This board in the old days — Page 3

Owen22 said: "Early on this board seem to be exclusively a forum for people to air grievances about a certain Glee actress whose obviously seemingly sociopathic extremes lead many on here to attack her in almost misogynistic ways that really disturbed me!
Oh those good ol' days."

What? The board was created in 2003. Glee started in 2009.

Anyway, the real downfall started after Facebook opened up for everyone. Many of the longtime posters came for the community and the off-topic board, and once Facebook was an option, they started communicating there instead, with real names and pictures, and no trolls (*insert nostalgic thread about the good old days of Facebook*). So if you weren't coming to BWW to chat on the OT board all day, you weren't browsing the main board to participate in discussions either.

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I came to this board after the one at Broadway.com was shut down, and this site became a viable alternative. The board at the aforementioned website was decommissioned due to the kweendom taking place, and it reflected poorly on their brand. I remember being in high school and living for that drama, and many of those posters migrated here to BWW. Remember when Namo was machoman? VelmaKelly? VoiceAnth? Munkustrap123? CATSNY? While I was in undergrad, this site was the JOINT! But like any platform over time, its certainly beyond the expiration date, but still useful for info. My original name was PJ, which often confused me as posters referred to PalJoey as such. Somewhere along the way I made a new account because quite honestly I couldn’t remember my log in after a brief hiatus of lurking-only.

The board in the old days resembled a combination Mean Girls and the Wild, Wild West. That reminds me of when people miss the bad old days of New York City in the 1970's. I myself joined in around 2005 (having had some log in issues, I had to re-register). I've placed quite a few posters in the Ignore list for any number of reasons. Over the years, I've dealt with critics (especially of my admiration for "Chicago" with a carefully crafted response. If that didn't work, then I was glad when the Ignore Feature became operational. I can say that one thing ;makes me nostalgic for the board in the old days. While there are any number of "veteran" posters, I do miss someone like MargoChanning, whose knowledge and perpeption of all things theatre was amazing. He was a treasure.

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Updated On: 11/16/19 at 09:42 PM

Well said, Pal Joey.

I came to BWW this morning to read what theater-goers had to say about THE INHERITANCE, whose Part 1 I saw two nights ago. I happened to see this thread and being one of the early members, I had to skim through. Being the first publicly named sole Moderator I was disliked by some (vehemently by a few), liked by more and treated indifferently by most members. I volunteered my time to help Rob manage this Board and enjoyed my time with nearly all members. Moderating was a bitch, and that’s a fact. Despite it all, I made strong, secure personal friendships with some folks that remain all these years later. As in life, paths cross and once that happens I believe we each take something of the other person with us as we move along in life. Enjoy your time here, it is YOUR Golden Age.

Cheers!

José

Who is Patti Murin?

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What Patti Murin and Steven Pasquale failed to understand was that the message board, in its pre-Facebook heyday, was a NOT a "fetid, squalid, toxic cesspool of hate" (or whatever she called it), but a meeting place where theater fans of different generations, different tastes, different loves, different obsessions came together and shared, compared, argued, and LEARNED FROM EACH OTHER. That we were sometimes bitchy, rude, outrageous, or even offensive, well, that was part of the deal, just like in life.

Patti wrote the blog, dozens of Broadway actors supported her publicly, even more did so privately. So, dragging Steven is unnecessary, because you would have to drag many others as well. He is one of the best singers on Broadway, and seems like a lovely human being. Wanting basic decency and not wanting his friends/wife/ex wife to be disrespected is not a difficult concept, I am sure you want the people in your life to be treated well, too. Neither one is hurting without your patronage. I am sure you have seen many shows since 2016 with actors that supported Patti, they just wouldn't talk about it publicly because they still want you to spend money to attend their shows.

