Post #562308 by JOHN-O on Fri, Oct 29, 2010 8:36 AM

On 2010-10-29 07:51, Tom Slick wrote:

Rather than focusing on what constitutes definitive classic Tiki-style, how about sharing what represents "THE SPIRIT OF TIKI" to you?

That is NOT what this site is geared for. I've tried explaining it to the best of my ability, but what parts of the mission statement is it that people are not understanding?

There are a few of you who have blurred the subject of what is tiki on THIS SITE, and that to me, is reprehensible.

But Tom what would you consider appropriate discussion here on TC ?? The mission statement is supposed to serve as a guideline rather than a hard-fast rule. "Tiki" means different things to different people whether it's Classic Tiki-style, Tiki Lifestyle, and yes even "The Spirit of Tiki" which even the Bigbro has alluded to. We'll never get 100% agreement here on that. For instance:

1. Is Surf music Tiki ?? Most will say yes but some Exotica die-hards will say no.
2. Is a Tiki mug that doesn't have specific Tiki iconography really a Tiki mug ?? Some will say yes and some will say no.
3. Is discussion of the new Hawaii 5-0 which takes in the 21st century modern Hawaii really a Tiki topic ?? I would say no but a lot of people are having fun talking about it. That's cool with me.
4. How about my postings on Mid-century Las Vegas? (I'm still waiting for someone to move that thread).
5. How about the Jungle-style thread I started early this year? I think it turned out to be a pretty popular topic on the General Forum but it had nothing to do with Tiki-style.
6. And Tiki Oasis is going "South of the Border". Yes, it's not representative of TC per se but it could be indicative of how the Tiki Revival is thinking "outside the box". Shouldn't TC be as open minded ??

I could go on and on...

I can appreciate your steadfastness to high Tiki ideals (which I remember from your Trader Vic's Bar and Grill thread), but really the way to raise the bar here is to post interesting and articulate content rather than spending time "policing" TC. Yes ATP regrettably continues to escalate the argument but in all these cases, he was originally minding his own business on threads that he created.