Reality Check

[A440A@aol.com]

Rob writes:

<< Many fine and respected technicians who have taught at conventions once 
swelled these cyber walls.  Even so it remained informal and we still chatted 
about a lot of other things besides pianos.  One by one they have left as a new 
generation has, in my opinion, spoiled it.  I have talked to a number of the 
past subscribers who have echoed the same reasons for leaving and doubt they 
will return.  Pianotech is now a ghost of what it once was.  Too large, too 
political, too many self-appointed moderators, too many being offended.  If I were 
to assign a date I would have to guess that it was when Newton passed away 
that the last remaining light on pianotech blew out. >>

Greetings,
       What happened was that from a beginning where the content on the list 
was 99% technical, we have arrived at a point where less than half is still 
focussed on the piano.  Where we once had a forum that dealt with the 
piano,(which provides a common denominator for ALL of us), we now have a soapbox.  The 
discipline to keep off-topic posts off the list is no longer here, and the 
archives are polluted with thousands of "me-too" and one-liner retorts. Utterly 
useless to the majority of techs that could be interested.  What we have now is 
a social location, not a technical forum.  
    The value of the list was the unadulterated focus on the instrument and 
when techs could get that concentration of information, the list was an 
attractive place.   The virtually unanimous reason I have heard for techs dropping 
off the list is the volume of chatter that one has to wade through to glean any 
valuable information.  By the time Newton died, the list had already become 
bloated.
    Those responsible for the chaff don't seem to recognize themselves, and 
THAT is the problem.  Many seem to regard the list as a place to hold private 
back-and-forth conversations, believing that everybody else is interested in 
everything they have to say!  Not so, but, in an avalanche, every snowflake 
screams innocence. 
 
Ed Foote RPT 
http://www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/index.html
www.uk-piano.org/edfoote/well_tempered_piano.html