U can voice your concerns about the suspending of the Prince & Drugs discussion here.
Pro or Con. Don't be nasty don't get personal. Just a spot 4 people to be heard about this topic only.

the Rules of the Org apply here too.
As said, it is a temporary suspending of the topic(that has been rehashed and talked about since April 21st 2016)

Reality is that there's a bunch we really can't know about his health. Until the family ever decided to come out with it, or if they even knew...

Unless something substantial come out(which will be run by the Mod team 1st and Only) we are suspending discussion on Prince & Pills(Drugs)

Re: http://prince.org/msg/7/437789

Thank U everyone in advance for your mature and well thought out opinions.
This is still a sensitive time for most Prince fans.

lopez568 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

U can voice your concerns about the suspending of the Prince & Drugs discussion here.
Pro or Con. Don't be nasty don't get personal. Just a spot 4 people to be heard.
As said, it is a temporary suspending of the topic(that has been rehashed and talked about since April 21st 2016)

"Topics and discussions on Prince & Drugs"

Thank you. My thread http://prince.org/msg/7/437824 was locked lol.

Personally, I don't need or want to discuss "Prince & Drugs but for this forum to ban this perfectly healthy discussion/debate I believe is censorship and domineering.

Sure, some people might be a bit off the wall with their theories etc. but the fact remains that the man we all love to discuss was a drug taker (possibly addicted, as much as it might hurt to say/hear) and therefore a big part of the "Prince: Music and More" forum. I can understand limiting the discussion to one sticky but to outright ban the discussion and to not even allow people to respond to the new sticky on the decision screams of overbearing authority.

Forums and threads should promote interaction. "A forum moderator should be helping out members with their queries and they should be keeping threads alive by asking questions." (link)

"It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it." Joseph Joubert

I urge you to rethink and reverse your decision. I cannot possibly be part of a fan community that does not encourage or promote debate and discussion.

I look forward to your responses.

I agree. Horrible decision..

lopez568 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

U can voice your concerns about the suspending of the Prince & Drugs discussion here.
Pro or Con. Don't be nasty don't get personal. Just a spot 4 people to be heard.
As said, it is a temporary suspending of the topic(that has been rehashed and talked about since April 21st 2016)

"Topics and discussions on Prince & Drugs"

Thank you. My thread http://prince.org/msg/7/437824 was locked lol.

Personally, I don't need or want to discuss "Prince & Drugs but for this forum to ban this perfectly healthy discussion/debate I believe is censorship and domineering.

Sure, some people might be a bit off the wall with their theories etc. but the fact remains that the man we all love to discuss was a drug taker (possibly addicted, as much as it might hurt to say/hear) and therefore a big part of the "Prince: Music and More" forum. I can understand limiting the discussion to one sticky but to outright ban the discussion and to not even allow people to respond to the new sticky on the decision screams of overbearing authority.

Forums and threads should promote interaction. "A forum moderator should be helping out members with their queries and they should be keeping threads alive by asking questions." (link)

"It is better to debate a question without settling it than to settle a question without debating it." Joseph Joubert

I urge you to rethink and reverse your decision. I cannot possibly be part of a fan community that does not encourage or promote debate and discussion.

I look forward to your responses.

Thanks for sharing your concerns and being mature in your communication:

0. If I may ask, why don't you need or want to discuss Prince & Drugs? You said it is a perfectly healthy discussion/debate, have you been following/reading/responding to the topic discussions?

.

1. There is no place where we ever said we were banning the discussion. It's been discussed over and over in all kinds of ways since April 21st 2016.
What was said was: We are suspending topics on Prince & Drugs until after APRIL 21st 2017.

.

2.Censorship:the Org has always been a 'loose lipped' have at it, discussion forum.

Dominearing & Overbear?

.

3.You posted a link, that link does not overrided the site rules set by Ben the site owner. But to conclude that the org or moderators don't promote interaction, help members with their queries or keep threads alive by asking questions, is far from what happens on the org. (I can speak for myself, that there is not much in the way of questions about images,concerts,music,videos,proteges etc in connection to Prince that I don't go out of my way to provide all that I have to promote interaction, help members with queries and keep thread of interest alive) But also we don't force people to talk about what they don't want to. Members have to be interactive to help keep the many threads we have going alive. And sometimes locking/limiting threads help do that, or people are bombarded with threads that by creation don't really promote discussion. Many are more of an 'info' thread. That's a full time paid job. but the Prince curiosities -gossip, conspiracies, groomings hearsay and... [Continued] sticky is direct example of wanting people to be able to talk about topics that may be fringe or irritating to others: like Prince & the pink dress...

