Thoughts After Imaginaerum Pre-listening

Tero Tolkki, who runs Metal from Finland, had an opportunity to attend a pre-listening of Nightwish's upcoming CD Imaginaerum.  No promos are being given out by the record label, which I can't say is a bad idea.  Here is Tero's write-up containing his thoughts and impressions after hearing the album.

This CD is sounding very promising!

The Great Clean-up of MFF

Well, I have no idea what suddenly spurred Tero into action, but action has indeed been taken on Metal From Finland, both the news site and the forum.

Thank fuck!

I wrote here before about how out of control I thought the site was getting, how depressing it was, and how poorly it reflected on Tero, whose site it is, and the people who participated there. The bashing & hatred also, I believe, reflected poorly on metalheads.

Now, there is a full time moderator on the forum. It's still early days and things have not settled down yet, so it remains to be seen how things will go there, but it is indeed, in my opinion, a very good step, and one that is long overdue.

Of course there has been backlash - from the embittered "hater" crowd, and that is only normal. I totally expect there to be a lot of pissed off users. But I think once the initial shock & anger has died down, this could possibly be a respectable, friendly site once more - the way it used to be when it started.

So, my hat is off to Tero for taking some action - and taking the risk it involved; pissing a lot of regular users off is risky. But I think it was even more risky to allow the free-for-all to continue. Thank you, Tero!

And good luck to the new moderator: you will need it!

Metal from Finland & The Floggers of Dead Horses

It is with great hesitation that I write this post because in a lot of ways I think the less that is said about Hater Haven AKA Metal from Finland the better. But, on the other hand, I have some strong feelings about my now former favourite internet hangout, and since this is my blog, I think I'm just going to go for it and let the chips fall where they may.

Look, I am very opinionated and I have an opinion on pretty much everything. And if you ask me, I'll tell you. I think having opinions about things you're passionate about is great, and I think it's great that there is a place where these opinions can be debated and discussed.

But that place is no longer Metal from Finland, both the main site and the forum. Because both those sites have turned into a place where people go to flog massive numbers of dead horses and then sling the dead horses' shit around with the passion and glee of a swarm of sugar-loaded school children at a cafeteria food fight.

I have flung some shit there myself in the past when my buttons were sufficiently pushed, but I quickly realized how futile it was to engage with a group of people hell bent on merciless nit-picking, insults, disrespect, irrational and reactionary behaviour, sheer stupidity, tiresome repetition of old and illogical arguments, general blockheadedness, immaturity, and relentless bashing & belittling.

It's become fucking depressing! The forum used to be a nice, fun place to hang out and I have made some cool connections on that site that I have really enjoyed and valued, but lately, the negativity and the continual beating of the proverbial dead dog is just too much.

Like I said, have an opinion. State it. State it strongly. But becoming a fucking harpy is not cool, especially when participants who want to have a bit of fun there are starting to become alienated because they don't want to constantly bash Anette Olzon & Nightwish. Make your point, make it well, but for fuck's sake, eventually the constant negativity is wearing and marginalizing. Once your point has been made, ad nauseam, can you not give it a fucking rest and find something else to talk about?

Because let me just say this: the constant harping, bashing, and general shit slinging does not reflect poorly upon Anette or Nightwish; it reflects poorly upon the people slinging the shit.

And, it reflects badly upon Tero and Metal from Finland. Initially, the main site was great for me to get some news and read some interesting opinions. But now, it's a circus and a hang out for Nighwish/Anette haters. Even the Tarja threads inevitably turn into ranting soap boxes for NW/Anette haters! And the fact that the forum is completely unmoderated has turned that site into a hater free-for-all where anything goes, including people expressing wishes to be violent towards Anette.

It's a fucking shame. I liked that place and I liked meeting people there. Now, it just makes me want to cry.