Please welcome our new moderators

[Dungeon Master]

As you will be aware, the smooth running of GMG is helped by volunteer moderators.

Our existing moderators have done a fantastic job to make GMG an inclusive, informative and conflict-free forum. They have collectively decided to retire as mods and become regular members.

Thank you to all of you who put your hands up to as replacement mods. I am very pleased to announce that we have recruited 3 new moderators from amongst the pool of veteran members of GMG.

Please welcome @Brian, @DavidW and @Mapman as our new moderators.

Moderating is often a thankless task. Nobody likes being "moderated". But please extend to all of moderators the courtesy you would expect for a respected colleague and an impartial umpire. They will be making decisions for the good of the forum, and sometimes that might mean taking a decision on the chin.

Again, welcome and thank you
Rob

[Jo498]

Thanks to all the old and new moderators!

(I used to be a moderator in another forum and it can be a necessary but unnecessarily divisive and generally underappreciated job. That's why I didn't volunteer for this forum here )

[Karl Henning]

Thanks to all the old and new moderators!

A hearty +1!

[Que]

A warm welcome to my new colleagues and successors Brian, DavidW and Mapman! 

Some of the old crew will now bring the new team up to speed. In due time  we will take our leave from our positions as moderator.

[ritter]

Welcome, new moderators! And thanks for your hard work over the years, departing moderators!

[Florestan]

Welcome, new moderators! And thanks for your hard work over the years, departing moderators!

My thoughts exactly.

Let's hope that the new mods will have an easier task than the old ones, and do our best in this respect.

[Lisztianwagner]

Welcome to the new moderators and best wishes for their work! Also, many thanks to the departing moderators for all they've done on the forum.

[brewski]

Welcome to the new crew, and I know they will do a splendid job. Meanwhile, the rest of us will be around for awhile to help them get their bearings.

PS, thank you all for your kind messages of support, public and private. Though I have personally not had time lately to participate much, it is clear that GMG—an early example of social media!—remains one of the best places on the internet to talk about classical music.

-Bruce

[Florestan]

it is clear that GMG—an early example of social media!—remains one of the best places on the internet to talk about classical music.

Fixed.

[brewski]

Fixed.

Very glad you feel that way. (I do, too, but was trying to be charitable toward other outlets. )

-Bruce

[Florestan]

Is there any other? 

Just joking, of course --- but imnsho, GMG is truly the best by any standard.

[Karl Henning]

And, of course, the to-be-former mods will still hang. It's all good!

[Florestan]

the to-be-former mods will still hang

Some of them deserve to hang, to be sure...     

(Sorry, folks, couldn't resist the pun --- don't take it as more than that.)

[brewski]

I was going to make a joke using the "hang together or hang separately" quote (popularly attributed to Benjamin Franklin), but have some string quartet listening to attend to, so jokes will have to wait.

-Bruce

[Florestan]

have some string quartet listening to attend to

By all means, Bruce, do! You can pick yourself the string on which to hang...   

[Symphonic Addict]

Thank you both the former moderators and the new ones. I wish them the best.

[Brian]

Like everyone else, just want to say thank you so many times to Bruce, Gurn, and Que for their 20 years of service - 20 years! 20 real life years! You could raise a child in that time (and arguably they sometimes have    ). They have done such tremendous work to make this a place that is smart, welcoming, civil, and passionately opinionated. Thanks, additionally, to Maciek and Mike (knight), who were right there with them for almost all of that time.

I have been here for most of their tenure after joining somewhere around 2004-5, when I was 15 or 16 years old, which means I have been on GMG most of my life. GMG has been a tremendous influence on my listening journey, a constant source of companionship while living in four or five places, a homepage for my web browser, and of course it has cost me thousands of dollars in CDs and downloads. Helping to relieve the old mods of their burden after so long is a way of giving back, a civic duty, like jury duty. (And it pays about the same.  )

We love GMG and the sense of community here, and we would love to be able to turn over the moderator duties to another team of newcomers in the year 2043. It sounds like a long time, but it's already been done once!

[Brahmsian]

A great big thank you and round of applause for the hard working, dedicated and diligent former and outgoing moderators. 

And a warm welcome to Brian, David and Mapman as the new crew! I wish you very smooth sailing and hope we all do our best and our part to keep this a pleasant place for all.

[foxandpeng]

Seconded. Or whatever number it is up to :-)

[Spotted Horses]

I couldn't imagine a better group of moderators (except perhaps the old moderators).