.

4.Are you saying since you've been a member of the Org that the Org does not encourage or promote debate & discussion?

As someone who did sporadically join the fray in discussing Prince and drugs, I'm happy to halt the conversation until April 21 (or sooner if there's some major new facts/news/verified revelations to discuss -- this wouldn't include random rumors or "I read on Facebook that..." information)

-

Drug use, I've learned from months of reading the posts here, is a very emotional and morally fraught issue for some posters, and discussion of it vis-a-vis Prince tends to inflame some people, on all sides. I think everyone who was interested in talking about this has had a chance to express their point of view, and in the absense of any new reliable information, after 9 months there's not much more to add.

-

I would question how moderators will identify "topics and discussions on Prince & drugs." A thread on a different topic could touch on drug-related issues; will moderators be aggressively guiding threads away from drug topics if you see them veering that way?

-

I do think that, when "drug thread(s)" return, more active moderation and strict enforcement of all site rules (such as anti-bullying) might help. I also think that people should be guided not to make repetitive posts; someone simply stating over and over what they think Prince's relationship with drugs/medication was, or their theory about what led to his death, doesn't help move discussion ahead a thoughtful, interesting way. And in addition to using respectful languaqe toward fellow posters, we should all be required to use relatively neutral terminology about people struggling with drug problems/addiction in general. There are all kinds of people who post here and we don't know their histories; hostile or derogatory language to describe those who have had problems in this area can really drive some people off.

-

Just my 2 cents. I know my suggestions above require a lot of of the moderators so I understand that they might not be feasible.

-

EDITED TO ADD: It may be better to lock than completely delete these old "drug discussion" threads. I'm not sure the pros and and cons of locking vs. deleting, but I think that deleting old threads actually can encourage people just to rehash the same old conversation/debates when they could just be pointed to that old locked thread to read the history.

[Edited 1/18/17 14:56pm]

I vote NO on speculation and conspiracies about health issues.

We really do not have enough information.
The discussions go nowhere.

laytonian said:

I second this. If factual information comes out regarding his death then it can be discussed. At this point there is no new information so what is there to discuss?

disch said:

I have not really followed the drug related threads but what exactly would move the discussion in a thoughtful, interesting way? There isn't really any new information that has come out so doesn't it essentially just become people's guesses, speculation and conspiracy theories? I guess if people want to discuss the subject of drugs in general perhaps another forum would be more appropriate?

Nothing at this point would move the convo in a thoughtful direction, since there's nothing new to discuss and the same posters end up just repeating the same stuff or coming up with new conspiracy theories. I think it's more when "drug/death threads" return, whether that's April 21 or when there's some major new revelation, that there would have to be some rules or moderation to keep the discussion from immediately going off the rails.

rogifan said:

I have not really followed the drug related threads but what exactly would move the discussion in a thoughtful, interesting way? There isn't really any new information that has come out so doesn't it essentially just become people's guesses, speculation and conspiracy theories? I guess if people want to discuss the subject of drugs in general perhaps another forum would be more appropriate?

One thing we all have in common is Prince.

SNIP - OF4S(orgnotes)

disch said:

Agreed. Though it won't bother be one bit if we don't hear anything more. Nothing will bring him back. I want to remember his life not how/why he died.

I've followed the thread. Granted it does go around in circles a bit but I believe it's helped some people come to terms with some issues, educated some others etc. In general, it does no harm, in fact it probably helps some Orgers who are still in the 'Why' stage of the grief process.

lopez568 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

0. If I may ask, why don't you need or want to discuss Prince & Drugs? You said it is a perfectly healthy discussion/debate, have you been following/reading/responding to the topic discussions?

.

1. There is no place where we ever said we were banning the discussion. It's been discussed over and over in all kinds of ways since April 21st 2016.
What was said was: We are suspending topics on Prince & Drugs until after APRIL 21st 2017.

.

2.Censorship:the Org has always been a 'loose lipped' discussion forum.

Dominearing & Overbear, hardly.

.

