1. When you first started modding at what was DTF.com (prior to becoming 5/8), some folks were overly critical of you being a moderator. Fast forward to 2016. You are one of the reasons this place runs as smoothly as it does and why the band is happy this place exists. What do you feel is your role in all that, and what do you think were some of the keys of your success in being a forum moderator?
2. What memories/perspectives can you share of the progression from dt.net/bb to dtf.com to 5/8 to dtf.org?
3. If there is one thing you would like people who do not mod a forum to know about The Mod Life, what would it be?
4. You like (or liked) a lot of bands whose hey day slightly precedes you, like Def Leppard, for instance. How did you get into some of those bands? Were your parents into them, so you got into them by virtue of hearing them a lot as you were growing up? Did you just gravitate toward the music on your own? Something else?
5. Should I re-open P/R?
There are a couple parts of question #1 that are interconnected. I think one of the reasons this place runs as smoothly as it does today has less to do with the current moderating and more to do with the forum growing older together, and knowing what's expected of one another. Of course people have come and gone, but there is always enough people coming back to post year to year that standard procedures are very well set. I don't think we see as large of an influx of new people and I think that makes it easier as well. The hardest part of modding, by far, has always been balancing out what the vision for the forum was with the friendships and social happenings outside of the forum. Now people seem to understand that you can act one way here and another way elsewhere, and be happy in both places. And people who had issue with that either learned it or left. My role in all that was always trying to explain that, and the rules to people, without wanting to murder everyone when I had to quote a rule for the 13546th time.
As a member I saw the transition from DT.net > DTF.com to be an easy and somewhat welcome one. At that time Portnoy clearly had favor with his forum, so at that point separating from official channels and having a true fan space was nice. The next split was definitely more complicated. In hindsight I agree that there were two distinct groups on DTF.com; those who wanted a more casual site, with more general discussion about everything, and those who wanted a DT centered community that had other stuff as well. My major issue is how it happened. Frankly I still feel years of posts, a built up member base, and forum were stolen. DTF.com should have become DTF.org, and 5/8 should have started anew. Instead the opposite happened. But thankfully this place was able to gain traction and rose from the ashes.
As for the mod life, it kinda goes back to question one. I'm not going to lie, sometimes if people are being complete dicks, it's fun to pull out the banhammer, flex your e-muscle and send them into oblivion. But 9 times out of 10 you just want people to have a good discussion and a fun time and hate having to be moderating. Also, the ability to change names, profiles, and such can certainly be fun at times.
As for much of that old music, I grew up listening to classic rock on the radio, which can certainly be attributed to my dad and mom, as they would often have it on, but by the time I was a kid neither of them were huge music fans going to concerts regularly or anything like that, but my dad did take me to see Pink Floyd and Lynnyrd Skynnard in the 90s. It was background really at that point. A friend (who some will know as Jeff from MindMaze) got free tickets to Def Leppard in 2003 I believe, and took me along and believe it or not that really pushed me along into wanting to explore music more. Jeff also had a drum kit and wanted to play guitar as well. Wanting someone to play with he just kinda taught me how to play drums a little. I started buying a few CDs (including my first Rush), and would occasionally see what my dad had in his small collection. I really just went from there and explored what I liked, time was never really important to me. If an album was put out last week or 1975, I never really paid attention to that. Hell, even Dream Theater was "before my time" really. But Rush got my into a ton of of progressive rock, and Dream Theater and Iron Maiden a ton of older metal. My mother does like to give me shit for liking "all that stuff that was put out before you were even born".
As for P/R, I have remained silent on that for the same reason I don't really participate in P/R, I love that it's there, but fear it as well. I truly think if I went there regularly I would either end up banning half the people and/or get myself banned. I visit and browse quite often, but rarely if ever post. That said, I think a large part of the forum finds a home there, and the discussion is important to have, or at least see, in order to have better understanding on anything. So while perhaps a new rule might need to be put in place, or some other system to change it a bit, I definitely think that P/R should reopen at some point.