This was fun...

I recently denied membership to someone in the industry whose main agenda is the promotion of the use of Pot and the legalization there of. Yes, they deem themselves a "professional" in town, I don't know for sure, but since Nashville Music Pros is a private community, owned and operated by yours truly, I thought their response was rather interesting. What do you all think?

Here is the response to me banning their membership after I discovered their intent...

Bret,
Thank you for writing. Someone who is currently a member recommended I sign up and when I went to your website I read the following:
Who should join Nashville Music Pros? Musicians, Engineers, Producers, Singers, Artists, Songwriters, Record Company Executives, Publishers, Studios, Publicists, Managers, Technicians, Photographers, Video Producers, or any professional who makes their living in the Nashville music business community.
WOW... thats me... I am a musician, have done some engineer and producing work, I sing, I am an artist, I am a songwriter... I have a publishing company...
You cannot believe my shock and utter disbelief when I logged in after being "approved" (no follow up email ever said, oh, sorry, wrong email, you are not approved) and was told I was "BANNED" from the site.

You banned me. YES, I am going to take that VERY PERSONAL. You HAVE hampered the right to free speech. You have discriminated against me.
That will NOT be tolerated in this day and age!!

I have already starting phone contact with your advertisers.

I will be blogging on eblogger, and blogspot, posting a blog and multiple bulletins on Myspace and Facebook as well as several other social networks.
I will make sure to include your email from below in the blog along with all your contact information so people can voice their opinion of your "banning" me from a website that CLEARLY was build for me. (ie, music professional). After the blog is done, I will be sending an email to my list. Then I will start contacting people that are members of your site and ask them if they support your ban on a fellow music industry professional.

After looking through the website, I see that there really isn't much activity.

Promote

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on April 28, 2009 at 10:47am

Nan, I appreciate your comment, but I also have standards that need to be upheld. There are no implied "rights" to being a member of NMP, just because it is on the Internet and other people are members.

I do take banning VERY seriously, and I don't let someone's opinion of me affect whether or not I ban someone. If I take your approach, why not just let pornographers on here?

I'm sorry, but I will take NMP down completely before I let individuals dictate the standards by which I operate the site.

Also, I am under no obligation to let disparaging comments about me or others in the music community reside on the site, and that will never change.

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Permalink Reply by Joe Pasquale on April 28, 2009 at 3:19pm

Bret,

congrats to you for doing what you can to maintain focus, its never fun to be in the firing line. I am assuming from your note, that he was not as interested in evolving his music endeavors as he was his social agenda, you may want to emphasize that as there are people of all skill levels that participate in your forum.

Your site appears to be a great resource both for those who are established and those seeking to become so- and in that sense you are doing a great service for your members. When it becomes a platform for politics or social POV's, unfortunately it will diminish its uniquely Nashvillian musical home base panache ;).

thanks for all your work and focus-

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Permalink Reply by Bret Teegarden on April 28, 2009 at 10:53am

Hey Joe,

Thanks for responding. I will state that I wholly support the individual's right to promote and say what they believe. My reason for posting this is not about my stance on the legalization or use of marijuana, but about the implied attitudes of some that they have "rights' that don't really exist.

He DOES have the right to say what he wants, as long at it is in a forum that allows for his views. Forums that are protected by public statutes. He is totally free to start his own organization, website, social network, newspaper, magazine, radio talk show, or whatever to proclaim what ever he likes.

However, he does NOT have the right to demand that I accept or give him a free platform to voice his views...

Has something changed in America that I am not aware of? .... don't't think so...

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Permalink Reply by Pete Warren on April 28, 2009 at 1:44pm

Newspapers chose what they wish to print, without the control of the government. Tv broadcasts as they wish, chosing who gets a voice in the public forum. Whatnakes this any different?

You did right. I appreciate the challenge you face here. Heck, I've removed people from my facebook friends because they make dumb or rude posts on my updates and wall.

Nan has a point to some degree, but ultimately, this is a country club you own, and you get to dictate the rules of membership. I've seen you exercise great patience with members who aren't constructive members in the past.

There are plenty of other sites that will let them behave more unrestricted. And I'd not fear any legal action from this dufas. There's no cause for damages here!

Cheers

Pete.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Oaks on April 28, 2009 at 8:37pm

Well done. I am sure there are many sites where this guy can promote this or that. Bottom line is that this is not what this site is about. Anyone that wants to highjack a site for any purpose is not in the best interests of the site.

Share yes when is done in the space that this site is designed for. It seems like the only sharing is of another kind.

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Permalink Reply by iV on May 1, 2009 at 11:09pm

"Nashville Music Pros is a private community, owned and operated by yours truly..."

this is the real point. you can refuse to accept pot smokers, homosexuals, atheists, cricket players, capitalists or tuba players if you so choose. nmp is not a democracy. you may censor content or deny membership. your "faq" spells this out in no uncertain terms.

you reserve the right to create, shape and maintain the culture here as you see fit, for better or for worse.

fortunately, i don't smoke pot. or play a tuba.

of course, i think ayn rand is a hack, but i trust you'll let that one slide. :)

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Permalink Reply by J.R. McNeely on May 3, 2009 at 1:40am

I don't think Bret cares if you smoke pot or play the tuba. However, if you use your profile to try to convert me and everyone else here to Tuba-ism, I think that would be an issue! :)

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Permalink Reply by Dave Hagen on May 6, 2009 at 11:48am

Hi, My name is Dave. I have been tuba clean for four years. I do occasionally see somebody playing one in a session and get the urge though...

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Permalink Reply by Pete Warren on May 6, 2009 at 1:50pm

I've always felt the tuba was fairly harmless, but I do view it as a potential gateway horn to other brass addictions.

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Permalink Reply by Cece Disharoon on May 13, 2009 at 2:47pm

ROTFL!!!! I love our online community :) Only on NMP can one move a discussion like this to a play on music words. Bret, I want to thank you for standing up for us. I place my trust in you every day to keep the content on track on NMP. On Facebook, I can simply block people and not allow friendships... but I like the open nature of NMP. I need to be able to trust that the other people on here are not going to be promoting things that are less than legal.... or creating lists of names. From this guy's response, I am glad he is not on here. I certainly do not NEED to be on any more online communities.... esp if they don't want me on there. If I were him, I would just turn a cheek and go about my own business. Why go where you are not wanted?? esp. if you don't NEED to be there?? I've seen too many online communities spoiled by people who seem to wish them harm. I commend your efforts. And I wanted to thank you for spending so much of your time on this site. It is too easy to overlook the personal sacrifice of time and energy that you make for all of us. Thank you.

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Permalink Reply by Randy Gardner on May 12, 2009 at 8:11am

Way to go, Bret! And I mean that.
This site is like a club. You have every right to deny membership based on values you have set. If they don't like the rules, don't join and move on!
I wish our gov't had the cojones to do the same with our country. (I don't mean to change direction of this thread)