Rob's original GMG was mainly a board for newbies, as I recall. Then - I'm not sure whether it was 2003 or 2004 - a whole bunch of refugees from CMG moved to GMG. (Gurn, Todd, Lilas, Tony / Ezodisy, DavidW, me, many others) Since these guys were a little more sophisticated GMG changed a little, and the board got subdivided into the three or four sections of the Music Room, as I recall. There was a huge increase in traffic, too. There were enormous threads on Haydn, Chopin, and of course Beethoven, with a very high level of information and (kindly) passion. A bunch of guys from the NYT music forum joined (Karl among others), upping the chatter level and the Diner was created. There was a brief period ACDouglas graced our boards. Eric, at that point was a psychotherapist with a peculiar sense of smell, I seem to recall. (And a love of Debussy's Faun, obviously.) After long debates moderators were instituted, which only seemed to make matters worse. I think it's fair to say GMG is a much more peaceable kingdom now than three years ago.
Please feel free to correct me when I'm wrong.
One unfortunate thing was that virtually every one or two years new software was implemented, wiping out all the previous posts. Apparently there are some members who have archived some material from way back, but there's no institutional memory, and that's too bad. I think that changed (and ultimately hurt) GMG as much as anything, including the intramural conflicts. GMG is fun and friendly enough AFAIC , but it's very hard to ask people to write the kind of long and considered threads there used to be when you're sure they'll be destroyed sooner or later.
