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OPEN LETTER TO HCEG Administration


DaveAronow

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EDIT: I'm editing this post now after it was born two weeks ago and after 12 or so pages in.

To those that feel like commenting after reading this opening post, please be aware that by now, as this thread is many pages old, a lot of the things people have shared or complained about have been discussed,  and many of the administration have indeed chimed in with actual polite and what appear to be concerned answers. So , to save you some trouble, you may want to scan through the thread and see if some of your concerns have been addressed before you just T-off on the administration. Could be you might like the answer already given to something you are going to address.

But please don't let this discourage you from speaking your mind if you still choose to. We have accomplished a lot in the pages of this thread, but there is still a lot more to do, so your help is welcome and appreciated. Thanks, and now back to the original post.......

 

 

This thread is in response to all the attempts nearly successful, at trying to murder this forum in cold blood, over and over again during the past few years, but in particular, the final straw, which is a trending topic in another thread, entitled, "this sort of left a bad taste in my mouth.". So here goes.....

 

Dear Sirs or Mams. Let's do you a GIANT favor and give you a HUGE benefit of the doubt and just say maybe your intentions really are to try and rebuild this forum. Wait wait, the rest of you regular forum users, stop laughing people, hold on for a sec, hear me out, maybe they are serious and maybe there is still hope.. let's just assume you are serious even though you have managed to alienate almost every single one of the few regulars left here that were here during the peak of when this place was AWESOME and the envy of similar forums all over the internet and the world.

 

I don't know if you were here then, or are only recently interested because maybe you were hired to fix a huge problem, or maybe you have been here all along but in a more hands off fashion and don't really know what goes on here or went on here in the trenches, the very pages of the forums themselves, that are the heart and soul and very lifeblood of Harmony Central, but I can only assume not, and that you have ZERO clue what made this place cool, why people loved it so much that it was almost like an epidemic addiction for Hundreds and hundreds of regular daily users that in turn brought in the interest of h

undreds of THOUSANDS of lurker members, or non members, but nonetheless, potential targets for your advertising.

 

I

'm going to let the following pages fill up with posts from friends here in an attempt to explain, yet ONE MORE TIME, what made this place special and what can make it awesome again before you hammer in that final nail in the coffin that you are so eagerly holding in your hand.

 

Trust us.

 

We were there, some much longer than me, but there are still plenty of us here that can explain why we loved this forum so much and what we loved about it .Th

is forum was once something really really special. You've seen the numbers, you know what Im talking about, and as such, you have to know that it was unique and that there is no book, or formula you can read or force on us to try to recapture it.

 

But today will have to feel like you just hit the lottery

 

 because I am offering, WE are offering to share with you why this sight ROCKED and how you can make it rock again, if you are serious, and if you will only listen and even if your only concern with it is to build the numbers back up so you can make money.

 

WE were the people that were here when it was cool, and we can help you.

 

No more graphs, no more flow charts, no more praying to whatever God you pray to in desperation. No more lecturing us or dictating to us your eggheaded ideas on how to make this place cool again because you have proven over and over again you are just lost.

 

I mean, you are talking about targeting schools now and thirteen year old children? HOLY COW you are desperately grabbing at straws 

 

Well, just STOP IT. Please! You are embarrasing yourselves. Im embarrased FOR you!

 

 

And So now, we offer the olive branch and we are offering our help.

 

But you either have to listen and take our advice or you'll have to kiss it goodbye.

 

Because you will NEVER be able to recreate this forum, or another one in its place with the same numbers and world wide attention this one got.

 

It was a phenominon that only those who were there can explain to you.

We, the last diehard stragglers still barely hanging on, but hanging on nonetheless because we keep desperately holding on to the dream that it will get better, maybe even back to its full glory, but point is, we know what the fascination that brought the masses was and only WE can help you get it back.

 

Here is your last chance.

 

Hopefully you are serious.

 

Please be patient and allow a significant amount of time for people to post, as the slowness of the traffic on this site could easily fool you into believing it is already dead. But there are a few of us still here that can help you ressucitate the forum. 

 

Good luck, and we will be cheering for you!

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Great post.

 

I like this place not just for the guitar info, but for the personalities.

 

If HCEG were gone, then I'd have to miss out on

 

...DaveArownow, Dougy, billybilly, and many others with their clever humor in their posts

 

... Soundcreation getting pissed of at someone for over generalization or something else

 

... Honeyiscool getting a new guitar or amp and proclaiming it the greatest thing ever, and then filming excellent demo vids

 

... xleroyx, Black Hat Hunter, and many others sharing kickass original music

 

... GreatDane, WarriorPoet, Jkater, and others who you know are just really great people and start great threads to boot

 

And that's just the guys still posting. Go back a year, two, three, or more and there are dozens of guys that have since gone away that posted informative, entertaining, educational, maybe even inspiring stuff.

 

But do you see? It's the people, really. I could just look through sales listings online or google search whatever if I just wanted info. Don't scare away the people, HC admins. They are the reason to be here.

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They made the choice to alienate users when they ridiculously required a password reset that gave users no option to enter the original email they registered with in order to verify their account and have the reset emailed to their current email address - a no-brainer to anyone serious about redesigning a forum.

