Mike Portnoy

[TheAtliator]

Mike just acknowledged some of the hate for TweetSecret in the new video today. Don't take my paraphrase to be his tone exactly, he was very cool and nice about it, but he said he wouldn't let it bother him and that you (meaning me weeeee!!) watching this obviously aren't the one complaining, and that we understand the value of 2.99 a month for having some fun with this with him (we've already seen tons of BTS at his house, with FC at multiple video shoots, at the airport, in his studio) and he said hey, if you see any of that talk around the internet, feel free to jump in a let people know if you're enjoying this.

So I feel all warm inside because I know that even though all you "idiots who just feel like complaining" might hate me, Mike Portnoy still loves me 

[bosk1]

I get where Mike is coming from, and it sucks that a vocal minority love to dump on anything and everything he does.  But by the same token, what is really frustrating about Mike is his propensity to constantly lump everyone who might not wholeheartedly love everything he does in with the "haters."  This site, overally, has always been pretty supportive of him and his various projects.  I personally have been pretty supporting.  And yet he is always taking shots at us and at me just because there is not unanimous enthusiasm at all times.  He was fairly rude to me when I met him a few years back, and he has fairly consistently been pretty rude to the general population of this forum.  Honestly, while I again get where he is coming from and understand that it is not easy to see people taking shots at your work on the Internet, I have gotten to a stage where I am slowly be turned from an ardent Mike Portnoy supporter to someone who is so annoyed with him as a person that it is souring me on any projects he might happen to be involved with. 

[King Postwhore]

It's hard to separate that though.  I think he just puts himself out their too much personally and as we all know internet opinions are like assholes.......

[bosk1]

Oh, I know.  But I just find myself steadily losing the ability to be able to give him the benefit of the doubt anymore.  This forum has been unfairly under attack from him since day 1, and I am really just tired of it.  I think if he had his way, this site would have been shut down years ago.  I hate to draw unfair comparisons, but that starkly contrasts with every current member of the band who have gone out of their way time and again to express their thanks for running this place and creating overall positive exposure for the band. 

[rumborak]

There needs to be an MP "Fan" Club. Not just one for fans, but also one for "fans".

[MoraWintersoul]

I've always felt the situation is a little two-fold. On one hand, Mike really does seem to think that every bit of honest criticism is "hating", or at least he comes off like that. We have no clue about exactly which reactions he is talking about, but he has also said that he takes things to heart too much, so by extension, he is also very likely to take honest criticism personally.

However, there is not a single community that's exempt from people who will criticize everything just because it's (in this case) Mike Portnoy doing it, even if their criticism is well-argumented. DTF also isn't exempt from it. And for people who know that Mike is often reading, and that he reacts as he does, we seem to phrase ourselves a little too harshly sometimes. In direct dialogue between two straight-talkin' individuals, it would all sound pretty good and proper and no offenses would be taken, but when someone like Mike (presumably is) reads it on the board, it can come off as "people on the internet ruining his day being out complaining" or whatever. We're not responsible for his reaction, but we shouldn't be surprised at it.

But yeah, just talking to bosk now, if a person runs a fan board for the passionate, internet-savvy, and large fanbase of your (now ex) band, and goes through a lot of difficulties, even forum splits, and manages to keep it all together, they deserve a little more than a casual thank you, let alone to be treated better than how you've said he's been treating you.

[King Postwhore]

I agree bosk1,  and I will not defend him. Mike needs thicker skin for sure.

[TheAtliator]

Again, I was paraphrasing, so unless you saw the video, don't start saying he's grouping haters with conditional supporters in this situation. Also, he may have said things or acted a certain way to this forum previously, but this video today was not directed to DTF.

[MoraWintersoul]

Yeah, I'm just a little baffled at why we keep the cycle going. Realistically, what is the purpose of reasonable criticism, from media and from fans? It's to make artists see that, from our point of view, they've perhaps done some things wrong, and maybe improve them. Especially when you know the artist is reading what you're saying. If the said artist repeatedly fails to read honest criticism as such, why do we keep doing what we do? Just to vent?

Again, I was paraphrasing, so unless you saw the video, don't start saying he's grouping haters with conditional supporters in this situation. Also, he may have said things or acted a certain way to this forum previously, but this video today was not directed to DTF.

We were just talking in general, or at least most of us were. Maybe you shouldn't talk about these videos anymore, remember how you got Randy to come over and defend himself/RR? even though that turned out to be great.

[King Postwhore]

I will purchase just about 95% of anything Mike is on no matter what but he does get buthurt easily and trolls going after him suck.  Both need to take a break from reading the internet.

[KevShmev]

Fair or not, I think he probably just sees DTF as dt.net part 2, and he saw the original dt.net as a forum that was too critical of him and the band.  It's probably hard for him to separate the two.

It probably doesn't help either that many of his supporters are so all over his nutsack that it sort of validates the "anybody who disagrees with anything I do is a hater" mentality.  You gotta figure that years of harsh criticism, no matter how well-deserved much of it was, have taken its toll on him and he simply dismisses the criticism he sees as haters hating.  I get why he would feel that way, but you'd think he would have learned to tune it out by now, or at least not respond to it.