3.You posted a link, that link does not overided the site rules set by Ben the site owner. But to conclude that the org or moderators don't promote interaction, help members with their queries or keep threads alive by asking questions, is far from what happens on the org. (I can speak for myself, that there is not much in the way of questions about images,concerts,music,videos,proteges etc in connection to Prince that I don't go out of my way to provide all that I have to promote interaction, help members with queries and keep thread of interest alive) But also we don't force people to talk about what they don't want to. Members have to be interactive to help keep the many threads we have going alive. And sometimes locking/limiting threads help do that, or people are bombarded with threads that by creation don't really promote discussion. Many are more of an 'info' thread. That's a full time paid job.

.

4.Are you saying since you've been a member of the Org that the Org does not encourage or promote debate & discussion?

Thank you for your response OldFriends

0. Me personally, I just have no desire to need or want to discuss Prince & drugs at this present time. I'm still rather upset by his death and don't really feel like I have anything worth saying on the matter but I am very interested in reading other people's comments and certainly wouldn't want them to not be able to discuss it.

1. Forgive me for using the word "ban". I stand by my comments on the word "suspend" as I see that as a temporary ban.

2. I agree 99% of the time people are free to be "loose lipped" but it was this particular decision I found to be domineering and overbearing.

3. I also agree with your comments here. But I also said that even if you limited the discussion to one thread (a sticky perhaps) then at least people have the choice to read/post about this particular topic and on this topic is where the mods can keep the debate alive, focused and interactive.

4. I believe since I've been a member (2004?) the Org has mostly promoted debate & discussion and it's what's engaged me. It is this particular topic only that I believe the Org is not encouraging or promoting a debate and discussion on. I also think that a clear and detailed reason has not been given and that leads people to speculate and be suspicious of the moderation. Transparency would be most welcome.

I am most grateful for the effort that you and all of the moderators put in to keeping this forum going all of these years. It was just this particular decision that shocked me and seems out of place.

Hi lopez568

let's remember that we are here right now talking about this because Prince is dead. So the org is a different place. Even for a few months we allowed multiple individual threads so people could express their grief and need to connect with oher Prince fans. It was temporary, but needed. And I don't know if we encouraged talk of Prince being on drugs of any kind prior to April 21st 2016.

.

Personally I was mostly anti-Prince/Drugs talk outside of the Black album/Lovesexy X insident.

I believe because of the sensitivity of the period after he died we did mostly censor peoples straight out Prince + Drugs comments. We obviously opened it up for discussion a few months after until recently as info presented itself. But for a while there was nothing, just peoples speculations that we/I believe has been recited over again.

.

This is where I am on the temporary suspending on the topic of drugs and Prince. We clearly have not tried to shut down discussions 100% prior to his life or death (knowing that Prince visited the org often as a fan I'm glad I did not encourage the discussions) But until some substantially new info comes out, I don't think there is anything new or relevant in the last 5 months. More people need to come back to the now and celebrate the reason we are here and let's learn and talk more about Prince Music ie Purple Music and it's legacy

.

To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience. There is also such a thing as self-censorship, which is when you refrain from saying certain things — or possibly re-wording them — depending on who is listening.

petalthecat said:

We may never find out why (and honestly outside of family does anyone really have the right to know why?). But if some fans think they will never have closure until they find out why then they may need to seek out professional help.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Yes, please let's focus on the man and his music. If news develops by all means discuss away. Until then good riddance.
Again, thank you to the mods and the admins of this site. This place has been a godsend for so many since his passing. So grateful for all you do to maintain the org. It can't be easy.

May I respectfully ask "Why are you suspending topics on Prince & Drugs until after APRIL 21st 2017"

Can you explain what you mean by this:

"The full year cycle of dealing with this loss will hopefully bring closure to many of us and the need to try to understand his death as we have been. The discussions of Prince & Drugs get out of hand.

after this date we will determine if and what topics are approved to be discussed concerning these things...."

If discussions 'get out of hand' then should they not simply be reported to the moderators rather than close down ALL discussions on this topic?

The reality is that Prince did die from drugs. How, why etc etc they are the unknown speculative questions but I wonder why the org is trying to stop these discussions rather than deal with those who are not obeying 'Org' rules. If that is the reason?