I'm no long timer like the OP and didn't post often but I've been a member for more than 5 years and had about 1400 posts. Offering an AOL email address to request the resurrection of your original username, post count and status that goes ignored time and time again for months is just more proof of intent to alienate. Mods won't even answer PM's about it.

But hey, as long as some school kids can join up, post video of their crappy band and then call us all a bunch of fags for not loving it because Dr Phil has convinced their parents that their fragile egos will be crushed forever by honest constructive criticism and that their every creative endeavor MUST be posted on the refrigerator with the appropriate magnet to convince them that they're super special, well, it's not my board and not my money so I don't have too much to bitch about. I still read a couple of the forums every day because something interesting might come up but I no longer contribute.

 

Maybe I should start my own version of Harmony Central and call it Harmonic Minor.

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I agree with this. One of the things that made this place great is the openness. Now, it seems like it will be very diminished. I left a forum that was going through a similar thing when I came here in 2007. I found this place refreshing, which is no longer the case. The changes have rendered this forum bland and uninteresting to me. Bummer.

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Let's talk about community and what that means. It 's a place where you have a sense of common interest. It's a place where you don't have to pretend you can just be yourself. We are all unique, I not only accept this but I expect it.. If someone seems a little rough around the edges well that's just who he is  This is not the Disney Channel.. We all travel different paths each day then come here and for the most part get along just fine. It 's a type of mutual respect that can't be created  it just has to happen. Make the leash too short and people can become resentful .Maybe they will lash out or maybe they will leave but the face of the forum will change..

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Take this from a guy who barely played guitar when I started posting back in 2006, a guy who had just begun a journey that would lead him to a professional career in music, a guy who's had 3 daughters born since he started posting, bought 8 guitars since joining, built 2, bought 2 amps, sold two, and begun a small business building effects.

 

This forum was Linux.

 

What in heaven's name am I talking about?

 

Everyone contributed, everyone had a voice, and even the trolls made significant, often hilarious, threads that should, by rights, live on forever in internet history.  We celebrated our victories together, mourned our losses, and were, in short, a productively unproductive and functionally dysfunctional family.  We were free.  We were open.  We trusted people.

 

Heck, I don't think there's much better evidence than this: http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Electric-Guitars/Project-HCEG-Thinline/td-p/9442051

 

And this: http://www.harmonycentral.com/t5/Electric-Guitars/NGD-Goldy-Comes-Home/m-p/29711045/highlight/true#M3663775

 

That's right.  My two favorite guitars were built by 6 people in 3 different countries, all forum members, and sold and repurchased in time of need from another forumite I know only online.

 

Today my post count is WAY less, partially due to a post count purge, and the rest due to my insane schedule.  The forum is also a less compelling place to be.  It's no longer "appointment internet".

 

Why?

 

HCEG has become Apple OSX and moderation the app store.

 

Does anyone who can remember honestly think a kid named Rock Lobster would become the absolute MONSTER player he is today if the forum were as tightly moderated as is proposed?  I, for one, doubt it.

 

Listen, I have 5 daughters under the age of 13.  I work in a church.  I am NOT the demographic you're worried about when it comes to inappropriate anything, but life is often inappropriate out of context.  It's the context.  This IS the context to be open, free and community led.  It is a community.  Let it be an arty nearly acoustic coffeehouse or seedy bar with a band that's a little too loud on the stage.  Let it be a busker's paradise or that bridge where outdoor vocals resonate just right.  Don't turn HCEG into the worst kind of self-righteous, dead church building.  Only vermin enjoy those, and they don't hang around long once the crackers run out.

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I'm all for trying to effect change through freedom of rational and well argued speech, but to me as a Computer Scientist I can only think that they actually want to make this place as unuseable as possible and then let it die slowly from malnutrition, that can't even be diagnosed as such and the so called uber mods like Chappell and Anderton etc have never done anything of any significance to help the regulars on here, the only mods who ever gave a damn in this place ie Frets99 and Mazi Bee and their absence or intermittent visits I believe shows their feelings on this "place" too.

 

This is the forum equivalent of a leaky trailer with no amenities, fit only for those who live on moonshine and {censored} on the floor

 

I too only come here for the people, and practically everyone of them old and new alike make it worthwhile, but I come here in spite of the place, not because.

 

Well done whoever {censored}ed this place, cause you sure made a good job, I hope you don't have a yachting accident

 

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The unwashed masses, the silent majority, impassioned artists, wannabes, noobs, veterans of epic battles against THE MAN, all had a voice here.  It was a great place to be, to piss, moan, and learn, be inspired, and learn some more.  We all built it, and policed it, and took care of each other.  It was damned near perfect in its imperfection. 

You had the hippest cafe in town, the place where the cool people gathered.  Now you want to go one better and make it into the most popular place in town...

 

...like McDonalds.

 

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Somewhere there is a group of suits who think their plan will actually work. Toss the old riff raff and rebuild with respectable users.

That same group of suits will blame their underlings for poor execution of said plan when it fails.

 

Then they'll shut it down.

