So, have the forums jumped the shark?

[CANDANeh]

Again my best wishes for your life to get back to normal...

I feel your pain through 'Dickens' ...at one time or another didn't we ....don't we all

And yet... we often come back to our personal martial practices to derive strength for the battles we face.

Survival mode can be (for me anyways) thinking only 4 breaths ahead to prevent "being flattened".

Life does show it`s beauty again after battle, that I now know for certain.

[Van Canna]

Life does show it`s beauty again after battle, that I now know for certain.

How true, Leo...I recall what you went through and came back stronger.

[wes tasker]

I haven't been on these forums for a while and just checked in and thought this topic to be relevant. I don't post, nor regularly look at these forums for a number of reasons...

1 - Life has definitely thrown some curve balls my way and I tend to go into what I call "hermit mode" and try to take care of business first.

2 - After being insulted numerous times on-line and in person by some of the moderators etc. I just had had enough.

3 - Like Jake, I'm not a Ueichi-ka so I don't have much to contribute.

4 - The two people I admire and have interacted with most in the Uechi-ryu group are Van Canna Sensei and Dave Mott Sensei who are both very reachable without going through the turbid quagmire that a forum can become.

- wes tasker

[Bill Glasheen]

Hello, Wes! Hope all is well. I haven't seen you since observing your escrima class.

insulted numerous times on-line and in person by some of the moderators

Yikes, Wes! In person as well? What's up with that?

Those of us who have been on here for a decade and longer understand how passionate these discussions can go. One might think from observing a back-and-forth between Ian and I or Justin and I that we hated each other. And yet Ian is my student (and lifelong friend), and Justin's going to drop by my place on his honeymoon. Van and I have banged heads quite a few times, and yet we have a relationship that doesn't require words to validate.

If these forums were about each of us presenting our thoughts as fact, well there would be no reason to have them. I don't know what walk of life you exist in. But in my professional world, I have to be on my game every day. My peers are all smart as hell, and rip into an idea when it isn't quite "soup." And it is through these full-contact sessions that we develop the kinds of consensus ideas that lead to products which make millions. In academia, it leads to ideas that cure disease.

As my sister used to say, it isn't about the best person winning; it is about the best IDEA winning. One can't wear the ego on the sleeve, lest it get trampled on.

FWIW... Many, many years ago when I believe you were just a teenager, you opened my eyes to how martial ideas transcend styles. At the time, you were a precocious young lad who had a penchant for "collecting kata." You've always had a mind like a steel trap. It is through you that I first saw shoken sukuiage uke (from Sanseiryu kata) used as a grappling technique (ankle lock on the ground). In this regard, you've influenced my thinking a lot. And I take great delight in yanking my friend Ray's chain with my "style without boundaries." (MikeK calls me "the borg." )

You really should post more.

- Bill

[robb buckland]

" After being insulted numerous times on-line and in person by some of the moderators etc. I just had had enough. .........."


Was he gonna hit you with his keyboard !!!!!

[Bill Glasheen]

[robb buckland]

[Van Canna]

Wes

After being insulted numerous times on-line and in person by some of the moderators etc. I just had had enough.

This is really awful...and it should be a lesson for us all...

How many times we say things, possibly, not with intent to offend...yet we do offend terribly and for forever and a day.

Now I think it would be very difficult to offend someone like Wes...after meeting him and, more in particular, after working with him...

First a gentleman...then an awesome practitioner...empty handed or with weapons...power and speed in skillful packages...

Wes has made the study of all martial arts a pivotal point of his life.

I wish you all the best Wes...and hope your personal situations have resolved for the best.

[robb buckland]

"I wish you all the best Wes...and hope your personal situations have resolved for the best."

They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions ....

take it from someone who often speaks first and says oops later....we all have benifited from knowing and training with you over the years ...all the best , Wes !!!

[TSDguy]

A few key powers like Glasheen have major biases towards their own opinions and it really shuts downs discussions in my opinion.

[Bill Glasheen]

A few key powers like Glasheen have major biases towards their own opinions and it really shuts downs discussions in my opinion.

Long time, TSDguy!

Major biases towards their own opinions... Redundant?

I'm not that impressed with myself.

I will say that sometimes you get a lot more posting when you just let things go a bit. So in this I agree. There's an optimal balance between letting people participate vs. cutting to the chase. The former is more of a social and pedagogical approach, and has its merits.

- Bill

[MikeK]

A few key powers like Glasheen have major biases towards their own opinions and it really shuts downs discussions in my opinion.

I wll say you can always disagree with Bill and other experts, I do all of the time. Nobody here is infallible and one problem is when someone reads something questionable and doesn't say, wait a minute that's not correct! We need more of that, in as civil a manner aspossible.

[TSDguy]

Major biases towards their own opinions... Redundant?

Fair enough.

[Akil Todd Harvey]

As important as it is to note the conditions here as a reason why there is more or less activity, it is equally important, IMO, to note how many other web spaces there are to participate in now compared to when this all began (I was somewhat of a late comer and slow adopter).

When this site began, people had FAR FEWER choices, alternatives, if you will. Now, that has changed. This is significant.

Seeing as so few forums are moderated very well (due to the six figure salary, most mods expect the 7 figure salary I guess), that leaves this site as not only among the first, but among the best moderated (or most highly moderated).

Few of us would agree with our mods in all situations, but I think most of us would agree that this place would be a far more dangerous place without our illustrious moderators (will you folks just stand up for a second and take a bow please, you know who you are).

I have disagreed with more mods than I can count and I have misunderstood at one point in time or another most every one, but the exchanges I have had have been extremely beneficial not only to my martial arts life, but to my on-line life. I have been banned from a few sites and even from parts of this one, but for its faults, this site is one where they give you a good chance to explain yourself even if your opinions are not agreed with.

This here site will always be for me the place where I spent most of my time learning how to post on-line. That will never change. Agree or disagree, it doesn't matter, that is my reality.

I may not always agree with the mods, but I have a lot to be thankful to them for. Their's is an uncompensated job that few of us would want and even fewer of us could do consistently for any length of time.

Thanks folks! (now reach around and pat yourself on the back as I can't reach you wherever the heck you are).....

Quantity versus quality?

I'll stick with the quality please.......

May the deity of your choosing bestow blessings upon those who post, those who moderate, those who make things go right in the background and those who own and take the most heat for anything that goes wrong, and of course, last but not least, those who read but either do not post or who post rarely......

I have said it before and will do so again, the ones who read, but rarely post are like the iceberg below the waterline (it is 90% of the iceberg that is not visible below the waterline).....

[robb buckland]

Give me biased moderators and mentors like Bill anytime !!!