How many here blocked at LP forum?

[Spence]

My IP adress was banned without me even trying to register and upset everyone.

Lily doesn't reply to emails.

I'm not bothered anymore.

Useful resource? Not if you can't get on it.

[bob p]

My IP adress was banned without me even trying to register and upset everyone.

that could be an example of an admin shooting herself in the foot. when she started banning people using wildcard variants of IP addresses, Lily knocked out entire localities in a foolhardy effort to ban one person. I have an ISP who recycles IP addresses. I know of several people in Chicagoland who have never been able to register at the LPF because Lily banned my ISP's entire IP subnet for this geographic area and took out everyone using that ISP in Chicagoland. D'Oh!

I wouldn't be surprised if her attempts at banning individual users by banning entire ranges of IP addresses with her firewall has adversely impacted far more users than she had ever intended. I know that there were people in the UK who were banned at the firewall level. You've probably been caught in her wide net. That just goes to show how poorly-conceived vindictive measures can really screw things up.

its so stupid its almost funny...

[Spence]

It's not a good sign when the moderator is a klutz with a vindictive streak.

[Zhangliqun]

Users can no longer edit their posts,

False. I do it all the time there.

[Zhangliqun]

The place has always fluctuated between interesting and boring since I've been there, which is almost from the beginning.

Sometimes I would wander away because the topics got so repetitive that it was a snoozer. At one point, all you ever heard was, in no particular order:

1) Double cream alert!
2) Gold hardware sucks!
3) Look at what this idiot is selling on e-bay!
4) It's not just like a 59 so it sucks!
5) Look at these tits!

Probably the current top over-and-over posts are, again in no particular order:

1) Let's see your (fill in Les Paul type/finish here)!
2) How do you install pickups?
3) See this picture of the USA neck joint vs. Historic neck joint (as if we haven't seen that picture over and over and over again)? Gibson USA sucks!
4) Gibson USA LP's have "weight relief" holes! Gibson USA sucks!
5) They're making 2-piece backs on some Gibson USA LP's? Gibson USA sucks!
6) Aren't Gibsons made in China now? (For the 500,000th time, NO!)

But back in those crazy early days, folks with fond memories probably have forgotten the flame wars -- they were vicious beyond description. I had to take hazing from and outlast one guy in particular who admitted he didn't even know why he hated me. And then everybody in general would crap all over me for putting gold hardware on my R9. Before that I was crapped on for not owning a Historic.

There are still folks there who own bursts and are extremely knowledgeable, including some who used to work at Gibson and other places. And keep in mind that since 99.99% of us in here actually wind pickups at least part time, any forum of non-winders is going to usually look like a bunch of idiots to us when they try to talk about pickup construction and secrets.

Moral of the story: LPF isn't a perfect place now. But it sure wasn't then either.

[J S Moore]

Well, I still get to chat with Tom Wittrock, Joe Ganzler and Elliot Eastman so I don't think everybody left.

[bob p]

False. I do it all the time there.

I haven't been there in years, things could be different now. Before I left there was no time limit on editing your posts. After the collective post deletion, a short time limit was imposed so that after an hour or so it became impossible to edit your posts. It would be interesting to hear if you are able to edit your old posts as well as your new ones. Maybe a sense of reason prevailed and the time limit is no longer in effect. That would surprise me.

But back in those crazy early days, folks with fond memories probably have forgotten the flame wars -- they were vicious beyond description. I had to take hazing from and outlast one guy in particular who admitted he didn't even know why he hated me. And then everybody in general would crap all over me for putting gold hardware on my R9. Before that I was crapped on for not owning a Historic.

You're right, VAH snobbery was the rule of the day and the flame wars were vicious beyond description. I've never seen a place where the clientele became so polarized. Not everyone left, but a great many did. The funny thing is that the hatred of some people was so intense and irrational that people who were once good friends now remain enemies to this day. I left because so many people were being banned en bloc and because a widespread fear of the administrator developed among the users. It just didn't make sense to get bogged down in all of the hatred that was going on there. All things considered, I think the LPF is a good case study of why its a waste of time to engage in heated debates on the internet. You never win and you only end up wasting your time.

