[semi off topic preface of sorts]
i was/am simply expressing thoughts, not making a legal brief, or doctorial theises, or anything of the such. i will confess most people probably will find my thought patterns to be non sequitur, and i can be cool with that, cause i find most of this agreed shared hallucination we call reality (matrix?) to be non sequitur myself.
[/semi off topic preface of sorts]

as the whole virtual community thing... i see the point, and i see how it works,  (i mean i am after all typing here now, right) but is it even close to what god had in mind for the fellowship of belivers? might it (possibly) even be worse (in many, if not at least a few cases) to make it any kind a priotiry for the sake of fellowship, or unity?

then assuming you could treat virtual community as "sacrid" as real honest day to day community... is the church ever ment to be a static sturcture that just grabs more and more people, and keeps them in one physical (or even virtual) location for all time?

seems to be there is somthing essental in the body of christ that longs for nomads, to come and go... people walking together for a time, then going different directions (physicaly not spiritualy of course) with different people, as the kingdome expands. honest emotional community can only reach a finite size after all... there are only so many people we as individuals can really know or care about at any given time...

i am currently seeing technology as a root of many problems in a lot of cases, which is why i am less and less excited about 'electronic' music, or the production of electronic music in my day to day life, and am spending less and less time on the internet. (or with the computer, t.v. or even radio on.)

it is this technology, after all, that gives us the ability to splinter into homogeneous groups of people who, more and more, only associate with like minded people, as we also more and more refine the sources of news (propaganda) input that reinforce our ideas of reality.

as for taking things up a level...
"If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or aclanging cymbal." right?

do what you feel called to do, just know that you can make the best track, mix, set, show, etc... but if you do it at the expence of loving someone along the way, you may (or may not) have missed the point of it all...


in short, if i fall off the tasty fresh map, or the internet all together, i am not alone, or in any kind of danger. (in fact as far as thing like time managment, and exposer to pornography, and other unhealthy stimulus goes, i might be much better off when i finaly get to the place of no longer using the interrnet)  concern and prayers are always apprecitated. but fear not, not being a part of TF, or BLJ, or some other internet "community" is not the worst thing that could happen to me.

If political divisions and the sites moderation actually cause people to feel they must leave tasty fresh (something I think has only happened to a few people on the left), then yeah, that'll harm the sites ability to develop in other areas.

But other than those rare occasions, I'm not sure how damaging these divisions really are, and I definitely don't see things as breaking down into different factions.  I know there are certain people I disagree with about alot of political and moral issues, but I don't really see them as a unified camp, working against me on all issues!  And I'd expect them all to be just as helpful if I were to ask them about some music related question as if I were a die hard conservative.  Even those I disagree with most vehemently with over certain political issues, I'd still be happy to help them out with any music related stuff (even if I am just an avid record collector).

Maybe I'm being a little naive as to how worked up people get over these things though.  Do people really think political discussion stoke the sort of personal hatred that would stop tf from being a place where people could share their musical ideas and techniques?  I guess those divisions might stop people from forming really close working relationships, but I don't see any way around that.  Even if no discussions took place on tf, as you got to know someone, this differences will still come up, and still pose the same potential problems.

I feel like this post's abit rambling.  Oh well, I'm tired, and am probably feeling the pressure to live up to natefrogg's praise.

That's life. This thread is just one start. It will take time Davo. The ones who need this thread now are the leaders like you, me, Hazey, Louis, etc...

Turn it around... what do you gain by debating this Godf?

When people with different ideas post their opinions about something, that tends to lead to a discussion/debate.

Either tf needs to be a place where only those with identical ideas post, or else people need to feel less threatened when they see someone post a view different to their own.

I never viewed this thread as a battle.  I was adding my opinion to a discussion, in the hope that my contribution would add to the understanding of others, and the quality of the thread.  I don't really understand why that would upset anyone.

WOW.  Well said bro.  I totally agree with that.

Hazey while I may not always agree with your opinion, I always find many of your posts enlightening, and often a different way of thinking about things.  I often read them and never post anything, but I thought I would this time just to say i really appreciate you bro!  I respect what a deep thinker you are, and I appreciate the fresh perspective you often provide.

its not that the discussion is inherently evil/destructive/whatever. its that when people who have very different opinions on how something should be obtained, they fight for it with a passion. then because they will not say, "you want to do it that way, ok. thats fine. you can, but ill do it this way" they start yelling saying that they are right and you are wrong. it happens everywhere, not just here. dont know if you remember, but when the elections were up something like this happened, but much worse. people just wouldnt say, "thats ok man, you can think that is how it should be done, i think this is how it shuld be done" the began yelling! do we have to bring some archives up?
this is the only problem i see with the HUB idea with TF. people may start, instead of praying and uncouraging, yelling because they think others arent doing it right.

dont you guys remember what happened during the elections? do you want that again? do you want the people that were hurt not to forgive? the people do did the hurting not to apologize?