The Mark Knopfler Songbook — Featured on MK's official YouTube channel

[hunter v2.0]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

[dustyvalentino]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

Can I just say, Quizzy can choose to take this "advice" or not. Anyone can post whatever they like here as long as it doesn't break any rules. If you don't like anyone's tone or how they use their personal experience to make a point, just move past, or challenge without insulting them.

[hunter v2.0]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

Can I just say, Quizzy can choose to take this "advice" or not. Anyone can post whatever they like here as long as it doesn't break any rules. If you don't like anyone's tone or how they use their personal experience to make a point, just move past, or challenge without insulting them.

Absolutely. Which why I use the ignore function. But apparently it's not only I who have taken issue with his behavior/attitude lately.

[dustyvalentino]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

Can I just say, Quizzy can choose to take this "advice" or not. Anyone can post whatever they like here as long as it doesn't break any rules. If you don't like anyone's tone or how they use their personal experience to make a point, just move past, or challenge without insulting them.

Absolutely. Which why I use the ignore function. But apparently it's not only I who have taken issue with his behavior/attitude lately.

Again, and I really can't emphasise this enough to everyone, if there is a post that you think breaks the rules, please use the report function before doing anything else.

[hunter v2.0]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

Can I just say, Quizzy can choose to take this "advice" or not. Anyone can post whatever they like here as long as it doesn't break any rules. If you don't like anyone's tone or how they use their personal experience to make a point, just move past, or challenge without insulting them.

Absolutely. Which why I use the ignore function. But apparently it's not only I who have taken issue with his behavior/attitude lately.

Again, and I really can't emphasise this enough to everyone, if there is a post that you think breaks the rules, please use the report function before doing anything else.

You can be well within the limits and yet be a nuisance. He wonders why his posts get little or negative response. It's not because he's breaking the rules.

[dustyvalentino]

If someone isn't breaking the rules then whatever they post is fine. Just don't read it, then you won't find it a nuisance.

[quizzaciously]

Type less, type slower, think before you post, and you'll be good.

You say it yourself: You have a lot on your heart. On every topic. On almost every post. The world and this forum will not go to hell if your voice is not heard several times on every page. And you don't have to create 300-word speeches all the time either.

You say "it's not about me". Yes, very often it is about you. You start writing about whatever topic, then you very often feel the need to link it to your own experience. Why?

Also – excuse me for my directness – but your tone is very often the one of a know-it-all. And you can be rude af. I mean, the way you engaged with Chris is just ... I have no words.

I'm not saying this because I dislike you personally or because I'm an a-hole. You have a lot to bring to this forum. You're super talented, smart and dare to go against the current.

Can I just say, Quizzy can choose to take this "advice" or not. Anyone can post whatever they like here as long as it doesn't break any rules. If you don't like anyone's tone or how they use their personal experience to make a point, just move past, or challenge without insulting them.

First, thank you (hunter) for accepting my reasoning and answering some of the questions I rightly (I think) had for you, and please excuse me for acting somewhat aggressive at times. But as Dusy said, when you see yourself being attacked in any way, shape or form, you react, and I'm not the one who can leave it as is. In this message, I'll tackle my so-called rudeness.

With all fairness, Chris right away has proved not to be the guy it's easy to argue with either. Literally ANYTHING you throw at him is either thrown back, barked at, or answered with short messages with a very condescending attitude. I'm sorry, but if something's messed up, something's messed up and I don't care if it's Chris Whitten, Mark Knopfler or the Pope.

I love Chris, he's a great drummer, and he's a great photographer/historian, and it's a piece of insane luck we have him on the forum, it's just I can barely talk with the guy online. At one point he just said "It's irrelevant" in two words answering to a quite neutral post of mine (especially by my standards). I was like WTF is wrong with you man? It's not how you talk to people.

[hunter v2.0]

Edit: Response to dusty's post above.

Again, which is why I use the ignore function. The ignore function doesn't cover quotes, though, and yesterday I "slipped". I guarantee it won't happen again.

[quizzaciously]

Again, which is why I use the ignore function. The ignore function doesn't cover quotes, though, and yesterday I "slipped". I guarantee it won't happen again.

You are talking about me being rude, a know-it-all type, and looking at things from above, but doing the same things yourself. Your message can be approximately translated to "I still think you're an a-hole, and will think you're an a-hole, deal with it". I don't want to fight with you, it's just a forum, it's just the internet. You don't know me, I don't know you. Let's just be a little bit more respectful and tolerant of each other.

[hunter v2.0]

With all fairness, Chris right away has proved not to be the guy it's easy to argue with either. Literally ANYTHING you throw at him is either thrown back, barked at, or answered with short messages with a very condescending attitude. I'm sorry, but if something's messed up, something's messed up and I don't care if it's Chris Whitten, Mark Knopfler or the Pope.