My intent in participating in this thread isn't to rehash old stories. Its merely to explain the technical side of why a vast number of people will never be able to register at the LPF. The idea of banning by IP addresses was not well conceived, and its adversely effected a lot of innocent people whose only transgression amounts to living in a geographic locality near someone who has been banned. Those poor souls just can't figure out why they have problems trying to register, because the problem is arcane and the logic behind it defies logic.

In the big scheme of things, it would appear that the administrators there think that it so important to keep a couple of old people out that the collateral damage to an unlimited number innocent bystanders isn't a concern. Teh!

[Possum]

guess I was right....

I vagely remember four or five years ago registering and putting my web address in my sig. I figured Lollar and Wolfe were there, and give me a break, they weren't there promoting themselves, sure and the Pope is from Mars. So, suddenly I get banned for putting my web address in my sig, when all I was doing was answering questions about how pickups work. Maybe it was the tele forum but pretty seems maybe it was the LP forum now, I guess I am banned for life. That gal sounds pretty incompetent, all they've succeeded in doing is creating a closed society like DM's Telecastermasternightmare, where only certain pickup makers are deemed acceptable or cool and must past the coolness test of only a couple of people. Basically kiss their ass and you can sell pickups. Thats the same reason I don't subscribe to TQ, or go in their "buyers resource" (they don't accept ads but they WILL take your money). You got the opinion of one or two people passing judgement on who's products are good or not. After reading how highly they regarded Gibson 57 classics pickups I lost all respect for whats printed in that thing, around here in Portland 57 Classics are considered trash. Closed societies are not healthy things and foster ignorance and inbreeding and hierarchies of "experts" who usually don't know much. Personally if I get some guy from a forum contacting I try to make sure their intention is to really want a decent tone and not because of some feeding frenzy because Joe Bob said SD Pickups were hot shit. Those feeding frenzy guys are the biggest time wasters of all....

[Possum]

one addition....

I forgot to say the forum I have the biggest respect for is the Gear Page, you can talk to manufacturers directly without censorship, you can post free ads in the manufacturers area, and the members their actually have brains and don't engage in elitism and tearing eachother apart. Pretty amazing....

[madialex]

I vagely remember four or five years ago registering and putting my web address in my sig. I figured Lollar and Wolfe were there, and give me a break, they weren't there promoting themselves, sure and the Pope is from Mars. So, suddenly I get banned for putting my web address in my sig, when all I was doing was answering questions about how pickups work. Maybe it was the tele forum but pretty seems maybe it was the LP forum now, I guess I am banned for life. That gal sounds pretty incompetent, all they've succeeded in doing is creating a closed society like DM's Telecastermasternightmare, where only certain pickup makers are deemed acceptable or cool and must past the coolness test of only a couple of people. Basically kiss their ass and you can sell pickups. Thats the same reason I don't subscribe to TQ, or go in their "buyers resource" (they don't accept ads but they WILL take your money). You got the opinion of one or two people passing judgement on who's products are good or not. After reading how highly they regarded Gibson 57 classics pickups I lost all respect for whats printed in that thing, around here in Portland 57 Classics are considered trash. Closed societies are not healthy things and foster ignorance and inbreeding and hierarchies of "experts" who usually don't know much. Personally if I get some guy from a forum contacting I try to make sure their intention is to really want a decent tone and not because of some feeding frenzy because Joe Bob said SD Pickups were hot shit. Those feeding frenzy guys are the biggest time wasters of all....

I agree 100% Possum.

Don's site is exactly that. And when did he become an expert on pickups anyway? Up until about 8 months ago he only did sparatic rewinds then he came up with the idea his are the best out there and started selling them, on his site he even taunts them as being the best tele pickups in the world. Actually I have heard them and there are several winders here who beats his hands down, I know, I have tried them out

[bob p]

I forgot to say the forum I have the biggest respect for is the Gear Page, you can talk to manufacturers directly without censorship, you can post free ads in the manufacturers area, and the members their actually have brains and don't engage in elitism and tearing eachother apart. Pretty amazing....

by any chance did you catch that public knife fight between roccaforte and the guy from THD electronics? the argument got so bloody that aiken had to step in and put and end to it. it had to be one of the most entertaining threads i've ever read on the internet. the back of my head is still sore from laughing.

[Spence]

I agree 100% Possum.

