Why I did this.

[Sir Trevor]

There are 2 reasons I made this board.

First is so we can stay in contact if the official board goes down.

Second. We can pretty much say what we want here.

That was one of the main reasons I made the board.
I sort of thought about it when the official board went down, but shrugged it off as not really worth it.
But with the new policy, ("negative posts ... will not be allowed") I knew people were going to need a place to vent.
I belive that constructive criticism is good, but I can also see the faire's side of things.
You have some noob come on the board that doesn't know anything about faire. They see some of the complaints, and decide they don't want to try faire. That isn't good for the faire. So, they have to walk a very fine edge on the official site.

I don't ;D

[LadyJane]

i can also understand the no negative comments stand the faire board has taken, but it makes me uneasy for several reasons....i'm not going to go into that right now. My hat is off to you Trevor for making a place that has no such restrictions. thanks

[Olive the Ox Lady]

Trev, you are extraordinary! You have too much time on your hands, but I'm sure glad you do, because I love to be able to go to your pics and now have this forum, too. Thank you and smoochies. . .

[Sir Trevor]

Not extraordinary, just too much time on my hands ;D
Britny can vouche for that

She actually partially talked me into this.
And pointed me in the direction of this system of boards.
I was thinking about EZBoards, but these are better. I can live with the ads no problem. (EZBoards have pop-ups on their free board, and I hate pop-ups).

[SwordSchoolGroupie]

We were going to ask you to do this Trevor on your website... and Bob even downloaded Yabb to start one of his own. Guess you beat us to the punch.

[Arthur Pendragon]

Yep, there are good reasons why the change was made, as you (and Brook) have already said. I too believe in the value of constructive criticism, but most people today don't really understand the difference between *constructive* and *destructive* criticisms.

Let me give everyone an easy example. Often, during the royal court show this last year, I (as the Duke) would forget one character's name or another. In truth, this is because we all learn at least two names for each cast member (real name and character name, and then sometimes nicknames), and my mind would go blank so that I could only remember one, inappropriate name. This happened with Chris McQ's character Stevens a lot, where I could only think "Wingdoodle", which wasn't right. Of course, there is also the famous episode of my forgetting my own "wife's" name of Elaine, where I looked at her and could only think "Christine. Wait, that's not right, it's Christine. No, wait..."

Now, a patron who saw this could easily criticize my performance. *How* they said things though would greatly color the emotional response of others who read the post. For example, if someone were to say "The Duke keeps forgetting people's names. What gives? Can't he memorize his lines?" To that, I could reply with the truthful answer above, or I could say that we are trying to portray that the Duke has just returned home from 2 years in the Crusades and doesn't care to remember the names of every courtly hanger-on. Or, I could just agree that I need to spend more time in memorizing my lines to make the show better. This is why it is *constructive* criticism. It addresses a single issue, which has possible explanations or solutions, and the question was asked in a respectful, calm and logical manner.

However, what if the same person had said "Don't go see the Royal Court show. It sucks. The actors obviously haven't rehearsed, or are just idiots"?
Now they are engaging in *destructive* criticism. They don't address a single issue, have offered no solutions to improvement, and have stated things in such a way that others will be disinclined to attend the show, and possibly even the faire as a whole. Really, they are just complaining for the sake of hearing their own voice. Unfortunately, there was *A LOT* of that on the GLMF boards this past season.

It is a shame that what most would deem "common sense" is actually NOT that common. As such, the new policy for the GLMF boards is probably for the best.

[Sir Trevor]

Oh, I agree.
A lot of the stuff I saw on the boards would have been deleted if I was running the board "FOR" the faire.
Unfortunately that also opens a whole new can of worms when people start saying that managment doesn't want to hear about problems, they just want to sweep them under the rug, etc..
But it is their board, and they can run it how they see fit.
It is after all, THEIR board, and we are in no way entitled to it.
That is why I created this site. For a back-up in case the official board goes down.
It also serves as an area where people can vent a little without fear of reprisal of managment of the faire or their board.
While I am one of the first to point out things that strike me the wrong way, am also objective enough to see the other side of things.
So hopefully, if things start turning heavily anti-faire on subjects, I will hopefully be able to interject some reason into the discusion.

