It is with great sadness that I write this post today, but it's a choice I need to make.

About a month ago, the site administration went through our community and deleted literally hundreds, if not thousands, of posts. In a very small number of cases, they were discussing specifically prohibited content (i.e. bootlegging). I had no problem with that. The vast majority, however, were posts deemed irrelevant or redundant in some manner. I do not wish to partake in a discussion (or series of discussions, as this case may be) in which the opinions, statements, comments, etc, of any particular person are deemed irrelevant or redundant. That is not fair to the writer of these comments, and is not a good way to go about life.

Most recently, a discussion thread was started about a very popular website, YouTube.com. The site is one that admittedly does host illegal content. However, its primary focus is one of sharing oneself, and sharing one's own art and creations. It has a clear copyright policy with strong penalties for violation (and a very clear whistle-blower system), and any copyright-violating material on the site is purely incidental to its existence.

Site administration deemed that this topic was inappropriate for discussion on this message board, and decided that all 'promotion' of the website should be disallowed from SarahSlean.com, despite the fact that much of the material on it is perfectly in line with the philosophy behind this site - sharing one's own art.

The most strictly prohibited material on this site, SarahSlean.com, is discussion of bootlegs and other live recordings of Sarah Slean. I can respect that. We all have our reasons for liking or disliking them, and the management of a message board has the right to prohibit such content, especially given that it is illegal (in many cases). The thread on YouTube.com, however, had only ONE mention of Sarah Slean material being featured on the site, which could easily have been edited or deleted without losing the integrity of the post. The discussion that ensued was actually a quite intelligent and exhaustive discussion of copyright law, infringement, censorship, and the nature of the Internet. It could, potentially, have become even more in depth and far more could have been discussed about the topic. Some site members disagreed with site administration on the nature of the topic at hand, and even referred people to more direct ways of dealing with the copyright issues identified. Those dissenting were told that discussing a site which happens to feature illegal content is inappropriate and that therefore the thread would be deleted. I asked why the thread would be deleted, and received no response -- the thread itself was deleted sometime yesterday.

This, to me, is censorship. Not only is it censorship, it is censorship designed to reduce or eliminate dissent against those in a position of power in this forum. The Internet is one of the last few places that government and big media has been able to stay out of censoring dissent, and when that happens on a particular site, I will find other places to share my opinions, because it is clear that they will be deleted if they disagree with those of the site administration.


This is nothing personal against any of the site admin, against Sarah, her label, management, etc, etc. This is simply my disagreeing with the way opinions, thoughts, ideas, and words are being removed from the light of day, sometimes haphazardly, and sometimes with a very directed intent.

I will, of course, always be a fan, and always be a Passioneer. I look forward to seeing everyone at all the shows to come, and I hope that we keep up all the really awesome things we have been doing. There is nothing more satisfying than getting together with people around the planet to do good things like raise money and food for charities, or to do other good deeds just in the name of fun. I'll just be a little absent from this site, for now. Thanks for all the amazing memories. I'm certain I will see everyone very very soon.

Passioneers, unite!

Neal
aka Sweet One

Awww Neal
I understand you reasons and hope you can continue to use this forum for discussion of Slean related topics. You will be greatly missed from the board.


Cameron

Wow. I'm so sorry to see you go Neal. As disapointing as it is to see you leave, I admire your strength to stand up for what you believe in.

Your humour, debates, and general discussions will be greatly missed. You're a great friend and I hope that you will remain in touch with us.

Best wishes,

~joel

Neal,

I am disappointed that you feel it necessary to stop using this forum.

I do not feel the need to defend myself any more than I already have, as my points would merely be restated.

http://sarahslean.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=1206

I maintain the conviction that no more than a few dozen threads were removed.

You are completely allowed to disagree with the way I chose to "tidy up" the board, and perhaps you are correct in saying that it is not fair to the particular authors of the posts that got deleted.

Sarah Slean has communicated to me her strong desire to see her site (ss.com as well as the message board) be user-friendly and functional. While it may be easy to navigate for people who check in to the board regularly, it may not be so for newcomers or those who only check in every now and then.

I kept this in mind when sorting through redundant, misplaced and unanswered threads.

Since the "spring cleaning" of the board, I have moved less than 10 posts to different sections of the board and have deleted two. Both were given warning and reason.

My apologies to Neal and anyone else who feels like they are being censored on this forum. That is not the intent.

I see the intent of a moderator for this forum as keeping the board functional, keeping out spam-bots, and upholding Sarah's desire to not have her live recordings (or those of other musicians, unless explicitly permitted by the artist) distributed or advertised here.

My highest regards to Neal. We will miss your presence here on the board.


~Nicole G

Neal, Assuming you still read the posts on the Message Board - I'm sad to see that you have left (though by now it's old news, I guess.)

I once got a reply to some email from Sarah Slean. In it, she wrote: "your open soul does the world good. rage on!!"

Thought I'd pass those words on to you, for standing up for what you believe in.