Don's site is exactly that. And when did he become an expert on pickups anyway? Up until about 8 months ago he only did sparatic rewinds then he came up with the idea his are the best out there and started selling them, on his site he even taunts them as being the best tele pickups in the world. Actually I have heard them and there are several winders here who beats his hands down, I know, I have tried them out

I took a look at his site quite recently. He certainly got a better looking website now. I did notice that the photo section doesn't show those bloody terrible rewinds he did anymore. I was particularly suprised to see a photo of Don winding where he'd failed to get his whole head in the wide-angle shot yet had found a large enough Seymour Duncan twat hat to fit him. Curious that he recommends everyone in the known universe should only buy Duncan humbuckers. I guess this is until he's made his first humbucker. Then he will be talking people into sending him Duncan Antiquity PAFs for his Tortilla Wrap treatment.

BTW, what happened to the Tele bridge pickup with the bulge in the middle of the bobbin for more mid-range. Perhaps Nacho Baños wouldn't endorse that model.

[J S Moore]

I took a look at his site quite recently. He certainly got a better looking website now. I did notice that the photo section doesn't show those bloody terrible rewinds he did anymore. I was particularly suprised to see a photo of Don winding where he'd failed to get his whole head in the wide-angle shot yet had found a large enough Seymour Duncan twat hat to fit him. Curious that he recommends everyone in the known universe should only buy Duncan humbuckers. I guess this is until he's made his first humbucker. Then he will be talking people into sending him Duncan Antiquity PAFs for his Tortilla Wrap treatment.

BTW, what happened to the Tele bridge pickup with the bulge in the middle of the bobbin for more mid-range. Perhaps Nacho Baños wouldn't endorse that model.

You're talking about Buck Cannon? He kind of reminds me of the 4-days-in-one guy I found on the internet once. That is a rambling, long winded site. I had to take a nap half way down.

BTW does anyone know why the posts aren't consecutive here? Or is it just me?

[JGundry]

IMHO people like Tom Wittrock are the problem with that board. He is a hall monitor of the most annoying kind and adds almost nothing other than annoying critique to any post. He has all of his vintage Les Pauls posted in the registry but no useful information like resistance of the pickups. Simply owning a guitar that is now a museum piece is not much of a qualification. A vintage snob of the worst kind.

Very often if you make a post that has a dose of reality or expertise it is a quick end to the thread. You can almost hear the bubbles bursting. Way too many self appointed experts. Magnet wire experts, lead wire color experts, PAF and Pat. sticker experts, vintage magnet calibration experts. One idiot buys a gauss meter and all of a sudden he a vintage magnet expert. If one person posts something it gets repeated a few times and all of a sudden is fact. The most vocal are the people who have never wound a pickup.

What is so hilarious is that the place is full of blatant shillers. It is also essentially the largest spam site for Gibson products. I would be very surprised if Gibson was not helping fund the site. Gibson even had a special event for LPF members last year. Seems pretty obvious who pulls the strings there. The Gear Page has the best policy by just having an open forum.

[Zhangliqun]

What is so hilarious is that the place is full of blatant shillers. It is also essentially the largest spam site for Gibson products. I would be very surprised if Gibson was not helping fund the site. Gibson even had a special event for LPF members last year. Seems pretty obvious who pulls the strings there. The Gear Page has the best policy by just having an open forum.

I wouldn't go that far. Gibson gets ripped in there all the time, and always has, for a lot of different reasons, some just and some just made up. The no-internet-photo policy has all of us there in a foul mood. That we are hesitant to order anything from Gibson, even a pre-made part, because you may will be in the grave before it arrives, is also a pisser. These are just.

The latest beef is a claim that Gibson is having body blanks CNC'd in China and shipping them to the USA shop without the FTC knowing about it. Seems to me that given how productive a CNC machine is just for that sort of thing, how it's desisgned to replace a bunch of bodies, that the shipping of the wood back and forth would cost them a lot more than they would save on labor. So I think that one's a load of crap.

Gibson also gets regularly ripped for bad QC, particularly fret and nut work, and then there's those evergreen LPF controversies, the photo of the USA neckjoint vs. Historic neck joint, weight-relief holes in the USA models, 2-piece back vs. 1-piece, the list goes on.

If Gibson was really pulling the strings at LPF, they wouldn't allow ANY of that stuff to be posted. And the fact that there was an event for LPF'ers to me means the opposite, that it's LPF gaining influence at Gibson, not vice versa.