"Covid" is not the problem here. I think most of us here know that. My ORIGINAL POST was motivated by my questioning of MYSELF if perhaps I was being a little TOO cautious about holiday family gatherings. Two or three people actually responded to that. The fact is, since the early days of this forum, there have been many posts of a 'social' nature with absolutely no relevance to arranger keyboards. Stories about personal adventures and special events in our lives with no relevance other than we wanted to share them with the internet friends we had cultivated over the years. I don't recall anyone railing about them being 'moved to the BAR' (although they probably should have been) or 'migrating to Facebook' because of them. My point is, this has nothing to do with Covid being an inappropriate subject (especially since it was clearly marked 'OT') and everything to do with politicizing the post (with the inevitable results).

We all know, whether we admit it or not, that there is a strong political divide on this forum clearly deliniated by the people who left the forum for Facebook and those who chose to stay and post. This is not so surprising given the extreme cultural/social/political divide that has infected (yes, INFECTED) the country at this time. Sadly, this includes ordinary citizens, the Congress, and even the Supreme Court. So why would we think that an internet forum would be immune from it. Sure, it would be nice if we could keep this forum 'pure' and free from the intrusions of our everyday lives, but as we can see, that can be difficult (the Keyboard Corner does a pretty good job of it but it's heavily populated by professional musicians).

So I'm saying, you can move this post and posts like it, to the Bar or to the Moon and it won't make a difference to the people that will insist on making it about where you stand on the political spectrum. The last 'Big Migration' has proven that 'The Bar', despite it's good intentions, is still no safe place to post if the 'influencers' decide to react to it negatively.

I sure hope all this bitterness ad division leaves along with the pandemic. Probably won't but we can hope.

chas