I hope Babis calms down and comes back to the forum. Despite our disagreements, I greatly value his opinion and his contribution to the forum and beyond. Many times, something he has said in a conversation has made me rethink things and change my perspective, and I thank him for that. And one more thing, which has been raised before: it’s a shame for messages to be deleted (at least not on a large scale); they all belong to the history and richness of our discussions.
Alexandros, the excerpt you quoted is the complete opposite of describing your presence both inside and outside the forum — surely you can’t be serious? You are one of the most level-headed and thoughtful voices here, just like Babis, as a matter of fact.
Unfortunately, I’ll have to say a few words about Telemachus’s attack, even though I have neither the time nor the inclination. I’ll overlook the irony about D major, about spending day and night on the forum, about cliques, and so on, but I don’t want certain impressions to be left uncorrected:
Lukas explained the situation with Stamkos very well. We discussed what happened with Tsoulogiannis in person at the time, and he admitted certain things. I have nothing against him as a person; he also organises conferences that are worthwhile, and I haven’t heard a collection of complaints like that since. I also have a very good opinion of Goumas, and I have recommended him as a teacher both here and to friends. I didn’t dismiss him entirely, as you seem to imply.
In the excerpts you quote, I’m essentially saying something very simple, which is also why I’ve stopped stepping forward when something happens. Namely, that people who have had a bad experience don’t come forward publicly to talk about it. I wrote about the formal legal notice in a previous message; the backtracking you mock was purely to protect the forum.
As for the festival, I raised some concerns, supported it with my presence as much as I could, and I’ll support it again this year. In the past, everyone used to advertise their gigs on the forum; then they moved exclusively to Facebook, and now to Instagram. Personally, I continue to post them here as well, out of respect, because I can’t bring myself to “abandon” the forum just because it “doesn’t bring in people”, knowing that the main advertising is done through Facebook.
Since we’re talking about venues, come and hear us one day, and if you don’t like something, write about it. It’ll also be a chance for us to get to know each other, or we could meet at some gathering, because it’s easy to say too much from behind a keyboard — but some other things go unsaid…