I love Chris, he's a great drummer, and he's a great photographer/historian, and it's a piece of insane luck we have him on the forum, it's just I can barely talk with the guy online. At one point he just said "It's irrelevant" in two words answering to a quite neutral post of mine (especially by my standards). I was like WTF is wrong with you man? It's not how you talk to people.

I agree. His replies have surprised me (negatively) sometimes. But - how often do we get to engage directly with someone who was there? That alone should be enough to let a few things pass. Plus, because of his status as a top-class session man who's played with the greats AND because he's a good deal older than you (25? 30 years?), you should choose your words differently than when discussing with someone who is your equal. Disagree, but with respect. That's just common courtesy and exactly why I came out "retirement" to call you out.

[hunter v2.0]

Again, which is why I use the ignore function. The ignore function doesn't cover quotes, though, and yesterday I "slipped". I guarantee it won't happen again.

You are talking about me being rude, a know-it-all type, and looking at things from above, but doing the same things yourself. Your message can be approximately translated to "I still think you're an a-hole, and will think you're an a-hole, deal with it". I don't want to fight with you, it's just a forum, it's just the internet. You don't know me, I don't know you. Let's just be a little bit more respectful and tolerant of each other.

My response was to dusty. I forgot to include him in quotes, and you replied before I hit Post. It was not meant to be a rude response to your post.

[quizzaciously]

With all fairness, Chris right away has proved not to be the guy it's easy to argue with either. Literally ANYTHING you throw at him is either thrown back, barked at, or answered with short messages with a very condescending attitude. I'm sorry, but if something's messed up, something's messed up and I don't care if it's Chris Whitten, Mark Knopfler or the Pope.

I love Chris, he's a great drummer, and he's a great photographer/historian, and it's a piece of insane luck we have him on the forum, it's just I can barely talk with the guy online. At one point he just said "It's irrelevant" in two words answering to a quite neutral post of mine (especially by my standards). I was like WTF is wrong with you man? It's not how you talk to people.

I agree. His replies have surprised me (negatively) sometimes. But - how often do we get to engage directly with someone who was there? That alone should be enough to let a few things pass. Plus, because of his status as a top-class session man who's played with the greats AND because he's a good deal older than you (25? 30 years?), you should choose your words differently than when discussing with someone who is your equal. Disagree, but with respect. That's just common courtesy and exactly why I came out "retirement" to call you out.

Yeah, I perfectly understand what you mean, and it's called tolerance. Some details are attached seamlessly, some wiggle around like on a Trabant. Fortunately (or unfortunately for some) my tolerance for BS is extra high and I'm not adding additional points for being famous, younger or older, especially on the internet where we are all "equal". A post from a toddler, a post from a celebrity and a post from 80yo will all look the same. It's human interaction distilled into zeros and ones. That's why it's especially important to be respectful and wise with what you say, your messages are your face.

I don't think the ignore function is working great here as it's not like Instagram where you just ban someone and his pictures won't appear. Because we're interacting here and using quotes and stuff, you're basically bound to bump into your ignored vis-à-vis at some point. It's like trying to ban somebody in your family, or at work. This is exactly why we need to

[hunter v2.0]

I agree with you, but it all changes when we know something about the person behind the avatar. And in Chris' case, we know a lot. And because of his standing and his unique insight, I think it's wise, for the sake of the whole forum, to be less confrontational and more diplomatic. It doesn't mean one is compromising with one's principles, but you give some and take some.

[quizzaciously]

And continuing my conversation with LE... My mental health might not be in the greatest shape and it certainly affects me and my grumpiness. You can already imagine the trouble of being a young adult Russian and what amount of mental shit I need to go through because of this alone. I've just spent more than a year god knows where doing god knows what like in a prison, and jumped through so many emotional hoops I lost count of it already.

And I'm still doing something I never imagined doing and trying to feed myself with personal guitar lessons. While remaining pretty much an amateur bedroom musician. Impostor syndrome overload. And due to Mark's insane popularity (sarcasm), my channel also grows slower than he releases live albums. It's such a mess of frustration, high hopes, tears, laughs, heartbreak and occasional victories, I am surprised at how well I'm doing despite all this.

I can't say I'm suffering, no, just undergoing this never-ending contrast shower for the past 2 years.

[Love Expresso]

Very well said. Keep up doing what you do. It is true that one over here in Germany tends to get used to those circumstances that for you are existential and that changed your life so drastically. Let me assure you that I never doubted your mental health, only your present condition of grumpiness. Better think of this gift of yours, and it really is one. Mark's music seems to make you a better man. I hope to see many more of your videos, and especially a lot of after April 12th.

LE