One suggestion would be to PM all members (including those not currently posting) to canvas their opinions. Limit threads to Radio 3 programme and musically related subjects, delete personally abusive posts, and see what happens. It may well be that we will see very different names appearing on the threads than some of those who currently predominate, but would that necessarily be a bad thing?
I think the further ghettoisation of political discussions will create its own problems. In many areas including musical ones it is quite hard to separate out the politics. For instance, the decisions about R3 programming and presentational style are to me essentially political ones, not artistic or aesthetic. They are to do with a conscious political move by BBC executives to respond to challenges from enemies in the press and government about elitism and accessibility. The cuts in BBC budgets, particularly affecting R3, are the result of political processes, essentially an imposition in the license fee settlement by this government as part of its overall austerity programme - which in turn is the result of the political and economic crisis presented by the worst recession possibly since the C19. So does that mean we can complain about the cuts in the R3 budget which is simply the immediate manifestation of a much deeper problem, but not the causes of that? And of course that austerity programme affects many aspects of arts funding and musical education, library closures, the demise of orchestras etc - is that not to be discussed? What about the issues about the interaction of music and politics for instance in the 'musical homophobia' thread? Can we discuss the latest Tchaikovsky symphony performance on Po3 but not the fact that a biographical film has been made in Russia that does not acknowledge Tchaikovsky's homosexuality? What about the recent comments about gender equality in the musical profession - another no-go area? If nothing else, the feeling that a subject touches on the political will probably put some people off raising it, which I think would be a rotten development.
One of the best discussions on the old BBC boards (before they became neutered and over-moderated) was that on Science and Cheese. I don't remember everything about it and it may have ranged over several topics but I think the dominant one was whether it was possible to assign objective value to works of art. It was nothing to do with any R3 programme and was not prompted by anything on R3 AFAIK; it was heated and probably a few posts were modded; but it was an impassioned discussion about ideas which was entertaining and absorbing. I simply can't see it happening on the current forum, where there seems to be increasing hostility to any theoretical discussion. After all, as the forum moves more towards "light social" it is infra dig to raise any kind of controversial issue which may offend delicate sensibilities. In this, the forum may increasingly resemble the way the BBC has shunned tackling any difficult issues for fear of offending.
For myself, I think the chatty, friendly exchanges that give the impression that the posters know each other well are just as likely to give the impression of a closed group and put new posters off - though it should be added that every time a new name is spotted putting its head above the parapet, someone will welcome it warmly.
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