Northern Sounds was "the place," but the main advertisers (I believe it was mostly Garritan?) resented the negative posts they were getting, since they were the ones essentially financing the forum. Meanwhile, some of the newer developers (VSL, Spectrasonics, Sonic Implants, East-West, etc.) were getting all sorts of glowing comments, but weren't paying for ads, or paying to have special sub-forums. (Garritan paid extra to have their own special section. I think East West had a section as well, although I'm not sure if they paid for that, or if it was just a nod from NS that they were indeed the heavyweight at the time.)
The forum made some new policies. I can't remember if it was specifically forbidden to criticize Garritan, but it did become forbidden to name certain competing products, if they weren't advertisers. It was pretty bizarre, and people obviously became resentful, since someone might ask,
"Which library has the best clarinet?", but you weren't allowed to answer that question with any names besides the very short list of NS advertisers.
As you might expect, people started defying the rule, and started getting banned. Almost everyone, in fact. It started to become comical, to the point where it became a badge of honor, and everyone wanted in on the action.
When I say "comical," that's literally true, as some anonymous person (everyone knows it was Nick Phoenix, but ... we don't
really know who it was
) made an actual comic called "Northern Enclosure." I think there were three or four installments, and it was really funny, as it lampooned not only the forum, but many of the members. Nick Batzdorf's avatar (which you can see four posts above mine) comes from that comic. (
@Quantum Leap, if you happen to have copies, they would sure be fun to see again ...)
Frederick Russ started VI-Control as a sort of refugee camp, with the philosophy that people should be allowed to speak honestly about products or developers. I would add the words, "even advertisers," but at the time, there were no advertisers here. This was all out of Frederick's pocket. He deserves tremendous credit, not just for doing the work of creating the forum, but running it with a philosophy that's too easy to take for granted if you don't consider how it
could have been.
Frederick did eventually start running ads. (And then I shamelessly cranked those up to 11.) His philosophy remained, though, that you could speak honestly about any products, including advertisers. That's key, and it's a big part of why the forum is such a valuable resource. (I've kept that same philosophy, to the point where I'll sometimes have to remind advertisers that running ads does not buy them "protection." Frederick would never have agreed to sell the forum to me if I didn't. Keeping the integrity of the forum was way more important to him than the money, to the point where at the time, a couple other people had made offers, but I was the the one he felt he could trust to keep the forum on the same course. Not to make this about me, but I've always felt honored by that.)
Amusingly, after NS lost most of its membership, the owner (I can't remember who was the owner, who I think was different from the admin - Canadian, though, hence the name "Northern" Sounds) decided he wanted to sell the forum. I never saw the actual amount he wanted, but I'm told it was crazy high, like a million or so. He got no takers. The forum limped along for another fifteen years or so, a shadow of its former self, until it finally went dark a couple years ago.
