So I have not been a frequent poster for quite a long time, but I still stick my nose in here about once a week, specifically to look at the journals. I've been saddened to see that they have been used with less frequency in the past year or so. I always used them to figure out what was *really* going on with the peeps.
I rarely have time to hang out for the hour or so it takes to really engage in something going on in the threads; as I think Jrzy said, the journals are the quiet place where we can leave a sticky note and let others comment. (As an aside: regarding the seemingly widely-held view that the RAFT is 75% political threads, I honestly rarely even notice those; in fact, as I look over there now, I can only see a couple. They're SO easy to ignore if you want to. )
I wondered why I hadn't seen a new posting for about 6 weeks; now I know why.
It sounds like the journals have become pretty SPAM-a-licious and I can certainly see how/why they are a target and why Bill finds them a pain in his neck. It would make me sad to see them go, however.
For my own part, I stopped posting journals for the same reason I mostly stopped blogging: I was facing some very tough work and life issues and I didn't want to make those public; sometimes our voices need to go quiet for awhile so we can hear the rest of the world and figure out where we belong in it. But I was really thinking yesterday that I'd had a couple experiences lately that were funny enough to journal. Maybe I'll blog them now instead (just so I can look really super-schzophrenic over there)
So I have not been a frequent poster for quite a long time, but I still stick my nose in here about once a week, specifically to look at the journals. I've been saddened to see that they have been used with less frequency in the past year or so. I always used them to figure out what was *really* going on with the peeps.
I rarely have time to hang out for the hour or so it takes to really engage in something going on in the threads; as I think Jrzy said, the journals are the quiet place where we can leave a sticky note and let others comment. (As an aside: regarding the seemingly widely-held view that the RAFT is 75% political threads, I honestly rarely even notice those; in fact, as I look over there now, I can only see a couple. They're SO easy to ignore if you want to. )
I wondered why I hadn't seen a new posting for about 6 weeks; now I know why.
It sounds like the journals have become pretty SPAM-a-licious and I can certainly see how/why they are a target and why Bill finds them a pain in his neck. It would make me sad to see them go, however.
For my own part, I stopped posting journals for the same reason I mostly stopped blogging: I was facing some very tough work and life issues and I didn't want to make those public; sometimes our voices need to go quiet for awhile so we can hear the rest of the world and figure out where we belong in it. But I was really thinking yesterday that I'd had a couple experiences lately that were funny enough to journal. Maybe I'll blog them now instead (just so I can look really super-schzophrenic over there)
If BillG is not able to negotiate some sort of royalty relief, this website, and the station itself is going to be history. So, I really don't care whether BillG fixes the Journal code and reopens them or not. I am just cheering his desperate efforts to save Radio Paradise.
I hear ya, fortunately or unfortunately as the case may be I am not really a listener so obviously I am not as emotionally invested, but I do realize the uniqueness and greatness of this station and wish Bill the best in saving this station and all of the other great internet radio stations as well.
Only addendum I would make is I don't see anything wrong with the forum now. Maybe it is not as enjoyable as long past, not sure I have only been a member here for 7 years so I am a newbie. Maybe I just have thick skin, but this place is extremely civil, friendly and tame compared to the rest of the digital world and would hate to see it abandoned or belittled in its present form because of the memory of a "lost city on the hill". Just a thought.
If BillG is not able to negotiate some sort of royalty relief, this website, and the station itself is going to be history. So, I really don't care whether BillG fixes the Journal code and reopens them or not. I am just cheering his desperate efforts to save Radio Paradise.
So I have not been a frequent poster for quite a long time, but I still stick my nose in here about once a week, specifically to look at the journals. I've been saddened to see that they have been used with less frequency in the past year or so. I always used them to figure out what was *really* going on with the peeps.
I rarely have time to hang out for the hour or so it takes to really engage in something going on in the threads; as I think Jrzy said, the journals are the quiet place where we can leave a sticky note and let others comment. (As an aside: regarding the seemingly widely-held view that the RAFT is 75% political threads, I honestly rarely even notice those; in fact, as I look over there now, I can only see a couple. They're SO easy to ignore if you want to. )
I wondered why I hadn't seen a new posting for about 6 weeks; now I know why.
It sounds like the journals have become pretty SPAM-a-licious and I can certainly see how/why they are a target and why Bill finds them a pain in his neck. It would make me sad to see them go, however.