Something about this decision just seems wrong to me. Just makes me feel like someone was getting a little too close to the truth. As strange as this whole situation continues to be, I can't think of a more relevant topic right now on this message board. Those that are no longer interested in the topic should just ignore it, but those that want to discuss it should be able to come here of all places and discuss it. Why silence this discussion? This decision is just adding another strange chapter in the mystery of Prince's death.

Welcome2daRevolution said:

I agree, something seems 'off' to me especially as it was stopped shortly after a org member posted saying she'd been contacted by the DEA as she rang Prince the day he died.

Are the threads under investigation?

clairew1975 said:

Welcome2daRevolution said:

Something about this decision just seems wrong to me. Just makes me feel like someone was getting a little too close to the truth. As strange as this whole situation continues to be, I can't think of a more relevant topic right now on this message board. Those that are no longer interested in the topic should just ignore it, but those that want to discuss it should be able to come here of all places and discuss it. Why silence this discussion? This decision is just adding another strange chapter in the mystery of Prince's death.

I agree, something seems 'off' to me especially as it was stopped shortly after a org member posted saying she'd been contacted by the DEA as she rang Prince the day he died. Are the threads under investigation?

The DEA has nothing to do with this. The threads are NOT under investigation, nor by any other law enforcement agency. Move on ................

luv4u said:

Thank you for answering my questions all except the one in my original post asking Why are these threads being suspended.

I, personally, find your response of "move on" rather odd when this thread has even set up for org members to voice our concerns.

So, again, I respectfully ask you to explain the reasons to org members as to why now this one particular topic has been suspended.

clairew1975 said:

luv4u said:

The DEA has nothing to do with this. The threads are NOT under investigation, nor by any other law enforcement agency. Move on ................

Thank you for answering my questions all except the one in my original post asking Why are these threads being suspended. I, personally, find your response of "move on" rather odd when this thread has even set up for org members to voice our concerns. So, again, I respectfully ask you to explain the reasons to org members as to why now this one particular topic has been suspended.

See http://prince.org/msg/7/437789 which led to the creation of this thread by oldfriends4sale.

luv4u said:

Thank you but I already posted on a different thread Prince curiosities, grooming a etc #298 and was redirected to this thread.

I refer you back to my post #6 on this thread asking for more clarification as to why the drugs discussion has been suspended. That is the question I'm asking. Why?

Edited: Incorrectly mentioned wrong thread in first post.
[Edited 1/19/17 15:00pm]

clairew1975 said:

luv4u said:

See http://prince.org/msg/7/437789 which led to the creation of this thread by oldfriends4sale.

Thank you but I already posted on a different thread Prince curiosities, grooming a etc #298 and was redirected to this thread. I refer you back to my post #6 on this thread asking for more clarification as to why the drugs discussion has been suspended. That is the question I'm asking. Why? Edited: Incorrectly mentioned wrong thread in first post. [Edited 1/19/17 15:00pm]

For the time being what we've shared is all that we will until further information comes.

lopez568 said:

OldFriends4Sale said:

let's remember that we are here right now talking about this because Prince is dead. So the org is a different place. Even for a few months we allowed multiple individual threads so people could express their grief and need to connect with oher Prince fans. It was temporary, but needed. And I don't know if we encouraged talk of Prince being on drugs of any kind prior to April 21st 2016.

.

Personally I was mostly anti-Prince/Drugs talk outside of the Black album/Lovesexy X insident.

I believe because of the sensitivity of the period after he died we did mostly censor peoples straight out Prince + Drugs comments. We obviously opened it up for discussion a few months after until recently as info presented itself. But for a while there was nothing, just peoples speculations that we/I believe has been recited over again.

.

This is where I am on the temporary suspending on the topic of drugs and Prince. We clearly have not tried to shut down discussions 100% prior to his life or death (knowing that Prince visited the org often as a fan I'm glad I did not encourage the discussions) But until some substantially new info comes out, I don't think there is anything new or relevant in the last 5 months. More people need to come back to the now and celebrate the reason we are here and let's learn and talk more about Prince Music ie Purple Music and it's legacy

.

To "censor" is to review something and to choose to remove or hide parts of it that are considered unacceptable. Censorship is the name for the process or idea of keeping things like obscene word or graphic images from an audience. There is also such a thing as self-censorship, which is when you refrain from saying certain things — or possibly re-wording them — depending on who is listening.

