[pianotech] pianotech - WE are the bastard offspring

[Encore Pianos]

Hi Kent:

I would like to engage some of your comments, and will start by saying that
you are not of the bad guys, so nothing following is directed personally at
you.  

I agree that the closing of mailman by the powers that be is a lost cause.
They have never really listened to us, and they give us no reason to believe
that they will start now.  It is fait accompli as of April 1.  A great many
of us have recognized that and are moving towards a new list elsewhere, as
evidenced by the mechanics and discussion of moving to Googletech.  We are
the bastard offspring they have created, and we are leaving home to go
someplace where we are wanted and respected.

The protest is a lost cause in the sense that it will not bring back
Pianotech.  The unsubscribing to HL is the point of the protest.  It is
there to state that the way that the closing of the Pianotech forum has been
handled over the past 2 years has been divisive, destructive, - and
avoidable.  There is a cost to the way that the board has made its choices.
It is clear to many that the board has not acted in good faith towards the
participants of Pianotech.  We had been lead to believe that other options
would be explored that were exclusive of Pianotech or HL, and it is clear
that any statements to that effect have never been more than window
dressing.  

I believe that the majority of participants in Pianotech would have welcomed
a replacement for Pianotech that works as simply as it does, and adds some
features that are the byproduct of software evolution.  Improvements aside,
the fundamental architecture of the interface of the HL site still functions
like it was designed by a bunch of 12 year old boys at recess.  I can still
recall how my heart fell to the floor the first time I opened the HL site
and I thought, "Oh.... My..... God...  What a piece of shit.  How could they
do this to us?"  

I did not want to use it then, and nothing they have done to improve it is
enough to make me want to use it now.  That's where most of us are, and we
are not Luddites.  We recognize the blindingly obvious, while others choose
to avoid it.

Here is where I will disagree with you most strongly, Kent:  " So, I would
like to express the opinion that an alternative to abandoning my.ptg would
be instead to sign up for my.ptg and continue to put the pressure on for it
to work correctly."  It will never function as well as PIanotech without a
ground floor rewrite and redesign of the interface.  There is no reason to
believe that HL has either the capability or interest in doing so.   Nor
have we been given any reason to believe that our board even wants such a
thing or considers it important.  They do not give a damn about what we
want.  What evidence is there that this attitude will change anytime soon?
They've done their dirty deed, and they can go back to sleep now.  It's
over.

Utter mediocrity has won.  These people are the face of the organization PTG
and dishonor it with their smallness.  That is why some people are choosing
to leave PTG, and why so many are working to create a viable and enjoyable
alternative replacement for Pianotech.

Most respectfully yours, 

Will Truitt 




 

-----Original Message-----
From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Kent Swafford
Sent: Tuesday, February 26, 2013 4:57 PM
To: pianotech at ptg.org List
Subject: [pianotech] pianotech

I would like to offer a few comments about the pianotech situation. This
will be a political post deliberately put on pianotech.   8^)

To those suggesting that a protest is in order to get the decision to close
mailman reversed, I would suggest at this point that this is a lost cause.

The action was taken by the full board (not unanimously, BTW), appears to be
within the authority of the board, and the decision was taken with full
awareness of the disappointment it would cause to some of the membership.

I am one of those who is indescribably disappointed with the board over this
issue.

Looking back, it is clear that there was never a chance that a decision
would be made to continue pianotech indefinitely. The decision was actually
made long ago and the inevitable closing was just put off temporarily.

The board appears to feel that the decision has been explained adequately. I
do not share that opinion. However, the board is under no obligation to
explain.

However, I would suggest that an appropriate time to press for detailed
explanations on this and any other issue is at re-election time for the
officers.

So, I would like to express the opinion that an alternative to abandoning
my.ptg would be instead to sign up for my.ptg and continue to put the
pressure on for it to work correctly.

Of course, there is a problem defining what constitutes "correct" operation.
Both of the following are true:

My.ptg is not as improved and does not work as well as it should; _and_
my.ptg does not work quite as badly as is usually represented on pianotech.

The current trash talk on pianotech regarding this decision is playing right
into the hands of those who wanted all along to shut pianotech down over its
wild and wooly nature.

The free-wheeling speech here has never bothered me in any way that I
couldn't handle for myself. I have very strong filters so that 4 pianotech
subscribers, one currently inactive, never reach my computer.

Those 4 filters are adequate to let me enjoy pianotech immensely. It has
been great, good people of pianotech! Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

 But like it or not, it is time to move on.

Please remember that for all the people who have enjoyed pianotech, there
have been those who have very simply never seen its value.

The voices that have made pianotech so valuable and vibrant are vital to
tech discussions of piano service. It would be a terrible thing, IMO, for
my.ptg to become just the milquetoast version of pianotech.

Don't give my.ptg over to the b_______s. Make your voices heard. You know
PTG needs you. (Well, all but about 4 of us, IMO.)   <huge grin>

And at council time, send a delegate ready to ask hard questions about who
deserves to be re-elected!

See you.

All the best,


Kent Swafford