Interestingly, Geddy Lee once said that he is often more interested to hear what critics have to say than supporters, since he joked that supporters will often blindly support whatever you do or say, while critics will sometimes give honest critique that will give him something to think about in regards to his work.  I thought that was an interesting take.

As for his work, I will never not buy whatever Neal Morse and Transatlantic release, and if Flying Colors keep up the good work, I'll keep buying their stuff, as well.  I guess the irony there is, despite being one of his biggest critics in the DT forum land for the last 10+ years (which I have toned waaaaay down over the last 5+ years), I still support him financially more often than not.  As always, good music rules the day.

[TheAtliator]

We were just talking in general, or at least most of us were. Maybe you shouldn't talk about these videos anymore, remember how you got Randy to come over and defend himself/RR? even though that turned out to be great.

That was not me     I think that was Lucien if I remember correctly and it was because he went on Facebook and said something as though he was representing DTF, which is uncool and he apologized. How is this related?

buthurt

What part of happy rich guy with a blue beard flying around the world with one of his 6,348 bands saying "I'm not gonna let it bother me" do you not understand?

[King Postwhore]

You need to stop being the defender of all that is Mike Portnoy.  He does get buthurt when it comes to the asshole internet fans.  I still love the guy and his music but he needs to stay away from the internet and their trolls.


It's like a baseball player reading the sports section in the newspaper.  nothing good comes out of it and yes, Mike gets "butthurt".

[Shadow Ninja 2.0]

He's obviously bothered by it, like he always is. Which in itself is fine, but the way he often deals with it is not.

[King Postwhore]

He's obviously bothered by it, like he always is. Which in itself is fine, but the way he often deals with it is not.

Well said.  This is what I'm talking about.

[KevShmev]

What part of happy rich guy with a blue beard flying around the world with one of his 6,348 bands saying "I'm not gonna let it bother me" do you not understand?

With all due respect, you are simply not being realistic if you think criticism does not bother Mike Portnoy.

[MoraWintersoul]

We were just talking in general, or at least most of us were. Maybe you shouldn't talk about these videos anymore, remember how you got Randy to come over and defend himself/RR? even though that turned out to be great.

That was not me     I think that was Lucien if I remember correctly

I'm an idiot for mixing you two up

[Tick]

I get where Mike is coming from, and it sucks that a vocal minority love to dump on anything and everything he does.  But by the same token, what is really frustrating about Mike is his propensity to constantly lump everyone who might not wholeheartedly love everything he does in with the "haters."  This site, overally, has always been pretty supportive of him and his various projects.  I personally have been pretty supporting.  And yet he is always taking shots at us and at me just because there is not unanimous enthusiasm at all times.  He was fairly rude to me when I met him a few years back, and he has fairly consistently been pretty rude to the general population of this forum.  Honestly, while I again get where he is coming from and understand that it is not easy to see people taking shots at your work on the Internet, I have gotten to a stage where I am slowly be turned from an ardent Mike Portnoy supporter to someone who is so annoyed with him as a person that it is souring me on any projects he might happen to be involved with.

Well said, Bosk. I'm sure you wish it wasn't that way.

This may be a bad analogy but...
I can relate to MP in this respect. I am a nice person, but I have a tendency to be very opinionated at times and feel people should agree with me. Then when some don't I can be overbearing trying to defend myself. It's wanting everyone to like you, and even if most do you feel the need to go to war with the portion that may not. Then at that point even your supporters start to become your detractors and you begin to feel everyone is against you.

You can't be as omnipresent as he is on the internet and think its going to be that way. Mike gets his feelings hurt and can't remain quiet about it. He has to tell those on his side why he is disappointed with those who don't align with every move he makes.
That's not good for someone as visible as he is. There is a deeper root behind needing that attention. I don't know what his is, but I can relate because I suffer from the same affliction.

I have been on this board since 09 and fought many tiring battles against a few, and when you do that the rest find it ridiculous and then you wind up battling the masses.
As stupid as it may sound, I have learned lessons from how I interact on this board and changed the perception over time. Not for everyone here, but I think some people may see me in a bit of a different light.

Mike has to eventually come the realization that the world wide web is a vast wasteland of opinions, and if 70% of his supporters love his over saturation of himself he needs to embrace that and not worry about those who are going to be critical of him. Either that or stop being so public until you can learn to better deal with rejection.

As I said, I see myself in the way Mike acts at times and relate to it. Maybe the fact I find him so overbearing at times makes me want to chill more and care less about the fact not everyone is going to agree with everything you do.

[TAC]

I get where Mike is coming from, and it sucks that a vocal minority love to dump on anything and everything he does.  But by the same token, what is really frustrating about Mike is his propensity to constantly lump everyone who might not wholeheartedly love everything he does in with the "haters."  This site, overally, has always been pretty supportive of him and his various projects.  I personally have been pretty supporting.  And yet he is always taking shots at us and at me just because there is not unanimous enthusiasm at all times.  He was fairly rude to me when I met him a few years back, and he has fairly consistently been pretty rude to the general population of this forum.  Honestly, while I again get where he is coming from and understand that it is not easy to see people taking shots at your work on the Internet, I have gotten to a stage where I am slowly be turned from an ardent Mike Portnoy supporter to someone who is so annoyed with him as a person that it is souring me on any projects he might happen to be involved with.

