To All Members of the Forum:

The returns aren’t in yet, but it’s only a matter of time before I’m impeached, and removed from the Forum.

I would like, first of all, to publicly thank Kara and jose_luis, for their kind words and support, as well as others.

I would, second of all, like to publicly apologize to Micron, Chris --- and those others whose feathers I have ruffled.

You know, when I first came to this Forum, I did so with the mis-guided notion of positioning myself as the Prefect, with my long, royal purple robe, gold crown, and scepter in hand.

Boy, was I ever knocked down a peg. Just at Caesar was, I was stabbed to death in front of the Forum by the “Senators”. Rightfully so.

The old maxim is: “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks”. Well, I choose to take exception with that. Yes, I’m and old dog --- and yes, I can learn new tricks. I quickly found that out in this Forum.

For every 10% I know about flute playing/construction ---- there are far many more out there on this Forum who know much more than I, and whom I certainly can learn from. I hope I have a second chance.

If I could turn the clock back --- I should have kept my mouth shut, sat back and read what those (others) on the Forum had to say. THAN, IF I have an opinion, just offer it in the most palatable fashion possible, with the caveat that: “it’s ONLY my opinion.”

In closing, I must tell you that you were never hearing my voice --- you were hearing the voice(s) of my previous teachers, in whose judgment I trusted. Right or wrong.

If you’ll permit a poor (but hopefully appropriate analogy) : if you were learning tennis, would you study under someone who had just started taking lessons, like you --- or would you be better off if you could learn from Pete Sampras?

Best to all --- keep up the good flute playing!

I did, after all is said and done, find this to be a friendly forum. I’d like to stay here, but that decision belongs to the vox populi.

Regards, Jim Millen

There's an impeachment and removal process for this forum???
Voting visitors off?

That's news to me..

Joe B

I will insist on what I said in another thread related to this one:

I do not think there can be any poll, voting, vox populi, impeachment or anything similar in this type of Forum with the intention of banning anybody.

Even if there could be, it would not work anyway, as the banned person could change personality and come back again and again and this is practically impossible to control, even with strong moderation.

I must also say that I consider unusual to ask for a voting in order to stay or leave and I think most of us are a little bit confused about it. I suggest this request be withdraw by the originator. The main reason is that, although the request may contain a genuine interest in receiving support (or the opposite), the "votes" could do more harm than good...

I will add (with the best of intentions) that, as I said on the other post, the Forum may resemble the Roman Forum in some aspects, but in no way the Roman Senate and also it is not organized as an orchestra, with principals etc.

Were it so, some or many of us would probably have no chair in it, would we? Not me at least, I would have to work still a dozen of years to become minimally eligible.

You can't be banned for expressing an opinion in an open forum as long as you keep the punches up and above the belt. Most of the time no one will ban you in an open forum. There is of course a need for decency, and only when you cross that line do these types of forums usually ban you.

I think something that I remember best from my computer classes rings so true in a forum like this. Ego-less programming was the name of the class. It is fine to talk about something and even to some extent debate it, but remember there is always; I really mean always, someone who knows more or better about any topic you could think to discuss. Check the ego at the door and then dive in and have fun! This is something almost no one in the computer world seems to be able to do, and the music world seems to be exactly the same. I offer a friendly and stern warning. Please check your ego, and remember we are all people here. We want your opinions whether they are the same or not. It is fine to disagree. Just do it in a friendly non combative way if at all possible. If someone attacks you, just ignore them. It is the best practice.

I have no problem after having read most of Jim's posts and having seen the replies in saying I agree much of what he said, and yet I have some disagreements too. Jim knows I agree with his base stance on practically everything. I just don't think quoting the teachers/experts/great flutists all the time was taken by everyone here correctly. The general population equaled his opinion with those he was quoting. Jim, you learned to watch how you quote! People draw conclusions, sometimes wrong ones. It's the other side of midnight. In 1 day, Halloween is coming. I don't want to be scared or scare anyone on 8notes. I love this site. Thank you everyone out there!!! :-)

Oh come on... you KNOW you are scared of me! BOOOOOO!!!!!!!

Yikes!!!!

Me so scared!!!