MISSION STATEMENT:
This group was inaugurated several years ago by fiddlers and teachers Donna Hébert, Richard Blaustei
n and Vi Wickham to celebrate fiddling in all it's forms, styles, regional genres and skill levels. With more than 2200 current members, we could be the biggest group of fiddlers on the planet! That is something to treasure and cultivate.
We are here to find common ground through fiddling. In an increasingly polarized world, being able to communicate openly about an activity we love should be a positive experience, allowing us to spend time talking and listening to each other.
We are all from different states, countries, fiddling traditions, political and religious backgrounds, with different skill levels. Some of us are teachers, some professional musicians, some are part-time musicians, some are students, some are amateurs, some don't play at all but love the music. ALL are welcome at this table.
And that, simply put, is our mission.
TERMS OF SERVICE:
Membership in Facebook Fiddlers' Association is a privilege, not an entitlement. Recently, there have been problems with people fighting in the group online and it's gotten out of hand. While we began this group as an open, unmonitored group, we will now be monitoring the group on a regular basis.
Please read these guidelines for membership in our group. If you cannot agree to them, please remove yourself from the forum. If you break these rules, you will receive one warning from one of the administrators. A second incident constitutes grounds for permanent removal by the administrators. Personal attacks on the administrators will be reported to Facebook and can be considered by Facebook as grounds for denying your access to Facebook. This is serious, so please pay attention!
1. No flaming, trolling, character assassination, bullying, ugly negative remarks or personal vendettas will be tolerated. No exceptions, no excuses, no "he started it." No means no, period. If we don't do this, we are in danger of losing our right to use Facebook for this forum. We are simply following the Facebook Terms of Service Agreement, which states the following under:
Safety: #6. You will not bully, intimidate or harass any user.
Safety: #7. You will not post content that is hate speech or threatening.
2. Members will not overuse the Facebook Fiddlers' Association for self-promotion. We did not start this group to provide a marketing outlet. This means we should not be on your daily PR mailing list. A bi-monthly gig update would be sufficient, along with a short note and link announcing new CD, book and video releases or educational opportunities for fiddlers. While this does NOT mean that you won't be able to post videos of yourself, it DOES mean you should be posting at least as many videos about other fiddlers you admire. We will monitor posts and after notifying the member, remove any we consider excessive self-promotion.
3. Keep the discussion to fiddling and music. There are plenty of other places on Facebook where we can debate or discuss politics and/or religion. Here is most definitely NOT one of them.
WHAT IS APPROPRIATE FOR THIS FORUM?
1. We DO want to hear your stories about fiddling heroes past and present.
2. We DO want to watch videos you may have of performances you find inspiring.
3. We DO want to hear tunes you love, via video or audio.
4. We DO want you to share sheet music for any tunes. Any copyrighted material needs to carry a copyright notice. Sharing material here is considered 'educational fair use.'.
5. We DO want to hear about your breakthroughs as fiddlers or teachers, your struggles to master techniques, your personal fiddling journeys.
EXECUTIVE ADMINISTRATORS:
Donna Hébert & Richard Blaustein - questions about the list in general
Vi Wickam - technical questions about using the forum, uploading, creating events.
OTHER ADMINISTRATORS:
Steve Goldfield, BeeBee Simmons, Julie Lyonn Lieberman, Rusty Neithammer, Mike Jarboe, Michelle Putnam