The thing is, they would never take away your ability to tell such wonderful stories like the ones you just told. Your vast knowledge, insight and memories are what makes BWW such a great place. Patti was just calling out the abusive, cruel posters. And being bitchy, rude, outrageous and offensive is not "part of the deal." You can do that in your own life. But this is a website with rules, and they have every right to enforce them. People are too scared to join or start threads for fear they will be mocked and disrespected. The days of you calling people "sock puppets" or "shills" simply because they wanted to introduce themselves is over, and that's a very positive step, in my opinion.

This thread contains more nuance and understanding of life's holdable contradictions than your one-note posts have ever done, Rex Reed.

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But we all learned something else from Dorothy Gale of the Kansas Gales.

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FindingNamo said: "This thread contains more nuance and understanding of life's holdable contradictions than your one-note posts have ever done, Rex Reed.



"

omg

I've been here from the start, I think. Rob and Craig asked me to join the board pretty soon after the launch. Broadway World was created by Rob - he took parts of the websites he really liked and did a combo platter of them - mine was one of the sites he borrowed from, as we had a rather lively discussion board, plus he liked that we had a Broadway Radio Show. And yes, it was wild and wooly and yes, there were some really obnoxious posters in those days, some of whom are still here, albeit a bit less obnoxious. In those days, it was quite easy to know who people really were.

The over-the-years changes have been interesting to watch, including the big Patti brouhaha and its result, and who was most upset by that brouhaha. But online bullying has gotten so rampant and it's always been part of this board, so the stopping of that is only a good thing.

FindingNamo said: "What was particularly interesting to watch was how after the brouhaha (after which I never want to see anything on TV or stage with Laura Benanti ever again; and I saw her 3 x on the Bway!), esteemed also-rans like A8 and bk were posting about how civil and lovely the boards were without all those hooligans and ruffians who causedthem to clutch their costume jewelryall the time. Within a matter of weeks, the off-topic board was no longer having more than 3 or 4 active threads a day, where ante la Murin a thread with no responses would drop off page one within 48 hours.

I guess what we've learned is that certain moribund old timers (in every sense of the phrase) prefer an atrophying old school website over what was once a very lively space that had a true community feel. The world only moves forward. But 20 clicks a day on an entire board can't be good for business, can it? And how much are Statler & Waldorf ever gonna pony up to advertisers?"

Well, we knew you'd be the first to respond to me, since you were one of the worst when this board began. Why are you still here if you don't like it? There were many people posting that the board was toxic - not just two people, dear, many people. What did Laura Benanti do, pray tell? I must have missed it, whatever it was. Last but not least, you seem to be clutching at your own set of pearls right about now. But it's been swell and ever so much fun conversing again after all these years.

orangeskittles said: "Owen22 said: "Early on this board seem to be exclusively a forum for people to air grievances about a certain Glee actress whose obviously seemingly sociopathic extremes lead many on here to attack her in almost misogynistic ways that really disturbed me!
Oh those good ol' days."

What? The board was created in 2003. Glee started in 2009."

The show with said Glee actress opened in 2006.

You should consider my begging people not to spend money on premium seating for Jagged Little Pill my form of commentary on Jagged Little Pill, jagged little mill.

I do give credit to AfterEight and bk for misreading so many things, from plays to posts. I didn't say I didn't like it here. I simply said that the board used to be one thing, then a significant event happened and ever since then there are three active posts on the off-topic board a day. At most. That some people might have liked THEN better (to borrow a theme from one of Bk's self-published novels) and some people prefer a sort of static sameness, is simply a matter of taste.

I mean, just read this thread. Some people wanted to reminisce about the board nostalgically and some wanted to disabuse them of the notion that the good old days were so good at all. Then along comes Rex Reed wondering why it's AOK to say the good old days here were better but not the same about theater. Well, if he'd read the thread he'd see it's much more nuanced than anybodyy at all saying it was AOK. But what can we expect from After Eight. Who posted, but couldn't really have thought, that "Ring of Keys" was about a child lusting after an older woman. I mean, either he never actually saw "Fun Home," but heard the recording, or he went in there on reviewer's comps destined to hate it because it wasn't, "Mary, Mary."

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Updated On: 11/18/19 at 01:58 PM