where is Thal??

[gep]

Anyone seen him?

The Forum seems eerily empty without him!

[ethure]

I once saw some previous posts, and I always thought it was a 'her'! 


 

[oxy60]

If you read several of his last posts you will know why he left.

BTW (how much is it now?) and how are things in the lowlands these days? We read De Telegraph online almost daily but YOU are on the ground and if I remember correctly live in a small village.

[littletune]

Anyone seen him?

The Forum seems eerily empty without him!

Well I've seen him on Facebook  but it's really weird that he's not here anymore    I'm always hoping that he comes back again! 

[gep]

If you read several of his last posts you will know why he left.

BTW (how much is it now?) and how are things in the lowlands these days? We read De Telegraph online almost daily but YOU are on the ground and if I remember correctly live in a small village.

Last thing I saw was him putting on a poll about who should leave the Forum, he or Sorabji. Then I missed on the Forum for quite a while, hence I missed quite a bit. When I checked he was still on the members list, so... If he left, I'd be sorry, for I'd like his presence, despite our differences.

The low lands? (NB it's Telegraaf; we're Dutch, not English!). Thankfully I'm not on the ground, merely walking on it!
Last news is our pension's funds are to be changed into something my union calls a "casino"pension due to the insecurities build in (the BigBoys play with the money, and if it goes wrong we are expected to fill the gaps), we're giving to Greece some €5 billion (or €7, or €10, the PM is a bit hazy on figures) out of our taxes, insurances, pensions and bank deposits (money we will never see coming back), there are to be some €18 billion in cuts to be made (perhaps more; same PM!). Oh, and we have the wettest summer in the books (which run back to 1906 or so). So everything is going juuuust fine....

all best,
gep

[oxy60]

You did miss the "good bye." He was quite a character and contributed a lot of humor and insight. There were however those endless "nit-picking" exchanges which seemed to detract.

I guess it got to him.

Even though I can't speak or write Dutch, I saw the root of the problems during the mid nineties and we decided to split. No one believed us and our friends thought we were nuts. They all believed everything would turn out OK. Well, it hasn't.

The sad reality is that all of the EU is at some stage heading for a full collapse. The strong countries will be the last to fail and the weakest are now falling fast. Unfortunately no leader has the will to make the moves to solve the problem because that would weaken their base of support. 

[keyboardclass]

He's posting over in the other place.

[emill]

First to go was BIRBA!  my what a loss .... now it seems Thal has gone the same way.

For Birba many say it was his disappointment for having fallen and be duped like many
to the non-characters of Lady Pianist-Becky-Rodger.  But I really doubt. I feel he left for other
reasons ... Birba seems beyond being affected by those shady characters and as he said in his last few posts, if someone has to leave he would prefer that they just did without announcing it to the world or making a scene of it.

Well in Thal's case, he harped several times on the "low quality" or questionable quality of posts in audition room.  Maybe he was referring to the deluge of "newbies" who started posting as far as he was concerned subpar performances . . .  and to make it worse non-classical pieces. Until 2010, the great majority of postings were from the classical era .... now we have a a good and steady number of modern music to include Lady Gaga. This change probably did not ring well with Thal and some others here. 

I think this situation was brought about by increased awareness of Youtubers for Painostreet.  Everytime a video is embedded in PS ... it will appear in YT with the sign - As seen in Pianostreet forum.  More and more have become aware of PS in this way. Until 2009 everytime a video in YT is embedded in PS ... NO sign appears in YT. However since mid to late 2010 .... every YT video embedded in PS sports a sign .... As sen in Pianostreet forum .... making the curious and not so curious come over.  I have seen a good number of my YT friends become recent members here in PS.

Oh well change is difficult for some .....  I would probably prefer that a separate audition room be for modern, present day popular music and another one for classical music.  It would be desirable at least for me if the classical music audition room would contain threads for each of the main composers for that era like Beethoven, Chopin, Schumann among others.

[ted]

It is peculiar how intensely the internet can affect people. Imagine we were all together in a room with a piano instead of posting on a forum. As I have said several times, I have been at many gatherings with enthusiasts of very widely varying musical taste, philosophy and temperament. Everybody plays the piano, talks, sometimes argues quite vehemently, has a few drinks, a good time and departs happier for it.

I think the time element has something to do with it. The immediacy of response in person is removed and posters have time to brood about things they don't like and magnify them in their own minds until they assume an unwarranted importance. I fell into that trap once, but after not posting for a while I realised how silly I was. Nothing on forums matters that much really, after all.

Mind you, I think spending too much time on the internet generally is not a good thing, and I have reduced my posting time on both piano forums considerably. But that is just time and common sense, not a consequence of something someone has posted.

[oxy60]

Our forum provides something different, a get together over great distances and time zones. Those rooms full of people with a common interest are wonderful. When it comes to piano/classical interests, those rooms sometimes become hard to fill. In my area there is only one group, 2 hours away by car.

[goldentone]

I think the time element has something to do with it. The immediacy of response in person is removed and posters have time to brood about things they don't like and magnify them in their own minds until they assume an unwarranted importance. I fell into that trap once, but after not posting for a while I realised how silly I was. Nothing on forums matters that much really, after all.

That's a very good observation, Ted.  I have succumbed to it myself.  For me, Piano Street provided a lot of enjoyment in the first few years.  You can land some wonderful online relationships.  I think if we keep our balance, and not allow people to upset us, a forum like this can be a happy diversion from life in a subject of great personal interest.

[go12_3]

It's not uncommon for most forums that people do several posts for a few years and then leave for a while.  I know I haven't been around here for a long time, due to other interests and real life situations.  It's hard to gauge on what anyone is truly feeling while online as we  can only read the comments posted here.  I don't think there is any true value in online relationships unless a bond and trust is formed.  I noticed that Thal  and several others  has left PS that were active in this forum over a year ago. 

[countrymath]

who?

[retrouvailles]

The good news is that I'm still here!

[thalberg]

I'm still here, too.  I'm not thalbergmad, I'm just plain thalberg, but I've contributed quite a few posts in my day   Not as many as the other thal, though.

[pianowolfi]

Well I am still here, too. But sometimes I feel a bit like a stranger. And at the time I don't really have time nor capacity to post or comment or listen a lot. And I don't really like all those "I can play moonlight  Song and fur Elise and I have no teacher but can I play at carnegie and go to julliard within three months and win chopin competition and get famous and make a lot of money with music I don't need to read music i am only playam i now a proffessional and why do you only accept classical here 'n stuff " kind of things, they drive me nuts.

[oxy60]

No he's not back. I thought I saw a new post from him on another subject. After checking the post was from 2008! We all get busy and sometimes keeping up with forums falls away. Maybe he has found a new love. Sure hope so.

[retrouvailles]

He seems like a happier man on Facebook, now that he is not posting here.