For my own part, I stopped posting journals for the same reason I mostly stopped blogging: I was facing some very tough work and life issues and I didn't want to make those public; sometimes our voices need to go quiet for awhile so we can hear the rest of the world and figure out where we belong in it. But I was really thinking yesterday that I'd had a couple experiences lately that were funny enough to journal. Maybe I'll blog them now instead (just so I can look really super-schzophrenic over there)
Only addendum I would make is I don't see anything wrong with the forum now. Maybe it is not as enjoyable as long past, not sure I have only been a member here for 7 years so I am a newbie. Maybe I just have thick skin, but this place is extremely civil, friendly and tame compared to the rest of the digital world and would hate to see it abandoned or belittled in its present form because of the memory of a "lost city on the hill". Just a thought.
The comments in this thread uniformly show that the Journals were highly valued, ...
nice one Steeler!! it was the opportunity to chat with people like you that blew me away when I first came here but I too fear that what it was once won't come again. So, let's go back to the soundtrack that has held it all together.
The comments in this thread uniformly show that the Journals were highly valued, that their status was elevated above that of the forum in terms of the kind of respect accorded them. I agree with those comments, especially those of Kurtster. The Journals were sanctuaries of sorts. Some, including myself, might say that they were the glue that held the community together. The community itself was like a thought experiment come to life. A revelation, if you will. Perhaps, at times, even a salvation. The Journals were at the apex. A place where I could – and did – put out thoughts on all kinds of matters that rattled around in my head in search of some clarity. The responses sometimes provided that clarity; sometimes they provided solace. It was a place of giving, where you tried to reciprocate. I will miss the Journals.
Bill asks whether it is worth the effort to keep the Journals running? Apparently not. The writing, as it were, has been (not) on the wall. The Journals have been withering, greatly outpacing the decrease of participation in the Forum . The glue has decayed.
In the end, it is not the impending loss of the Journals that creates the pang. It is the loss of the ideal of a community. People wanted to believe in it, and because they did, the concept flourished for a rollicking and mostly glorious time. Then the rollercoaster ride came to an end. Ironically, it was in the Journals that, about 8 years ago, I wrote about whether the concept of the RP community was an oasis or an illusion. At that time, my conclusion was that it was a tangible good, albeit a maddeningly elusive one. Sadly, I can’t say the same today.
Here is that journal:
The lifeblood that is this place differs from person to person, from moment to moment. At times, it is acknowledged as being just that. At other times, it is denied that kind of status, sometimes in mocking tones. Nonetheless, it keeps coursing. And we keep looking to find the pulse, hoping to understand not only the others who join in the pursuit of this grail, but, ultimately, ourselves, the much more elusive quarry.
.
It is easy to get lost. To become flustered. Scared. Angry.
.
Too much meaning? Probably. But, then again, the quixotic journey continues. Why? Who knows.
.
Where is it? How strong or weak is its beat?
.
Have to find it to be able to keep your finger upon it. To lay your finger upon it may be akin to grabbing the proverbial brass ring, so you lean dangerously away from your trusty steed as the merry-go-round continues apace, the phantom reward being worth the risk of falling.
.
. Sometimes. Other times, most assuredly, not.
.
I want that brass ring. I deserve to be the first one to earn it.
No, I don't care to pursue it. It's an illusion, one that only fools pursue.
.
The music provides a backdrop of eternal optimism. The jarring reality, however, is that the magical ride ends every so often, usually abruptly, without warning, leaving us with few alternatives other than to sit motionless upon our steeds or to dismount from them. The choices are to wait until the ride continues or to get off. Or so it seems.
.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight. Red is gray and yellow white, But we decide which is right. And which is an illusion?
.
So, we pick at this, analyze it, debate it, argue about it. I would posit that is the case because, deep down, we suspect that something is there, something tangible that so defies description that we can't seem to put our finger on its pulse, thereby relegating it to the realm of the intangible. When it works, when it gravitates toward the tangible, we prefer not to question it. When it doesn't, we do, and not always in a benign or charitable manner. Sometimes, caught in these moments of confusion, we lash out at each other, and, ultimately, at ourselves, for raising the specter that it is an illusion. That often is followed by recrimination and remorse.
.
We psychoanalyze ourselves and each other. Perhaps this is human nature, but that would be most curious if this were nothing but an illusion. Illogical, yet, perhaps, logic cannot unlock this particular doorway. Nonetheless, we try to fit that key into that foreign lock. And it doesn't open it.
