Sheepboy instead of a Cowboy?

For the record...
Bobarino wasn't censored. He crossed a line and I deleted one single offensive post of his (after three different warnings) and then he got all bent out of shape. He has, and has always had, the ability to come back and babble all he wants.... He was never shut off.

[Airborne Dan]

Did you know that thongs and other tight underwear can contribute to impotence in men? That's because they hold the testicles to close to the body and can cause the sperm to die.

[Thom]

This will make Jim happy:

I'm one of the "semi-posters". Mostly I lurk, I read and I laugh at the posts. Rarely I'll throw up a quick response to something I know something about. I don't know much, apparently.

So, I've posted a couple of things outside of "blah, blah..."

Read them and for God's sakes COMMENT on them.

If Jim gets really mad this may turn into an all human statue board.... and then where will we be?

Thom

www.thombritain.com

[Mr.Taxi Trix]

I've always help p.net as a rare space on the planet outside of a festival where we can be our inane, ridiculous selves.
(Speaking of, Jenny, I appreciate any creative intercourse you engage us in, and I guess verbal will do.) Hope it never gets reduced to posturing and behaving for the unseen corporate ear. My limericks would lose me all those birthday parties.
Bobarino was here the other night to see the webslinger Martin. His stand was very clear, and his distance from this site is self imposed, political, and without rancor. I see his side on that choice.
I don't envy you, Jim, being a leader among this batch. Love the results of your leadership. though. Thanks.

- tennis shoes... ahh.

[Jim]

Bobarino can do whatever he wants. If he chooses to be a martyr for censorship, so be it... but I know he's dying to post sheep f***ing cowboy jokes. The 'out yourself' thread is calling him.

Jim

[Prof Willie B]

Perhaps Brady should wear his underwear on his feet.

[Butterfly Man]

Brady wears a tutu for gawdsakes ... I may cross-dress occasionally, but hey, I don't wear a fuckin' tutu!

[nick nickolas]

We can take our TuTu's off Bobby....
We don't need a wig the price of a car......

[em]

And Bobby, just how sticky is it underneath?

[Lynneski]

Well, Prof, since you asked ...

I've been reading, and occasionally posting, to p.net since shortly before Jim ported it to this new format. I know many (I'd even go so far as to say "most") of the street fest producers in Nth America are at least semi-regular readers. Why they don't post - you'll have to ask them.

Before I added any of my pennies to a discussion, I made a point of writing to Jim to ask how he felt about a producer-type posting to a performer forum. He was amazingly welcoming (well, he's always that way - thanx Jim), and encouraged myself and others to jump in so that a wide spectrum of voices were heard.

But I still feel that this is "your" playground, and I'm mostly here under sufferance. I tried early last year to start some discussions about preferred methods of funding travel, accoms and the like, but the underwhelming response I got led me to believe that perhaps no one felt comfortable stating a position, for fear it would alienate them from a producer who worked under a different model. Or maybe asking anything to do with money was simply in bad taste.

Have I pulled off any great shit, as a result of being a member here? Not really, except to expand my knowledge of how large and diverse is our community. (Oh, and once I think I really pissed off Raoul - oops!)

Would I book, or not book, any artist as a result of something I read on p.net? Not in a million years. There's too many other elements to consider that have far greater weight.

Would producers of other events who do drive-by "variety artist needed" posts be off-put by what they read here? Maybe. But it ought to be each member's call whether that's important to them or not.

I'll admit to a fondness for limericks (I'm looking for a treatment centre), but I try to stay out of the blah blah otherwise. That's supposed to be the place where you can let it all hang out. Jim, is it possible to have a public/private breakdown so that blah blah is passworded? I suspect that would be a hugely onerous task to create/oversee, but it might keep the animal husbandry threads out of drive-by view.

For myself, it's a fine line to walk in just what I think is appropriate to post. I've stepped on Martin's toes a couple of times (my apologies, again) and maybe Nick's too, in what I thought was a playful taking-the-piss fashion that didn't translate well to the bare written word. And there are hundreds of participants here with whom I have not yet worked, so who knows how my witless attempts at teasing were taken? Robert's tweaked my nose a couple of times but, one, I think that's one of his chief objectives in posting and two, we both know I would just end up a messy puddle of random vowels if ever I tried to respond to his challenge (I'm bowing now, Robert). So mostly, I've learned to exercise a little caution.

I completely second Jim's hearty call for more work-related discussions. Maybe it will pull some others of my ilk out of hiding? For Nth Americans it's the off-season, and all-too-soon the end of eating well from corporate holiday gigs as Karl pointed out. I have a bit more time on my hands now than in the high season - time for research and some tweaking of plans. Maybe I'll ask the first question ...

Lynne