Wow, the polarization of the fanbase continues ad infinitum. We all love phish here, just a reminder. The point of phish.net though, is to provide some sort of context necessary to discriminate between shows/jams/songs. If every time you clicked on the link here in your bookmark bar you found a brief note saying that the show was 100% enjoyable, the vibe was great, and god bless phish then what would be the point? Actually sounds kind of Orwellian to me, like reading a newspaper from a communist country.
The reviewing of jams by people that were *gasp* not actually there is a looooong standing phish.net tradition and was extraordinarily helpful to the noob who hopped on in 1.0 back before mp3s, spreadsheets, livephish, and torrents. Back then, you actually had to work to get a show and knowing which ones delivered the goods actually mattered a whole lot more. Instead of unbridled enthusiasm for every single note played at every show, i think those that actually discriminate between your average show and the truly better moments are god-sends to a community that is rapidly becoming party-line oriented.
I think that was trey's point in bittersweet motel about pissing in the fans' ears and everyone still loving it. It would get real boring if the mantra of phish-can-do-no-wrong was on everyone's lips at all times because the band would have no reason to continue to deliver highlights. If its all the same to us, then why should they even bother to play shows anymore? They could just jam out and have fun in private instead of playing in public.
This whole situation is frighteningly like nationalism, whereby ANY criticism of a country's direction is considered heresy and thus should not be tolerated. It is the essence of fascism, and the loss of a people's humanity. I would argue that those who really do appreciate the freedom (that the U.S. and phish provide) to speak one's mind invite criticism rather than desire to censor it. Bit of a tangent, just really reminds me of the Supreme Court's jurisprudence on flag-burning. Those who truly do appreciate a band/country find constructive criticism necessary because we want the best possible direction for it. That said, i realize phish has its own autonomy, but for a band that has consistently spoken of the importance of the relationship with its fanbase it certainly seems like they welcome it too. Speak your mind and, ahem, try not to get too fanatical. ; )