.
We try to keep the merry-go-round spinning by saying it is just about the music. Yet, we know that can't be true. Heck, one of the topics that gets relatively short shrift in the constantly proliferating topic threads is the music.
.
When the spinning momentarily stops, when the brass ring temporarily disappears, we often try to blame it on those who dare to speak of controversial topics, and, in so doing, bring us to the brink of that which we fear most. Yet, we know this not to be true. The divisions appear in even the mildest of threads, for the most inexplicable of reasons. More proof of the fickle nature of that of which we are a part, yet it is ever so difficult to admit that.
.
There are those who say that no one ever changes anyone's views on anything discussed, so what is the point? I would disagree, having had my views altered on a number of issues. Putting that inconvenient truth aside, however, this statement presumes there is a point to all of it, and that whatever that might be, it is not to exchange views on issues confronting us as global citizens. Strange that we trust each other to provide views on the most personal issues in our respective lives, but not to provide an honest, sincere, and rational view on these impersonal and perhaps more tangible matters that effect each of us.
.
My position on this is not a secret. I fear that if we here — with what appears to be this overflowing reservoir of kindness, compassion, and intelligence — cannot do this, cannot rationally discuss issues of societal importance, that there may not be much hope for the greater good. The ostrich-effect has never worked for me.
.
If what we have here is worth preserving, which it must be because of the time we spend analyzing it, then we have to allow for the fact that this is not an amusement park ride. To find its pulse — to prove to ourselves that there is something here that lives, and to admit that it is important to our lives — we have to allow it to be human, with all that entails.
Good stuff Steeler! Written a couple of years before I became active on the forum so I never got a chance to read. I agree wholeheartedly!
Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Mar 10, 2016 - 11:10am
The comments in this thread uniformly show that the Journals were highly valued, that their status was elevated above that of the forum in terms of the kind of respect accorded them. I agree with those comments, especially those of Kurtster. The Journals were sanctuaries of sorts. Some, including myself, might say that they were the glue that held the community together. The community itself was like a thought experiment come to life. A revelation, if you will. Perhaps, at times, even a salvation. The Journals were at the apex. A place where I could – and did – put out thoughts on all kinds of matters that rattled around in my head in search of some clarity. The responses sometimes provided that clarity; sometimes they provided solace. It was a place of giving, where you tried to reciprocate. I will miss the Journals.
Bill asks whether it is worth the effort to keep the Journals running? Apparently not. The writing, as it were, has been (not) on the wall. The Journals have been withering, greatly outpacing the decrease of participation in the Forum . The glue has decayed.
In the end, it is not the impending loss of the Journals that creates the pang. It is the loss of the ideal of a community. People wanted to believe in it, and because they did, the concept flourished for a rollicking and mostly glorious time. Then the rollercoaster ride came to an end. Ironically, it was in the Journals that, about 8 years ago, I wrote about whether the concept of the RP community was an oasis or an illusion. At that time, my conclusion was that it was a tangible good, albeit a maddeningly elusive one. Sadly, I can’t say the same today.
Here is that journal:
The lifeblood that is this place differs from person to person, from moment to moment. At times, it is acknowledged as being just that. At other times, it is denied that kind of status, sometimes in mocking tones. Nonetheless, it keeps coursing. And we keep looking to find the pulse, hoping to understand not only the others who join in the pursuit of this grail, but, ultimately, ourselves, the much more elusive quarry.
.
It is easy to get lost. To become flustered. Scared. Angry.
.
Too much meaning? Probably. But, then again, the quixotic journey continues. Why? Who knows.
.
Where is it? How strong or weak is its beat?
.
Have to find it to be able to keep your finger upon it. To lay your finger upon it may be akin to grabbing the proverbial brass ring, so you lean dangerously away from your trusty steed as the merry-go-round continues apace, the phantom reward being worth the risk of falling.
.
. Sometimes. Other times, most assuredly, not.
.
I want that brass ring. I deserve to be the first one to earn it.
No, I don't care to pursue it. It's an illusion, one that only fools pursue.
.
The music provides a backdrop of eternal optimism. The jarring reality, however, is that the magical ride ends every so often, usually abruptly, without warning, leaving us with few alternatives other than to sit motionless upon our steeds or to dismount from them. The choices are to wait until the ride continues or to get off. Or so it seems.
