Justified or not, I give GT more credit than some of the more critical posts throughout the Forum.  There has been much criticism about the GT's failure to give the reason(s) for the loss of song lessons yet from the very beginning of the latest round 'they' explained GT was not able to renew the licenses.  Still, the questions kept coming with specific inquiries about the why.  The answers would be interesting but they also, IMO, would delve too deeply into the operation of a private company.  As paying members, we may want more detailed explanations, but we shouldn't expect such, especially when they touch on the management and strength of the company and how it competes with other online offerings.

As an aside, there has been, and continues to be, strongly negative opinions about the dropping of the songs even though songs have come and gone over the years due to the same explanation, loss of licensing.  I think I remember some heartfelt bitching about the loss of songs by a member or two even though they joined GT after the songs were deleted.  😄 Some complained there was no notice (there was... a couple weeks before it happened) and, after this long time, we continue to see posts like, 'where's the song I use to practice..?'  

I have disappointments myself.  One of my faves was lost in the Purge of '23 but... yup... as in the discussion above, there are other sites.  I believe GT has the best lessons but... there are other sites.  Personally, I collect a half-dozen lessons of the same song from YouTube and learn the good stuff from each of 'em.  😉   Which leads to another consideration about Forum posts relating to song lessons.

There is a lot of 'concern' about the song catalog and the new songs being added to it, "sucks" was one descriptor recently used.  Given all the criticism over Rolling Stones song lessons you'd think Mick was the Devil he used to sing about.  😁   Such posts ignore a more difficult environment, i.e., licensing has been (and is) being bought up or otherwise retired by the major publishers/licensers or the artists themselves.  But read carefully, the posts often break down to, 'I don't like these songs.  I want other songs.  What about meeee?' 😫   Yeah... well.., all of us age, all of us have favorites from our past and the Forum's members range from teen to 80.  There will be differences in wants along with the more difficult availability. To vaguely reference The Monkees' Cuddly Toy, "you're not the only one".  (hey!  there's a potential good song lesson!!  🤣)

As for myself, I have other concerns.  For example, just now when I clicked on my own username in a random post, the resulting list revealed only 106 of the more than 1500 posts I've made over the years.  When trying Search Forum by using Search By User Name, "No results found" is the result.  Is it a biggie?  Maybe, maybe not.  But it is another loss of what used to be and it tracks with aliasmaximus's comment, "something's not right."

And I keep hearing a haunting catch phrase from my distant past, "Suck it in, GI!"  Sigh.