Vance, I've been on the lute list serve for only a few months, and have been surprised by the vituperative nature of some of the messages that have been posted. I've been on the verge of taking myself off the list several times, because I find much of the heated discussion pointless and a waste of bandwidth.
I have noticed that there is an ebb and flow to the flame wars that coincides with the full moon. We are just reaching a full moon right now and are also cresting on another flame war. If you watch the postings over the next month, I think you will find that in 21-28 days we are in the middle of another spate of heated emails. About a year ago the local newspaper did a study of crime statistics and interviewed police, and came to the conclusion that although the actual number of crimes rose only slightly during the full moon, the nature of the crimes changed, with the crimes being of a much more aggravated nature. The worst period was in the week before the actual full moon. During that week people tend to react more strongly to perceived offenses than they might otherwise. Perhaps some of those writing heated emails should check the moon phase, think twice, take a deep breath, let it out slowly, and delete their message. There are some truly awful things going on in the world today that merit heated discussions. The lute is not one of them. Tim Motz On Saturday, December 6, 2003, at 11:27 PM, Vance Wood wrote: > Trouble is-----a lot of them drop out or go underground because the > group > that should be supporting them and encouraging them is by far and > away as > friendly as a pack of junk yard dogs. As a whole I have never been > exposed > to a group, boasting interest passionately in a particular endeavor, > that is > more driven by ego, pride, condescension, duplicity and judgementalism. > Before you get mad at me read through the posts that have flooded email > servers world wide over the last week or so and ask yourself: If you > were > new to the Lute would you feel safe and confident in posting a > question to > this bunch of brigands? > > There are some fine people in this group that posses a wealth of > knowledge > but in asking a question you have to first consider what side of the > fence > you might fall on to and who is going to consider you one of theirs > and one > of his and one of yours. This is absurd and self destructive. I just > wish > every one would temper their opinions with a little good sense > realizing > that you or I don't like everyone and everyone does not like you or I. > That's the truth of it BUT!!! we all love the Lute. > > Vance Wood. > ----- Original Message ----- > From: "Roman Turovsky" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Daniel Shoskes" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>; <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Sent: Saturday, December 06, 2003 5:02 PM > Subject: Re: Size of the lute world > > >>> As I was deleting another repetitive pain in the ass flame post in >>> the > ongoing >>> battle between the >>> greedy billionaire lute publishers and the brave Trotskyist >>> proletariat >>> struggling to free the >>> world's tablature I think I noticed an estimate of about 4000 lute > players >>> worldwide. Is this a >>> reasonable estimate? >> No. I estimated a maximum of 3000. >> >> >>> Would these range from serious players to people with a >>> lute in the attic they >>> haven't touched in 15 years? Include guitarists who tune their g >>> string > down a >>> half step? Include the >>> pipa and oud? Those people with a Lute Olsen signed basketball? >> No. It is based on membership lists of lute societies and Google >> sightings >> of unaffiliated players, with an added roach assumption that there is >> 1 > more >> invisible lutenist to 2 already visibles. Also numbers of lute >> teachers > and >> luthiers are taken into account. >> The number is expected to grow because several schools put out >> lutenists > at >> a steady rate. >> RT >> >> ______________ >> Roman M. Turovsky >> http://turovsky.org >> http://polyhymnion.org >> >> >> > >
