Post #758442 by Tiki Toli on Thu, Feb 4, 2016 8:13 PM

My thread so I get my turn. Some people would consider this thread derailed. Not me, I love how this has evolved into a thought provoking discussion on a wide range of topics. As long as those topics go back to what this is all about, I’m all for it.

In this one thread we have talked about the Tiki market, archaeology, trends and maturation of tikiphiles, the risk of loss of priceless data due to inactive people or death, observers versus contributors, the culture of this site, People willing to pay more than ever for Ben’s mug, ooga-mooga data and much more! 60 replies from 27 different users and over 2k views in about 40 hours. That’s awesome, this shows how relative this site still is.

I do want to touch on the culture environment of Tiki Central in more detail. This thread shows the people and interest is here, so what’s the problem? I too have seen the snipping back and forth and people trounced on. I have also heard the same concerns from friends regarding the environment here. I’ve never been on the receiving end of it, but there is no question that I don’t post as much as I could due to it.

lucas vigor’s response on this thread is a great example to use as to what we can all do to make this a better place. I am in complete agreement personally on his views on Tiki and the music. But this example in my opinion demonstrates why Tiki Central gets a bad rap. No one owns Tiki, it’s what you make it and what you like. Unless you are talking about Pre-exploration Polynesian culture, this is all make believe.

Like lucas I love the 50s/60s era with the lounge and exotica. That’s Tiki to me. But I’m never going to say someone else’s Rockabilly interpretation of Tiki or something else isn’t Tiki and I’ll never try to push my views and beliefs on someone else or call them wrong for liking what they like, that’s disrespectful to others and if someone does it to me that’s disrespecting me. While something may not be my thing, I will still take the time to check it out and appreciate what they have to say or show, and sometimes that opens my mind up to something new that I may really get into, surf is a great example of that for me.

And that takes us to the root of the concerns many people have about this site, respect. You don’t have to agree with the opinions and views of every person or most here for that matter. Young or old, wise sage or newbie, poor or rich we are all here for the same thing, our love of Tiki and that should be all anyone needs to treat everyone here with the respect they deserve.
With that in mind, every person here should ask themselves these 2 questions before they hit the submit button on any response or new thread on this site.

1: Is what I am ready to submit really related to what this place is all about
2: Is what I am about to submit keeping with the Ohana spirit of what this is all about.

If you can’t say yes to both of those questions, just hit the back button, don’t be part of the problem and hurt the thing you care about.