$5.99/month?  Please. Vanity site 100%. Charging for something that's free elsewhere is rich. Cickbait .

Ya, agreed.  I can free-form and carefully curate my own unique collection for free.  The website link does nothing to encourage me to spend about 1/2 the price of netflix or 1/3 of spotify for whatever this audio service offers.

Otherwise, i'll just listen to local radio instead.

But hey, thanks for the spam.

This is the tough part of administrating this board, because no one wants to be accused of silencing free speech. But at the same time, there have to be limits or the Big Yella Fella ceases to be a place where members want to visit.
 
I remember writing both Phil and Iain in the past about certain posters who continually fixated on one topic – regardless of what the thread was about – and constantly insulted other users. The former administrators’ responses were pretty much both the same: they welcomed diverse voices and liked the fact those people were making “good points.”
 
I have no problem - and never have - with anyone who doesn’t take my or anyone else’s point of view. That’s what makes this place so great. What I DO have a huge issue with is people who deliberately try to get an outraged reaction from someone by taking a contrary position just to get that reaction.
 
So let me make it clear:
 
-It’s O.K. to disagree with anyone.
-It’s NOT O.K. to be disagreeable with everyone.
 
I don’t want to delete any users. But I also can’t tolerate abuse and insults solely for the sake of irritating others.
 
There used to be a plethora of great radio people with lots of wisdom and opinions who visited here – David Lennick, Charlie O’Brien, even David Marsden (although he came back for a few minutes this week.) Yet some here insulted them so much, they simply stopped coming. I, for one, miss their voices and would welcome them back. And I don’t want any of our more than 700 members to join their exodus. 
 
So here’s the deal: play nice or you won’t play at all. I’m the most non-confrontational guy in the world. But I won’t allow anyone to ruin what we have here. Like in baseball, you’ll get several chances at the plate from here on in. Three strikes and you’re out.
 
This is a forum for free expression. But this is not a democracy. Someone has to enforce the rules. And reluctantly, that someone has to be me.
 
To paraphrase something Iain once sagely noted, if you don’t like the price of admission, don’t pay for the ticket.
 
Thanks.

I notice that more people are starting threads. Muffaraw Joe, Peter the K and splunge have been posting more again. And ig has a great new thread on here about the future of Corus.

I think I sometimes come on and post when my excess energy would be better spent writing, and those are the ones I look back on and think ..meh. I bet I'm not alone in this.

It's the capital H in the hyperbole that trips some of us up, and some really put the hyper in hyperbole.

It's great to criticize, but if that's all you're doing on here...meh.

I'd say "be the content you wish to see on the board" but that's one riff too far. You do you, as the kids say. RA's got a good handle on things.

@Irvine:

Normally, my advice to people when they’ve asked me about some of the more shall we say strident voices on SOWNY was to just not answer them. Because I’m convinced (still am) that that’s exactly what they want. They feed off irritating other people, which actually makes me feel sorry for them.
 
That's not the case here and this post raises several interesting points I’d like to address.
 

Irvine wrote:

I don't think cGrant's opinions are trolling. 

 
I’m not sure many here would agree with you on that, but I hope you’ll note that I never mentioned any poster by name in my original reply. You jumped to that conclusion. Maybe there’s a reason why.
 

Irvine wrote:

As for why people don't come here anymore, perhaps because the topics are so narrow there isn't an audience?  It's repeated talk about HD radio, AM 640 or 1010 or some guy buying time on the former. 

 
Actually, I’m not sure where you’re coming to this conclusion. This board has well over 700 members (maybe more, I haven’t counted recently) and others who just lurk and read but never sign up. There have been hundreds if not thousands of topics and replies here since Dale Patterson created SOWNY a number of years ago. That didn't change when Iain started this latest version. Clearly, someone is finding something to say.
 

Irvine wrote:

the topics are so narrow there isn't an audience? It's repeated talk about HD radio, AM 640 or 1010 or some guy buying time on the former… There is almost no talk about modern, contemporary radio in...a radio forum .

 
What you say is at least partly true – there IS an overemphasis on RB and 640 here. I’ve thought a lot about this over the years and here’s what I think is the reason for that. First, many who post here are in the demo that prefers talk to music. So of course, they’re going to talk about what they listen to on a radio forum.
 
But second, when was the last time CHFI or Boom really did anything that makes news? Their hallowed consistency is what makes them successful, but it doesn’t tend to lead to much to talk about here. The talk formats, on the other hand, deal in controversy and are therefore much more likely to get themselves noted because of it. Their personalities are by their nature controversial. And that makes them more likely to be gabbed about here. 
 
For all their faults, both CFRB and CFMJ not only deal with the news, they frequently make it. And sometimes, not for the right reasons. (In the latter’s case, I remain fascinated that no matter what they try to do, their numbers remain mired at 2.0 or less. And yet somehow they’re still trying that format.)
 
 

Irvine wrote:

I sometimes read the comments here and I think people are the most OUT OF TOUCH I've ever seen. 

 
Yes, we’re all old fossils. Ancient dinosaurs from days gone by. Which leads to the question if we’re so out of touch, why do you bother to read the forum at all? I’m sure there are plenty of other places you can go to find far more relevant reading. Yet many here seem to get an almost perverse thrill in pointing out their displeasure over and over and over and over ad nauseam.
 
We get it. We’re creatures of the past. So what do people get out of constantly reminding us of our apparent dotage all the time? Perhaps we’re not the only ones with an issue.
 
Finally, it seems likely to me that many here on SOWNY are, in fact, of an older generation. We talk about subjects that Millennials probably wouldn’t find all that relatable. But I can assure you that when they get older (and they will!) they will also enjoy remembering stuff they liked when they were of a younger vintage. That’s human nature. And fondly recalling something you enjoyed – say, the old Top 40 format in the 60s that spawned some astounding talent – isn’t a terrible thing.
 
Still, some do evolve. It was David Marsden who started this thread. He’s been around since before I knew how to turn on a radio. Because of his experience, I’ve got a lot of time for what he says. Yet when he posts something, he’s accused of shilling. So I guess there’s just no pleasing some people. 
 
To finish this long diatribe, I don’t think that you would be the kind of poster that would be banned here, despite your contention that fellow SOWNY-ites don't like you. While some may not agree with what you say, you present it in a polished and mostly non-hostile way. And that’s fine. It's your opinion and you express it well. But when it gets personal, nasty and hostile for no reason, and people are attacked for nothing more than existing, someone has to call them on it. I guess as the new guy in charge, that’s me.
 
And rather than let SOWNY vanish again with fed-up members leaving en masse because they're tired of being abused, I’m planning to put an end to it before it puts an end to this site. It's a long battle. But I think it's one worth fighting.

"What's interesting, in THIS thread there is someone that posted directly under me and agreed with my position on this thread starter. Mysteriously, h/she was ignored. I never name-called or libelled anyone, yet YOU permitted TWO posters to attack me. I ignored their vitriol. For the record, I, to my knowledge, do not or have not had cancer." .......   Mr Kato, you posted as Fausto on the Quad Cities  forum that you were under treatment for cancer . You can deny all you like as all your inane comments were deleted when you were banned. If you didn't have that horrible scourge , as you have now posted here that you didn't, that is the lowest of the low , even for you sir. You owe everyone who has lost a loved one , or dealt with it themselves , an apology.