Jon, You've put your foot in it this time. Frankly the only advice I can give you at this point is to pay greater attention to this list. If you had done so in the first place you would have noticed that the address you suspected of spamming us is in fact the very reputable address for the Lute Society of Great Britain. Furthermore, look at the subject header. It lists concert notices, which were in fact contained in the email. A spammer doesn't list concert notices.
Let me say that I appreciate that you have taken up a new instrument in the lute and I appreciate your interest in it. However, you have come in here hell bent for leather and made many posts spouting off as if you had all the knowledge of the instrument, the music and the period in the world and we were just a bunch of beknighted souls who could only benefit from your great pontifications. You have even managed to offend Stewart McCoy, who is renowned for having the patience of Job. Jon, I have taken to ignoring your emails because they're too long winded and offer nothing except to waste my time. However I did stumble across this one and I had to answer it because you have managed once again to offend one of the patrons and longstanding members of this list. Please stop and consider what it is you're writing and why. Stop treating us as though we know nothing and you know it all. You don't. It's one thing to ask questions, hell I do it all the time because I know I don't know it all. After four years of playing the lute I still consider myself a very young and undereducated student. But you don't ask questions, except to phrase them as statements of fact that nine times out of ten repudiate greater knowledge than you possess. You keep saying you're a newbie, well act like one and sit back and learn. Stop trying to teach that which you don't know. My apologies to the list for this rant, but I just couldn't take it anymore. I try very hard not to get involved in any discussion that could be deemed a flame, or if so to take it immediately offline. But this email to Jon and the frustrations behind it have been building for a long time. I know from talks with some of you privately that I'm not alone in my opinion. Craig
