I’ve had some interesting correspondence lately. As pastepunk.com continues to grow, I have been getting more and more emails from people who are interested in it, and from those who want to send music to me for review. Regardless of the topic of the email, there was some sort of thought process used for reasonable means – a declared intent of communication with a positive vibe. Email has an evil relative: the message board. There are few things that I think are more detrimental to the punk/hardcore community than people hiding behind their computer screen all day spreading rumors, lies, and in general, doing no good.

Trial, in one of their songs off the "Are these our lives?" album has the lyric, "in the absence of passion, our screams are worth nothing." Powerful stuff eh? But think about it for a few seconds. How can we claim to be part of scene intent on changing things both physically and metaphorically for a better tomorrow, if we spend our time of change typing away posts on a message board strictly intended to offend others, or spread damaging lies. Granted, there plenty of message boards that aren’t infected with this disease, but the majority of the well known boards are. When I was 15, I would spend about 2 hours a day in some AOL chat room called "punk chat" spouting off about "who’s a poseur, and what bands suck. " But I was 15, and I realized that there was more to life and this scene that we hold on to so dearly, than getting caught up in the web of shit-talking.

One of my good friends here at the University of Maryland does a site called pheer.com that is the best source of show listings in the MD/DC/VA region, but what is the main attraction to his site? His 200 + message board posts a day of mostly nonsense, filled in with spates of serious inquiries for show directions, and a need for band members. This guy’s site is a tremendous asset, worthier than any flyer made for a show, and a genuine product of value to us all who live in the area and rely on that kind of information. It is pretty sad that with all the information available on that site, and the mp3s that he posts from local bands, that people only care about what is the current state of affairs on the board. I am waiting for the day that I read a headline in the Washington Post, "teen killed after message board spat."

Do I use message boards? Of course – they are highly viable means for me to promote pastepunk.com. When new interviews come out, or major updates are done to the site, there are a few boards that I always make sure to post stuff on, but that is the extent of it. I love the computer revolution just as much as anyone, especially as I embrace it every day as the tool of my expression, but I draw a line. I long for the days where communication wasn’t necessarily so easy because you knew it was always sincere. Message boards are impersonal and restrictive – they inhibit the inherent desire to communicate effectively and with emotion. Whatever happened to the days where people hung out and loitered together, instead of chatting online for hours at a time?

If this comes off sounding holier than thou, maybe that is a good thing, because I want to get the message through. If this applies to you, stop wasting your time behind the computer screen claiming to be a part of a scene where all you do is cause trouble and make no mends to better your life. Shit-talking accomplishes absolutely nothing. Nothing. Get off your can and do something, even if it means reading a book or watching your father’s video collection of the greatest battles in the War of 1812. I fear the day that our society forgets how to assimilate technology and becomes lost in the struggle between personal and impersonal communication. That’s enough out of me. To quote the words of Bad Religion, "I’m going for a walk, not the after dinner kind…"

-jordan