its quiet on the other forum!

[IrisRose]

Julio, I respect your courage and your honesty to post a defense of the mknewsforum.   I am a moderator there, and i still enjoy going there, although it is quiet.  A slow down because it is after the tour, and there is also lots of enthusiasm for this forum.      I like both.  And i like the markknopfler.com forum also.   In many ways the three are the same, with discussions of favorites and experiences with MK.    There is a thread on the markknopfler forum that i like very much.  A small group of people are discussing the lyrics of the songs and what they mean.   
The markknopfler.com forum seems to be moderated more loosely than the MKNews forum.  Unfortunately it sometimes allows people to be very rude.      One reason I like the mknewsforum is that rudeness is not allowed there.
I moderate here too, and I do it very differently from on the mknewsforum because the philosophy is different.   Every forum does have its own personality.  And I have to say that when I made one suggestion on the amit forum a few weeks ago, there were some angry people.       And you are correct!  Moderating is not always an easy job.   

So good for you for speaking up, and good for others for answering you with courtesy! 
On other matters brought up here:   I do not think the newsforum is ugly, but everyone is entitled to his own taste.  The pages were designed by one of our own editors, in cooperation with the administrator.     The appearance will probably change with the next release to match the cover of that one.    That watermark profile of MK behind the posts is very nice.   It could not be done with white pages.   I also think this forum's layout is clean and good looking, too
Finally, yes, superval, the thread advertising our amit forum was deleted.  It did its job; it was allowed to be on there for quite a while.  The first posts were polite and enthusiastic, but some were getting a little rough and sarcastic.    It is not usually done to advertise on one forum for another, but pottel's post was so enthusiastic and positive and the new forum IS about mk, so it stayed there for a while.   I don't know if you watched it daily, but I did.   And after the last two or three posts, I can't blame him at all for deleting the whole thread.   It wasn't censorship, it was probably a reasonable, understandable, and delayed response.  I was surpised that the thread stayed as long as it did. 

[Pottel]

i tried to make that "advertising post" as positive as possible.
and yes, it has done it's job i guess

[rygman]

It's been quiet on the other MKForum for a long time--way before this forum existed and certainly during this summer's tour. It's nice to see lots of activity here but truthfully, most of these threads have already been addressed several times in the other forum(s). I will post here (and there) when interesting threads appear that I feel inclined to contribute to. I'm not particularly interested in thinking about the next tour's setlist, for example, when this year's tour just ended. I guess I'm just not THAT obsessed that MK's tours, recordings and activities are the only things I think about. In particular, I've had enough of DS for a while, not sure why but I have no desire to listen to that. Giving it a bit of a break is ok for me--I still check the forums but don't always read much of them. Nothing against those that need to choose their favorite DS & MK song, album, lyrics, et cetera, yet again.

Keep Knopflerin'   

[Fieneke2]

I am a bit behind in reading and posting, but I would like to give my comment on this thread too!

I can

[IrisRose]

Fieneke I agree with you on almost all points!   Your funny silly posts are delightful.  I hope that your posts were not edited or deleted for that reason.  I know that there was an issue with many smilies.  But I thought you reached a compromise.     Comments that attack each other personally should be deleted, I agree.   And as a semi official forum, TK must follow the direction of PCManagement, and they don't want really personal stuff about MK on the forum.  We can put more here, of course, because we are not official. 
And remember that long, very naughty thread about MK that the women all wrote in.  No one every deleted that one.   
It's nice to have three different forums with different tones to them for everybody!  This one is very relaxed, it is true.   But you are correct--we must not be mean. 

[shangri la 1]

The rule here is that messages won

[gbobmi]

I rarely go to the other forum any more. Why? Because it's not fun like it used to be.

I posted there often, both seriously and not so seriously. I met many wonderful people-most of whom are participating in this forum.

However, after a couple of years of being edited, deleted, chastised, abused, taken to task, criticized and lectured to-not to mention being treated like an unruly child-I've become paranoid about posting there. I feel as if I have to watch my words and take care not to step on certain toes. Having too much fun is a serious crime over there. Did I mention "emoticon abuse"?

I do occasionally read the other forum-it has its place in my MK-related activities-but I rarely post any more. My heart is no longer there.

Mark Knopfler is a wonderful musician. He has a "cult" following. We are all passionate about what he does and his unique ability to speak to us all through his music. That's why we're here and perhaps, there.

HOWEVER, MK is NOT a DEITY! A sweaty guitar god-YES!-but he's a human being, just like the rest of us. A very talented human being, who reduces most of us to blithering idiots if we've been fortunate enough to meet him in person. On the other forum, it seems as if we get chastised for treating him in any way other than the deity which the administrator deems him to be.

From what I know about Mark Knopfler-he does not like being fawned over. He prefers being treated like a "regular person". I have to believe that he'd enjoy some of our silly banter and even get a few chuckles out of it......

Just my 2 cents worth.

[dustyvalentino]

I don't think there's any question about it, of course MK would find a list of his song titles ammended to be rude funny, who wouldn't? 

[ingridswing]

In short you mentioned exactly my feelings Gayle 
The only difference is that english is not my native language so I can't write it down like you did.

And yes, I believe MK wants to be threated like every other normal being.
That's the reason when I "met" him on the streets of Edinburgh, walking together with Glenn, I acted if I didn't recognize them. When he is driving to the venue, it's work, so I wait for him for an autograph, but he is allowed to have the privacy to go shopping or sightseeing just like us, without being disturbed by fans.

[IrisRose]

Ingrid, I do not know if I'd have had the strength of will to walk past MK and Glenn without ummm, 'drooling. . . .'    How did you ever do it?
Do you think that they saw you, and said, "Do you think she'll stop and talk to us?   Maybe we should go talk to her!  Let's do!  Naw, she doesn't want to be bothered."     

[Pottel]

lol, that was funny...

[superval99]

Well, he stopped the car and spoke to us after we had waved to him a few minutes earlier!   

[Fieneke2]

Quote Marie:

[ingridswing]

Glenn saw me and said hi. He wan't able not seeing me, because I was looking in a window of a store that wasn't open yet and when I turned around to walk away I actually bumped to Glenn who came to that window at the same time 
Mark was just walking a few meters behind him and I just walked the opposite way without saying a thing. By the way, Mark was wearing that woolen hat that day, although it was pretty warm 
And because I know you want all the details of things like this:
It was in Rose Street, Edinburgh, the shop is called Get Shirty. They sell nice shirt to wear with tuxedo (also real crazy ones, like a shirt with little pigs all over the back and sleeves which I bought some years ago for my hubby). I was looking to buy some more shirts for my hubby and a friend of mine. I always go to that shop in Edinburgh    It's really fun when men wear a tuxedo with a nice shirt and when they put off their jacket (don't know if shirt and jacket are the right words for tuxedo-cloths) you see all colors pigs or birds or balls or whatever, very surprising and funny and people always smile when they see it.

[Rollergirl]

what colour was the hat?