All You Ever Wanted To Know About The Lifetime Members Forum

I'm doing this thread for the benefit of the members who've been here a long time, and those who've recently joined. We recently revealed there is in fact a Lifetime Members forum - it was invisible to all but those who belonged to the forum, and it was initially suggested to me to be created as a place where a few long-time members could seek refuge from General Banter, as they felt at times the quality of the threads went up and down, or the stupid/intelligent discussion ratio got a bit out of balance.

It was decided to be hidden so anyone seeing that didn't feel offended that they weren't invited (those who cared), or bothered asking how they could get in - basically, there's no real set criteria for entrance into Lifetime Members (the title is a bit redundant now, in fact), other than the majority of fellow Lifetime Members feeling you're 'worthy' of joining - sort of the same way you get invited into certain social circles or groups of friends - you're generally liked amongst your peers, so you're asked to go along with the group. Simple as that. Doesn't matter if you've been here 10 years or 1 year (although I feel tenure does play a role, since a member's overall behaviour is reflective of whether they're a person who would get along with the other LTM participants.

Unfortunately, a few people couldn't (or chose not to) respect the privacy of the other LTM participants, and existence of the forum was revealed to people outside of LTM - LTM was shut down, and the Lifetime Member title was merged into EKT Plus to avoid further alienation by the general forum populace over the whole idea of a secret forum existing. A few LTM members asked for it to be given a second chance, so again, it was set up, and those insisting that it still existed (although the official word given by me and others was that it no longer existed) were told openly it did no longer exist, and those who somehow got screenshots or other 'proof' were warned or banned (on the basis that it did nothing but cause conflict on the forums).

This happened again recently with 42Orange posting a screenshot showing it's existence AFTER it was supposedly taken offline (due to a bug in the forum search, which didn't properly filter out hidden subforums from search results). As a result of that, 42Orange was banned, and here we are today.

So, to sum things up, here's a handy LTM Forum FAQ:

Q: How Do I Become A LTM?

A: Be a constructive and positive member of the forum, and perhaps someday you'll be invited to join.

Q: What goes on in the LTM forum?

A: Honestly, not much different than General Banter - it's more akin to having an IM conversation with friends than anything else. Sometimes personal stuff is posted that people would like to talk about, but not share with the entire forum/internet.

Q: Do LTM have to pay to stay LTM?

A: No. Most of the members were already EKT or EKT Plus members to begin with, so they get the benefits of having purchased a subscription package, but beyond that, unless they break on of the LTM Forum Rules, they are LTM until they decide not to be anymore.

Q: If I paid or donated to the site, would that make me LTM?

A: While all donations and subscription purchases are appreciated, and in the case of subscriptions, extra abilities/features are bestowed, you cannot 'buy' your way into LTM.

Q: It's not fair there's an LTM forum - you're just like a dictator, Joyrex!

A: It's my site... don't you forget... It's my site... it never ends... (sorry, 80's flashaback) Seriously though - if you don't like it, find another electronic music forum to hang out on. The majority of people here don't seem to have a problem with it.

Q: Who's a LTM? Why don't they have their own special group?

A: It was decided upon by the LTMs and myself that they should remain in the EKT Plus group as before, to avoid people not seeing this thread and harassing them about their member title. That may change in the future, depending on how this olive branch of a thread works out.

Q: It just drives me crazy there's people posting stuff I can't see or read - what do I do?

A: I would suggest reminding yourself that it's just a forum, and it's just the internets. Life goes on.

Q: Are there any famous people in LTM?

A: Of course there are - we really enjoy Richard's "Track of the Week" noodlings he posts from time to time*

*Just winding you up, sorry

Anyways, hopefully that clears things up, and I might incorporate this into the Forum Rules eventually so people will be aware of it at all times (at least when reading the rules).

are you having polls about new members?

  On 4/12/2010 at 9:09 PM, o00o said:

are you having polls about new members?

Not really decided like that (although with multiple members, we did do a poll a few times if I recall), but I suppose it could be decided that way - usually everyone who cares gives their yay or nay in the thread nominating the person(s) for LTM.

Are we supposed to be having a serious discussion about this? It doesn't really bother me at all.

Internets

i used to be an LTM with access to the first iteration of the xltronic. i no longer have access since it was removed and then put back. I do not remember being involved in the "outing" of the forum so unsure why i was banished. hurt feelings, hugs needed etc

wow

i thought that much as said would've always been obvious to people, but i guess joyrexs somewhat flaky ban-mad behavior just exacerbated the sort of paranoid/conspiratorial mindset the internet breeds.

anyway, don't give much a fuck. i'm not ltm, but not really surprised. i've been disrespectful and watmm is hardly the outlet for my good side.

internets etc...

do you ever do rolling lols on the LTM forum? what's the record there?

i nominate Lion for LTM member

i have a question

how much would it cost to buy watmm from you?

also are you going to unban the members who were banned for talking about LTM?

  On 4/12/2010 at 11:07 PM, GORDO said:

do you ever do rolling lols on the LTM forum? what's the record there?

Oh shit, we had one that went on for 65 pages once - I even contributed!

  On 4/12/2010 at 11:29 PM, MAXIMUS MISCHIEF said:

i have a question

how much would it cost to buy watmm from you?

 

also are you going to unban the members who were banned for talking about LTM?

I would gladly sell WATMM, my record collection, and 10 years worth of articles, data, images, sound files, etc. for 10,000USD. Not that anyone in their right mind would buy it from me for that much.

And no, no-one banned for prior LTM-related offenses will be un-banned. I don't see how LTM being 'known' now absolves them of what they did - in fact, the very fact LTM IS visible now and there might be potentially more headaches to deal with (which I hoped this thread would hopefully mitigate) due to the actions of those banned for speaking or revealing LTM to the general forum populace.

i think you should unban everyone who was banned for revealing it, then everyone can move on, together, into the future

  On 4/12/2010 at 11:42 PM, idrn said:

i think you should unban everyone who was banned for revealing it, then everyone can move on, together, into the future

 

No, I have a fascist dictator image to live up to

  On 4/12/2010 at 8:31 PM, Joyrex said:

A: Of course there are - we really enjoy Richard's "Track of the Week" noodlings he posts from time to time*

 

 

 

 

 

*Just winding you up, sorry

I lolled at this, not because of the joke, but because you've learned from the past that no one gets jokes.

kewl kewl, i can dig this

  On 4/12/2010 at 11:38 PM, Joyrex said:

  On 4/12/2010 at 11:07 PM, GORDO said:

do you ever do rolling lols on the LTM forum? what's the record there?

 

Oh shit, we had one that went on for 65 pages once - I even contributed!

 

That doesn't count. I broke the rolling lol on page 37 only to have my post deleted and the roll to continue as if nothing had ever happened. I received a 10% warn.

GML

was the GML thing concocted in the LTMF?

*yawns*

we already had this thread?

Placidburp: Deletes his posts, so you don't have to!

  On 4/13/2010 at 1:56 AM, Z_B_Z said:

we already had this thread?

seriously... ever since the reveal it seems kind of repetitious around watmm now. let's just move on, if LTM isn't a function/feature for us GenBan users, then lets get back to what we were doing best

gah this whole ltm thing is leaving a weird taste in my mouth. its been fun but i feel my days here are coming to a close... on to the next one

Lol at all of this.

420range should ahve known what was coming with that thread.

Oh it's ok he did.

  On 4/13/2010 at 2:14 AM, abusivegeorge said:

Lol at all of this.

 

420range should ahve known what was coming with that thread.

hes a good user who brought great commentary to watmm... which we need!