I really don't see what the issue is with "speculation" and why it has to be temporary suspended. The majority of the threads are based on speculation because Prince was such a private man. Facts are hard to come by when you're dealing with art and an artist and that's what makes the discussion so interesting; the comments are subjective. It's what's always drawn me to the Org and I've always been drawn to mysterious artists like Prince and MJ because of speculation regardless of whether it is hard to hear or not.

Speculation on the forum over the years has varied between "what's the meaning behind Purple Rain" to "Why did Manuela divorce him" to "Did Prince have a .org account?" to "Why did Prince lie to Oprah about his child". All of this has come up time and time again in the 12 years I've been a member and it has never been an issue but suddenly "Prince & Drugs" is. It just doesn't make sense.

Could I politely and clearly ask for a genuine and reasoned response to why The Org (not just your stance) has decided upon a temporary suspension on this topic? A few people have asked and it hasn't yet been answered in the public forum.

Thank you for your time and effort in your responses.

[Edited 1/19/17 12:24pm]

For the time being, this is it. We are suspending discussion on Prince & Drug use until April 21st 2017. Unless something substatial comes forth(the Mods will post it)
Issues of mystery of drug use is hardly the same the myster of 'the meaning behind Purple Rain.

disch said:

As someone who did sporadically join the fray in discussing Prince and drugs, I'm happy to halt the conversation until April 21 (or sooner if there's some major new facts/news/verified revelations to discuss -- this wouldn't include random rumors or "I read on Facebook that..." information)

-

Drug use, I've learned from months of reading the posts here, is a very emotional and morally fraught issue for some posters, and discussion of it vis-a-vis Prince tends to inflame some people, on all sides. I think everyone who was interested in talking about this has had a chance to express their point of view, and in the absense of any new reliable information, after 9 months there's not much more to add.

-

I would question how moderators will identify "topics and discussions on Prince & drugs." A thread on a different topic could touch on drug-related issues; will moderators be aggressively guiding threads away from drug topics if you see them veering that way?

-

I do think that, when "drug thread(s)" return, more active moderation and strict enforcement of all site rules (such as anti-bullying) might help. I also think that people should be guided not to make repetitive posts; someone simply stating over and over what they think Prince's relationship with drugs/medication was, or their theory about what led to his death, doesn't help move discussion ahead a thoughtful, interesting way. And in addition to using respectful languaqe toward fellow posters, we should all be required to use relatively neutral terminology about people struggling with drug problems/addiction in general. There are all kinds of people who post here and we don't know their histories; hostile or derogatory language to describe those who have had problems in this area can really drive some people off.

-

Just my 2 cents. I know my suggestions above require a lot of of the moderators so I understand that they might not be feasible.

-

EDITED TO ADD: It may be better to lock than completely delete these old "drug discussion" threads. I'm not sure the pros and and cons of locking vs. deleting, but I think that deleting old threads actually can encourage people just to rehash the same old conversation/debates when they could just be pointed to that old locked thread to read the history.

[Edited 1/18/17 14:56pm]

It will definately require aggressive moderation. A central place of discussion on factual information presented as it comes out. For the last 8 months people have speculated on speculatations of speculating. April 21st is around the corner it's time for us to move toward a more holistic view of things.

Thank you for your post, you are on point.

Sure people speculate on a lot of things but IMO speculating on drugs, illness, murder etc. is another story. There is no new information so isn't it essentially beating a dead horse at this point?

Im glad for the suspension....

Thank you.....

rogifan said:

Sure people speculate on a lot of things but IMO speculating on drugs, illness, murder etc. is another story. There is no new information so isn't it essentially beating a dead horse at this point?

Let's face it, at this point and time everything here on the Org is old news, except where it deals with the Estate or the vault. Other then those 2 threads everything is beating a dead horse.

While I'm not personally bothered about the discussion one way or another, it seems wrong to ban talk on the subject. Yes, the threads go round and round in circles but some orgers seem to need to talk about it, so it seems unreasonable to disallow that discussion. It may well be their way of trying to cope with their grief.

We have a singular MJ thread, can't we just have one thread for Prince + drugs? The org will still need moderating for the subject because threads will likely still be created, so just closing them and pointing them to a sticky seems the most fair solution to me.

[Edited 1/23/17 4:16am]

lopez568 said:

And that how this should work. The people that run and moderate this site have the right to make these decisions and if it really bothers people they are free to leave.