I think Mike's comment about this place being full of trolls is starting to hold some weight, no?
Nope. Sorry.
If Derek hadn't gone out and ripped on Dream Theater and it's members for no other reason but to promote his band, then us nitpicking every little thing about the band would most certainly be considered trolling and we would definitely be acting petty.
However, that's not how it played out. Derek took every opportunity to turn people away from this project by insulting Dream Theater and their fans, and in some cases on the this forum, some of us directly. We're just merely calling him out on it, so I think we're justified in what we say. If you don't like what we're saying, you don't need to read it. For the most part, we've been pretty fair. Bosk has said it many times before in this thread, the criticism this band has faced from us has been brought on by themselves, and really not even that...it's been brought on by Derek and his damaged ego feeling the need to drag others down to make himself look better. If Derek had kept his mouth shut, I think most of us would have given this band a shot. Sadly, I have no interest due to the actions of one person. Sorry you don't agree, but it is what it is.
I respectfully do not agree with that. That's the musical equivalent of "did you see what she was wearing?" or "I know you are but what am I?", that game that school kids play. Regardless of anything Derek did, we have a personal responsibility to control our own behavior. It's one thing to say, in response to Derek's comments, "I don't agree with that", or even "I don't feel comfortable supporting that project." It's entirely another thing to call Derek names, ascribe motivations (that we have no way of knowing) and by proxy ascribing this all to Mike as well (because apparently, being the final arbiter of decisions in the band seems to make you responsible for pre-approving any social media release even on other people's personal twitter account). Either way, though, own the response, don't blame the band.
Most of the criticisms have been fair, I'll give you that, but some have gone over the top, and some have patently refused to acknowledge even the slightest positive from this project (and like it or not - for me, musically it's not a home-run - there are some highlights, Thal and (for some, not me) Soto). And others, who have supported the band despite the questionable choices of marketing, have been tagged as "fanboys".
Look, you're talking to a guy that professed to be Team Mike. And I'll admit that some of the developments over the past few months have tarnished that. I see what was a fiercely creative, fiercely fan-friendly, fiercely talented guy sort of morph into a fiercely talented, fiercely driven guy who's perhaps starting to feel his age, is experiencing the first faint wisps of desperation, and as a result is micromanaging things to a detrimental degree. Like Mike, I turned 50 a couple months ago, and for some it can be a different age. Mike at this point doesn't have an entity that can be a regular, periodic touring entity that can go out AT HIS WHIM (everything else is tied to other members or is controlled by other members). He's got a lot of eggs in this basket. If we're going to speculate on Mike and Derek's feelings about or relationship with DT, I think it's only fair to recognize that the personal aspect of things is a possible factor in all this as well.