Brian Wilson web site down?

[I. Spaceman]

Yes, and we do speak too quickly in condemnation across the board, considering cool people like you and Katie post there.

[al]

Interesting thread. I know why all the bile. But just to remind people that perhaps www.brianwilson.com might be the first message board Brian Wilson may come across. The message board does suffer from its format. It does make people look overemotional and it is difficult to keep a them going because all the messages disappear after 3 days. So if you are a new comer and dont check the site regularly it makes it quite difficult to follow what is going on, as a result of whch difficult to integrate. The shenanigans that go on there are no more childish than on any other board, it just looks that way because its less hidden. Hence the Desper thing at the moment.

When I post on the Blueboard I certainly watch my words more than I used to, but this is also inevitable because there is only so much you can talk about Brian Wilson at the personal level and there are no sections where you can talk about anything else. I once talked about "Nebraska" as in Bruce Springsteen, only to be told he was from New Jersey, lol, and was told off many times for talking about bands like The Ramones, and Weezer, which have nothing to do with Brian Wilson of course But hey, what the heck, its ONLY a message board and I met some really really cool people through the Blueboard, including people who post or have posted on this message board too.

I think MOST BW/BB fans start with the Blueboard and there are a lot of good posters there, yourself, Joe Thomas, John Etherington, the marvellous Paul Adsett, Lee Simpson and many others. As you say, the problem is it only has one topic, and you can't have a full discussion if you have anything negative to say. I don't write anything negative about Brian on it because he DOES read at least some of it and I don't want to be the one that pisses him off enough to affect his confidence! On the whole I've stopped getting peed off but that pillock today got me riled - which was probably his intention.

Did you get the pm re the basement tapes? You may not be up to those yet!

[zelilgirlI1cenu]

Alan,

No I never got your PM? Weird, its not in the box either, I just checked. Yes I do have the Basement Tapes now, hehehe.

[Andrew G. Doe]

I'm the Michael Newman who posted that, my point was I thought Mr.Doe was being unfair by lumping all Blue Boarders in one boat.  Especially since he posts enough there, some would considered him one also. 

Sorry to disappoint, Michael, but I don't consider myself a BlueBoarder, just a BW/BB fan with a waaay too retentive memory. I've a lot of good friends on the Bloo, but there are also people there who, if they walked into the room, I'd up and walk out. Not naming any names, but what's the point of posting anything if you can't actually make any sense at all of the post, or if the post is so ludicrously fawning as to be pointless. Brian Wilson has written, produced and recorded some of the most sublime music I've ever heard. He's also, in my opinion, written, produced and recorded a degree of unmitigated dreck, but to say this to some posters on the Bloo is like handing out the white sheets and waving burning crosses. No-one is above constructive criticism. The other disquieting thing about the Bloo is that, from recent comments, it's obvious that for a substantial percentage of posters, no other boards exist (presumably because they don't toe the"Brian-is-wonderful-and-can-do-no-wrong" line). To address a current debate, I find it profoundly disturbing that peoiple who consider themselves big BW/BB fans have no idea who Steve Desper is, yet cite Sunflower[/i] as a favorite album.

Feel free to repost this on the Bloo. Over the years I've made it a habit not to post anything in a public forum that I'd prefer not to appear somewhere else.

Er... if you see what I mean. 

[Sir Rob]

A lot of people on the blueboard just seem to have a need to say everything Brian does is great and that they love Brian.  I don't think there's anything wrong with that in itself if that's what they want to do and other more serious and/or critical discussions are permitted.  And at least some of those people, I have reason to believe, are pretty nice everyday balanced types who just have this rather innocent enthusiasm.  Unfortunately, however, they have provided a rather mis-leading stereotype for some people to hit everyone who happens to take a Brian-centric view of The Beach Boys music around the head with.   The other problem with the blueboard, in my view, is that there is this feeling of having to censor yourself.  I mean I got told off there (by another poster) because I said something that might re-awaken bad memories for Brian!  I just think it would be absolutely ludicrous to have a message board on your site and not expect people to talk about you!  I mean if that is the case (and hopefully it isn't) maybe you are only supposed to say things like "Brian we love you!"     

[Ron]

I never really had a problem with people with rose colored glasses.  I'm guilty of it myself sometimes.  When I read the blueboard and see people just falling all over themselves, it doesn't bother me... if that was the extent of it.  The problem to me with that board (outside of the horrible format) is that many of the posters are pretty immature and seem to be easily amused.  It's so strange to see the two different sides of the coin, over there, and over here.  Over here you've got people talking about immensely intricate (ha, is that possible?) things like a specific mike placement on the left channel of some unreleased track, and over there you have people making polls about what their favorite movie is.  Not that that's specifically immature or anything, just an example of different strokes for different folks.  The thing about Mr. Desper is a good example.  To be honest, I had never heard of him until recently... but my initial reaction to his thread above was "Wow, this guy is cool!" not "This guy's a fake!".  Oh well, I'm rambling.

[Sir Rob]

I never really had a problem with people with rose colored glasses.  I'm guilty of it myself sometimes.  When I read the blueboard and see people just falling all over themselves, it doesn't bother me... if that was the extent of it.  The problem to me with that board (outside of the horrible format) is that many of the posters are pretty immature and seem to be easily amused.  It's so strange to see the two different sides of the coin, over there, and over here.  Over here you've got people talking about immensely intricate (ha, is that possible?) things like a specific mike placement on the left channel of some unreleased track, and over there you have people making polls about what their favorite movie is.  Not that that's specifically immature or anything, just an example of different strokes for different folks.  The thing about Mr. Desper is a good example.  To be honest, I had never heard of him until recently... but my initial reaction to his thread above was "Wow, this guy is cool!" not "This guy's a fake!".  Oh well, I'm rambling.

To be fair there's lots of trivia and stuff on here and nothing wrong with that.  There's room for it all IMO.  It's just that there's different sections on this board. 

[SurferGirl7]

The blueboard is a strange place. When I first started there, I didn't know if there was anyone like me out there. I had JUST started maybe two weeks earliar listening to anything I could (especially only having four CD's when I started and some vinyl). Some trash the blueboard for being not as informative. To all respects, it doesn't have to be. I started there not knowing a lot. A lot of history eluded me. I lurked on Smile Shop for seven months before I joinned. I felt too stupid to join at first. I personally felt I had to get a handle on things before I did. Personally without the blueboard, I would not be here. Without that board and that community of friends I had on there, my intrest in the BB/BW would not have survived.

[zelilgirlI1cenu]

I would not be here either if I hadn't met people who were here and on the Blueboard at the time.

[Sir Rob]

The blueboard is famous for a certain type of post (and we all know what type) but it is wrong to say that is the only type.