I'm sorry to hear that. Sounds very frustrating I'm sure.

[?]

What part of happy rich guy with a blue beard flying around the world with one of his 6,348 bands saying "I'm not gonna let it bother me" do you not understand?

With all due respect, you are simply not being realistic if you think criticism does not bother Mike Portnoy.

Exactly - the fact that he (reportedly) acknowledges the criticism in the video and replies to negative comments makes it obvious that he's bothered by them.

MP is a very passionate person, which is a great thing in the sense that he always puts a lot of time and effort into what he's doing (like the setlists, official bootlegs, etc. with DT), but the downside is that he tends to take negative feedback personally and even overreact sometimes (like when he judged JLB based on an out-of-context Blabbermouth headline). As pointed out, he seems to think everyone who isn't 100% happy with something he has done is a "hater", and he's always trying to defend and explain all his actions. He has this "me vs. everyone else" attitude that's also evident in some of the comments he has made on DT since his exit. Hell, even numerous DT songs he penned are about people who upset him in some way: his stepfather, Kevin Moore, record label people, unhappy fans on the Internet...

Does MP get bashed and criticized unfairly sometimes? Of course, but so do 99% of public figures. You'd think that after so many years as a professional musician he would've grown a thicker skin, but apparently no. I'm sure MP is a nice guy in person and I get that he's outspoken and wants to communicate with his fans, but sometimes it would be better for him to shut his mouth (or keyboard) and just let it go. Responding to the negativity just feeds the flames and the best thing to do is to ignore it completely. Remaining silent would make him look less like a bitter man who desperately wants everyone to like him and agree with him.

[ariich]

It's a shame that Mike takes criticism so badly, but that's hardly unique to him. What I think makes it worse for him is that he's so public with it. I have an immense amount of respect for the guy (as many people here know, I often find criticism to be unfair and end up defending him) but that's definitely something that does him no credit. I would say that a lot of people, maybe even most people, take criticism quite personally and don't deal with it all that well, but it's one thing to feel that way and another to tell the world about it.

[Kotowboy]

I've never understood being public with stuff that should be intimate.

I had an ex housemate who would update his FB status with every detail of his relationship no matter how private.

Not sure what's supposed to happen next ?

The best thing to do when you have "haters" as Mike puts it would be to do absolutely nothing. You can only give them more ammo by lashing out.

[Zook]

In other words, MP should grow up.

[DarkLord_Lalinc]

He reads way too much fan comments, and his blood boils up whenever he reads something that's negative.

[Zook]

He should have the same attitude as the guys from Psycrence, and be happy he's being acknowledged at all.

[KevShmev]

I should say, too, that social media has made things a lot worse when it comes to these kinds of things.  A lot of people aren't afraid to spout hateful things about anything on twitter, for example, and it has reached a point where a lot of musicians and celebrities just chalk any criticism from social media up as people running their mouths and being morons on social media.  Just think of the clowns who were calling that defenseman from Montreal all kinds of racial slurs after he beat the Bruins with an OT winner in the 2nd round of the NHL playoffs.  You can always count of some to act like total douchebags on social media. 

[King Postwhore]

There's always the minority that causes all the fuss.  Better to ignore them.  Then again, I'm not sure how I would act if I was famous and read all that stuff.

[Big Hath]

I have an idea, let's all tell MP how he should act, react, and live his life! 

[Tick]

I have an idea, let's all tell MP how he should act, react, and live his life! 

Go ahead and write right here! He'll read it by tomorrow!

[King Postwhore]

I have an idea, let's all tell MP how he should act, react, and live his life! 

Go ahead and write right here! He'll read it by tomorrow!

 

[TheAtliator]

 

[Skeever]

I would suspect MP's name recognition is fading fast. I don't think it matters what he says in public because nobody cares, except maybe on his site and DT sites like this...

As far as his projects go, I really want to like them but I just don't. Adrenaline Mob was pretty bad, let's be honest... The Winery Dogs are OK, but nothing unique, the whole project feels very "been there, done that". Flying Colors is OK, but it will only ever be a part time thing. And Transatlantic is still good, but suffering since all the songwriters and their affiliated bands/projects are going through pretty patchy phases of just OK albums.

The project I really liked was the instrumental/cover thing he did with Sherinian, Sheenan, and the other guy. Why they didn't get a singer and do some original music, I'll never know. Huge missed opportunity, in my opinion.

[ariich]

In other words, MP should grow up.

Come on now, there's no call for that.

[Kotowboy]

MIKE PORTNOY

I KNOW YOU ARE READING THIS.

YOUR BEARD IS BAD AND YOU SHOULD FEEL BAD !!





Basically MP just wants to be surrounded by sycophants.

[Zook]

In other words, MP should grow up.

Come on now, there's no call for that.

There's nothing wrong with saying someone should grow up. If he doesn't like me saying it, he can tell me himself. That is what he does best.