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Its pretty much impossible to add to the posts above.   HC and HCEG in particular were (and I stress were) all about the community and the advice that the community provided.   While I don't see that making PG 13 or not matters all that much the fact that this is being done shows that those running the forum don't have much of a clue as to what made it so great previously.   Music and musicians aren't going to take any kind of censorship lying down.   Because as we know it can become a slippery slope..first the F word then unauthorized pictures of a LP.

Ironcially they probably bought the forum due to the immense amount of traffic it used to have...every change in the last couple of years has worked to closed that traffic.   Like a neighbourhood that goes bad...maybe it's time to look for a new place to live. 

I'll miss this place but mostly I miss the place it was not the place it is becoming.

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Yeah the lack of iOS support is simply moronic. That was the main thing that drove me to quit posting as much.

Half my schtick was posting funny pics to make folks chuckle and that is gone now. I'm not running home to my laptop every time I want to post a pic.

 

It's not the change here that pissed me off but the complete disregard for the community. It's been one giant {censored} YOU for a year or more now.

 

Perhaps we are all gluttons for punishment or just too stupid to know when we are no longer wanted.

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This place used to be really cool. And now, saying it sucks does not eloquently establish how dismal of a flacid shell it has become. It really is a shame. If the owners wanted a pg-13 site, I think they should have created such a site that could be built from the ground up with the vision they had in mind. But instead, they bent, and bent this place trying to mold it into something it was not until they broke it. This place is broken and questiobably unfixable at this point. "Leave well enough alone." RIP, Harmony Central. Replace Yorick with Harmony Central.

Alas, poor Yorick (HC)! I knew him (it), Horatio; a fellow (site) of infinite jest, of most excellent fancy; he hath borne me on his back a thousand times; and now, how abhorred in my imagination it is! My gorge rises at it. Here hung those lips that I have kissed (I wouldn't go that far) I know not how oft. Where be your gibes now? Your gambols? Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar? (Hamlet, V.i) 

and again, I quote, Where be your...Your songs? Your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar?

 

The answer, no where. Congratulations to every so called board member and so called visionary marketer that had their hand in managing this site for the past year or so. When you finally grind this place to dust, might I recommend a new career in the "death by lethatl injection" field. You have a knack.

 

And for the bottom line that souless zealots understand; During my time at this site over the good years, I bought more from Guitar Center and Musician's Friend than I ever would have without the site. And might I frankly say, I don't buy **** from either anymore.

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So much wisdom posted above. Here is another analogy.

HC used to be like a band that had some great equipment. Nice fender, gibson guitars, killer PA system, awesome tube amps in the backline, and a JC-120 for cleans.

Then the tube amp developed a microphonic tube. We limped along trying to finish the set because we knew there was a good backup amp in the van.

Then one of the mics got nast because the cable was shorting out, and the guitar broke 2 strings. We finished the set and took a break to replace the faulty equipment.

 

Instead of getting a few new tubes, cables, and strings HC gave us a crappy amp, a Fischer-Price microphone that the kids get for Christmas, and told us to play guitar using only 4 strings.

That's why the forum is dying. How can you put on a good performance when the tools you need have been replaced with junk? Someone confused a fancy "new" interface with what actualyy made HC a success. The ability to easily exchange info and knowledge. The ability to see a ballon popup preview of a posts content so you would be able to move on to what interested you. Etc, etc

 

I could live with some language resrictions. I can't live with something that is so cumbersome to use that it is a waste of my time.

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I've been around for some time, though I'm not one of those people whose posts you can't wait to read.

In some ways I feel I should thank the powers-that-be of Harmony Central.  I used to check into this forum many times a day and read all sorts of great and silly stuff.  As a result, I was often caught up in whatever new peice of gear was the trend for that week.  The money I spent on gear because of this forum was remarkable!

Ever since the remodel, it's all changed.  I tried to stay active, but it just wasn't the same.  The interface, the censorship, the layout, etc...everything was difficult and annoying.  I still check in now and then, but the visits are very short and seem to just confirm the feeling that it's over.

So, thanks Harmony Central - I now have much more money in the bank as I have not bought new gear in a while!  This shows me that your first concern was my financial condition and not the advertisers that pay to be on your site.

 

It's kind of heartwarming.

 

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As someone who has been here for 7 years, I think this sums up what I'm reading here: HC, you tried to fix something that wasn't broken.  Now it's falling apart. 

 

Making it PG-13 won't bring in the schoolkids because schoolkids won't be able to access it from school computers anyway.  Besides, it's also about keeping the old-timers coming here so the kids have someone to learn from.  Otherwise, it's all "this band rules/suckzzz" or trolling.  Whee. 

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I have had and tried to give, a few laughs over the years.

I have trolled and been trolled.

Most of all I have learned. About gear, people and not a little about myself.

For any advertisers reading. HCEG is why I have a PRS and a Blade. Its why I gas for a real LP and US Start. ( both against my sense of logic and need) the more experienced posters on this site shape me as a player and customer. I admit I am a taker rather than a giver to this community. Without the deep pool of knowledge and the sense of fun and mischief there is nothing for me here.

I am certainly not a baby sitter.

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