.
Cold hearted orb that rules the night, Removes the colours from our sight. Red is gray and yellow white, But we decide which is right. And which is an illusion?
.
So, we pick at this, analyze it, debate it, argue about it. I would posit that is the case because, deep down, we suspect that something is there, something tangible that so defies description that we can't seem to put our finger on its pulse, thereby relegating it to the realm of the intangible. When it works, when it gravitates toward the tangible, we prefer not to question it. When it doesn't, we do, and not always in a benign or charitable manner. Sometimes, caught in these moments of confusion, we lash out at each other, and, ultimately, at ourselves, for raising the specter that it is an illusion. That often is followed by recrimination and remorse.
.
We psychoanalyze ourselves and each other. Perhaps this is human nature, but that would be most curious if this were nothing but an illusion. Illogical, yet, perhaps, logic cannot unlock this particular doorway. Nonetheless, we try to fit that key into that foreign lock. And it doesn't open it.
.
We try to keep the merry-go-round spinning by saying it is just about the music. Yet, we know that can't be true. Heck, one of the topics that gets relatively short shrift in the constantly proliferating topic threads is the music.
.
When the spinning momentarily stops, when the brass ring temporarily disappears, we often try to blame it on those who dare to speak of controversial topics, and, in so doing, bring us to the brink of that which we fear most. Yet, we know this not to be true. The divisions appear in even the mildest of threads, for the most inexplicable of reasons. More proof of the fickle nature of that of which we are a part, yet it is ever so difficult to admit that.
.
There are those who say that no one ever changes anyone's views on anything discussed, so what is the point? I would disagree, having had my views altered on a number of issues. Putting that inconvenient truth aside, however, this statement presumes there is a point to all of it, and that whatever that might be, it is not to exchange views on issues confronting us as global citizens. Strange that we trust each other to provide views on the most personal issues in our respective lives, but not to provide an honest, sincere, and rational view on these impersonal and perhaps more tangible matters that effect each of us.
.
My position on this is not a secret. I fear that if we here — with what appears to be this overflowing reservoir of kindness, compassion, and intelligence — cannot do this, cannot rationally discuss issues of societal importance, that there may not be much hope for the greater good. The ostrich-effect has never worked for me.
.
If what we have here is worth preserving, which it must be because of the time we spend analyzing it, then we have to allow for the fact that this is not an amusement park ride. To find its pulse — to prove to ourselves that there is something here that lives, and to admit that it is important to our lives — we have to allow it to be human, with all that entails.
My girl was leaving me again. At least I didn't have to drive her across the country this time since she was heading overseas, leaving me to my expat existence, or maybe pat by this time. But heck, if she was going to leave, it might as well be for someplace more exiting. And she'd be back, maybe.
Before she left I burnt a playlist for her heritage. Americana 1. Judge if you must; even I question some of the choices (I was in a Counting Crows phase). But I thought that somehow the disk might spin a thread, an anchor line, back home.
Anchorage 3:24 Michelle Shocked Short Sharp Shocked Ontario Blues 3:45 Elizabeth Cotten Shake Sugaree Corinna 3:02 Taj Mahal The Best Of Taj Mahal Corine, Corina 3:13 Asleep At The Wheel Tribute To The Music Of Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys Backwoods Barbie 3:19 Dolly Parton Backwoods Barbie Eh, Petite Fille 2:43 Clifton Chenier Bayou Blues Burn, Don't Freeze 3:20 Sleater-Kinney The Hot Rock American Girls 4:32 Counting Crows Hard Candy Clifton's Squeeze-box Boogie 1:57 Clifton Chenier Bayou Blues Uncle John's Band 4:45 Grateful Dead Workingman's Dead Zoot Suit Riot 3:53 Cherry Poppin' Daddies Zoot Suit Riot Take Five 5:26 The Dave Brubeck Quartet Time Out Freight Train 3:12 Elizabeth Cotten Elizabeth Cotten Vol. 3 John Henry 2:46 Woody Guthrie, Cisco Houston Classic Railroad Songs (Smithsonian Folkways) Casey Jones 4:25 Grateful Dead Workingman's Dead Rain King 4:16 Counting Crows August & Everything After On the Sunny Side of the Street 4:46 Coleman Hawkins Body & Soul: Original Recordings 1933-1949 On The Sunny Side of the Street 3:07 Art Tatum Solo Masterpieces Volume 8 You Are My Sunshine 4:28 Norman Blake O Brother, Where Art Thou? Clementine 2:46 Elliott Smith Elliott Smith Oh Susanna 5:32 Taj Mahal Happy Just To Be Like I Am Summertime 4:38 Big Brother & The Holding Company Live At Winterland '68 Windy And Warm (live) 2:14 Doc Watson The Vanguard Years Orange Blossom Special 2:30 Bill Monroe & The Bluegrass Boys Sentimental Journey 30 Rock Island Line 2:07 Leadbelly Classic Railroad Songs (Smithsonian Folkways) Get Your Kicks on Route 66 3:13 Bing Crosby/Andrews Sisters, The/Vic Schoen's Orchestra Whitburn 1946 Graceland 4:51 Paul Simon Graceland Highway 61 Revisited 3:32 Bob Dylan Highway 61 Revisited Pacific Coast Party 2:59 Smash Mouth Smash Mouth Lodi 3:08 Emmylou Harris At The Ryman The Pretender 5:52 Jackson Browne The Pretender Love Shack 5:22 The B-52's Cosmic Thing Wide Open Spaces 3:44 Dixie Chicks Wide Open Spaces Miami 5:01 Counting Crows Hard Candy Sing Sing Sing (With A Swing) 12:09 Benny Goodman Live At Carnegie Hall (Disc 2) Sing Sing Sing 4:25 Los Straitjackets Damas Y Caballeros! Boogie Woogie 3:08 Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra Whitburn 1943 In The Mood 3:39 Glenn Miller Whitburn 1943 Blue Rhythm Fantasy 5:44 Gene Krupa & His Orchestra Redondo Beach 3:26 Patti Smith Group Horses Tennessee Stud 3:38 Doc Watson The Vanguard Years (Disc 2) She Caught The Katy And Left Me A Mule To Ride 3:29 Taj Mahal The Best Of Taj Mahal Since She Started to Ride 2:36 Jonathan Richman Jonathan Goes Country Black Beauty 2:59 Duke Ellington Sentimental Journey 2 Wild Horses 10:28 Natasha Bedingfield Unwritten
Never even knew it was on the playlist. I thought JR was one of those persons whose name must not be spoken or something. Glad it got played. Looks like twice.
Was the defining song of our generation in New Zealand 1977, well ok, small town, NZ, well maybe just our class... well, ok, the two seats at the back. But me and Stephen were into it BIG time.
I have found a work around for those who wish to save their journals to an editable Word document.
I first tried a plain copy and paste to Word and just got what amounts to a screen print with the grey background and all the text. So I let it go and then remembered that we can can copy and paste text from within the website onto the post editor and end up with editable text again.
Doing this works. So first highlite and copy all the journal text. Then find a thread and click on the 'Post to this Topic' button and open up the editor. Next paste the journal text. Then you have to clear out the mouse cache by clicking onto blank space. Next highlite all the text, click copy and then go over to your new Word document and hit paste. It should all show up as normal editable text. Now you can do whatever you need to do with it. Should work in open office, too.
Then just hit the Forum tab to close out the editor without posting what you are moving around into an actual thread.
Y'know, thanks to the Brazillians, the song count was reset or something. But it got played at least twice, I'm sure.
The actual harassment to play a song was over this one.
Never even knew it was on the playlist. I thought JR was one of those persons whose name must not be spoken or something. Glad it got played. Looks like twice.
Was the defining song of our generation in New Zealand 1977, well ok, small town, NZ, well maybe just our class... well, ok, the two seats at the back. But me and Stephen were into it BIG time.
When I joined RP in early 2003, there were song comments, and a single message board called Comments. There were no Forum topics other than that. There were also no Journals. We all got along just fine, because we were here to listen to, enjoy, and talk about the music.
I wish it was like that again.
Those were the days we forged actual, real friendships. I miss that part, too.
Happy birthday.
howdy stranger!!
. Maybe I just have thick skin, but this place is extremely civil, friendly and tame compared to the rest of the digital world and would hate to see it abandoned or belittled in its present form because of the memory of a "lost city on the hill". Just a thought.
nice one Steeler!! it was the opportunity to chat with people like you that blew me away when I first came here 
but I too fear that what it was once won't come again. 
That's Buck Owens' steel player, good band/solid album. She'd buy Betadine if she only had a dollar.
That's about right.
