Norio wrote
X-rated Bob wrote
Here's an idea for the moderators to consider.
And a damned fine idea at that! I'll need to get some contact details for some musos (please PM me if you have any) and email them to see if they'd be keen and, if we find some who are (more than likely, I'm sure!), I'll get it done.
There would usually be some kind of address on a web site. Emails might be answered by management rather than by the artist.
There's a Richard Thompson related e-mail list where we had several of these. I tell you this tale not to try to force GFSA to make contact with my own main man, but just to tell you how it worked. These were not necessarily with Thompson in any event - often other folks with some kind of connection to him or his career (there was a very good one with 60s producer Joe Boyd for example)
1) Artist is contacted and agrees to accept a list of questions.
2) Moderator sends out an announcement calling for questions (no prying into private lives) and stipulating a cut off date and time for acceptance
3) Moderator collates requests, cutting out any duplicates or questions that go off-limits (religious arguments etc - you get them)
4) Once the replies are received they are posted back out to the members.
It's usually possible to cast the net fairly wide so that the discussion is not just around plectrum types and string gauges but doesn't get down to personal (IE none of our business) issues.
An important point is that the As are only as good as the Qs. Another important point was that the moderator was the point of contact - not the artist. The artist has a right to privacy.
Unfortunately it does place a burden on the moderating person - so all and sundry need to give her/him a round of applause and generally be nice. This burden extends to contacting the artist and getting agreement.
With respect, I would think that it should be left to Alan or yourself to make the initial contact. After all it's your forum and we can't have the whole world making requests that might reflect on you. Thereafter you might enlist somebody else to field the questions and collate them - and it must be understood that that person will post the answers back (in case any smart arse decides to try to forge some answers).