Also, with more options availble here, hopefully we can keep a few more people interested and posting so everyone doesn't disappear during the off season, which tends to happen on the official board.

[Capt. Morgan]

My good Duke, I think we can all agree that "Common Sense" is not!

And thank you again, Trev...I think that any "criticism" done here is more constructive because we do care a great deal about the Faire being a success. It is our "Home Faire" and we take just as much pride in presenting it to visitors (as "Playtrons", Actors, Vendors and Volunteers) as those who "produce" the Faire...It is a pity that TPTB look upon it as "negative" but as I was pointing out to someone...if someone posts "The food at the Feast was cold." well, then I would actually investigate for myself and correct it if it was a problem, not dismiss it. It seems to me that those of us who go every weekend are somewhat discounted as being "grumblers" if we say something as opposed to the person who comes one, maybe two times a year during "Highland" and "Pirate" Weekend and whines about something. Sometimes as a loyal Patron, I feel like the "red headed" step child...they know I am always going to come, regardless, so they don't have to "try" to get me there...yet I will certainly spend more $$$ than those others because I actually care what happens to the Faire and the people who give it their heart and soul (and weekends!).

[Sir Trevor]

Oh I agree with what you say about how the faire treats us regulars.
As you say, they know we will be back so they tend to brush us off.
They don't realize how many people we help bring in.

I don't know how strict their new policy will be.
We may still have room for constructive criticism on the official board and they just want to weed out the inflamitory stuff.
But I would rather have this board and not need it, than need it and not have it.

By establishing it now, and making it familiar to more people, it will be ready come next faire season when the sparks start to fly again (and we all know from experience something won't be right next season)

I also would like to encourage people to speak their mind at the time of their problems. Most of the regulars do, but a lot of the complaints I heard probably could have been solved at the time by speaking up.
Such as the cold food at the feast.
If I ever spent that kind of money to attend the feast, you can bet I would speak up if something wasn't right. Usually with problems such as that, just voicing the problem can get things resolved. I have rarely been to a resturaunt that won't fix a problem with food served. One of the reasons that servers come back after serving the food and ask if everything is ok.

A lot of people don't say a word at the time, then complain a lot afterwards (I know, my wife is like that).

[hokiebird]

Hey I'm glad you created this message board! I see the point of not wanting negative stuff on the GLMF message boards but I was concerned by what they deem negative. There was definitely much negativity on the board but it ranged from outright mean negative to constructive negative. And I think that some of that negativity still spawned constructive converstations. I also think there is a benefit to seeing "management's" responses to complaints of patrons. Like the dreaded "funny money" thread from hell. Despite anger and frustration expressed by many people, some good ideas came out of that. It was a beneficial discussion that even though we beat the horse to death then dragged it around the racetrack a few more times we did gain something from it. Though may the horse rest in peace. ;D


And though none of you really know who the heck I am I still like to read all about whats going on and I really look forward to next years faire.

[Sir Trevor]

Welcome HB
You don't have to worry about censorship over here.
Although, you also won't get any responces from the faire either.
So, it's kind of a trade-off.

[Scritch]

Oh my darling Trevor,
This is DameGoode, or Christy K, posting under Pete's name. The so and so didn't tell me about this site and forum. I will talk to him later.
Oh, Trevor, I am so happy with you right now.....
Thank you for creating this forum.
Ahhh....
Wonder if I can even type evil?

[Scritch]

Oh. I can.
Cool

[Sir Trevor]

Scritch said:

Wonder if I can even type evil?

Yep, I did away with a lot of the censored words.
Kept a few of the really nasty ones, but for the most part, an occasional hell or damn isn't going to kill anyone.

[Kayenne]

Thank you very much for this alternative to the "official" board. I can understand not wanting destructive criticism. But I agree with HokieBird about how "negative" might be defined a little too arbitrarily(sp?). And from personal experience, I do not trust Brook at all.

I have been very pleased to see people speaking out on the official board. And doing it in a relatively civilized manner, which may be part of the reason it hasn't yet been wiped clean. But I am still very wary, every time I log on with trepidation, wondering if my comments will still be there. Or if I'll be able to log on at all.

On this board I can breathe a little easier, and speak my mind more openly. Thank you very much indeed!