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Let's Reconsider the Forum


Chordite

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No doubt things are slipping lately. Perhaps we users could consider what changes might inject some life back into the fora

So any constructive ideas? My two cents (or two pence since I am a Brit):

 

I have watched other forums collapse, the end is usually surprisingly sudden. There is a critical mass at which things keep turning over then suddenly no one turns up.

 

One of my main criticisms is that 31 is just too many sub forums It dilutes to the point of transparency, there may be action somewhere but who is going to click through that lot to find it. Also stuff that has no place here on a friendly music site like "the political debate".

 

I would also reconsider the strict "only" rule (which I admit I occasionally break to add a bit of color). Musicians work together, isolating them removes the "band" interaction element important to creativity.

 

Maybe something like a single "play" forum where the threads are color tagged like for Bass, Drum, Electric guitar, General Band etc' so you can either pick out your specific or browse through the general musicians flow.

 

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Seems to me Anderton's was a lounge for successful industry guys and the PJ (it is in fact a jam) was a playground where guys could go work on their tic ing and/or their comedy. They are the only forum here that is even feigning life. That goes, HC will be the staff and the other 20 of us posters. (and OJ :))There have been factions that migrated elsewhere; some to their own fora, most to their actual lives. Those of us still here are creatures of habit. THIS habit; the habit of HC. No reason to stop. For me if IT stops, I'll just look for something else online to buffer my musical practice.

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Fewer forums is something we've thought about previously, and it may happen eventually - or not... but it probably wouldn't hurt to archive some of the less popular forums.

 

But the traffic numbers themselves are actually up guys. They've been going upwards for quite some time now. Check Alexa. :idea: ;wave:

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No doubt things are slipping lately. Perhaps we users could consider what changes might inject some life back into the fora

So any constructive ideas? My two cents (or two pence since I am a Brit):

 

I have watched other forums collapse, the end is usually surprisingly sudden. There is a critical mass at which things keep turning over then suddenly no one turns up.

 

One of my main criticisms is that 31 is just too many sub forums It dilutes to the point of transparency, there may be action somewhere but who is going to click through that lot to find it. Also stuff that has no place here on a friendly music site like "the political debate".

 

I would also reconsider the strict "only" rule (which I admit I occasionally break to add a bit of color). Musicians work together, isolating them removes the "band" interaction element important to creativity.

 

Maybe something like a single "play" forum where the threads are color tagged like for Bass, Drum, Electric guitar, General Band etc' so you can either pick out your specific or browse through the general musicians flow.

 

Honestly, this place jumped the shark a few years ago. It's much slower now, but at least there is SOME movement. The Gear Page isn't a bad place, and tends to move faster in some forums. Since Gibson bought this forum, it has not really improved, but it hasn't really gotten any worse, IMO. They seem to be having plenty of issues, so this forum is probably way down on the "to do" list for improvement.

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At times I feel like I'm not pulling my weight' date=' as I don't often post a new topic. Closest thing I might have is hooking up a spoon to extend handle on my Bigsby...[/quote']

 

You use a spoon to extend your Bigsby arm? I actually think that's interesting - you SHOULD start a thread about that IMHO - and don't forget the pictures! :idea::wave:

 

 

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I think face book and other social media options have likely hurt forums more then anything else. Why converse with total strangers when you can converse with local musicians you may actually know.

 

There are a few other music forums that have allot of traffic, its nothing compared to the numbers that haven't seen a post in years. Some of that may be the result of how badly the music business has been hurt since the collapse of most major studios. The business simply isn't what it used to be pre internet. People aren't buying new music and people aren't playing out like they used to.

 

I'm still trying to predict what the new medium for making money in music will be. So far the on line sales have pretty much been a flop due to pirating. Until that issue is fixed so its closer to the movie industry monopoly I only see die hard artists like many of the members here keeping the institution of pro music alive.

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I used to be on the forum multiple times per day, on multiple sub-forums - here, fx, live sound, GJ. There was always lively conversation, good content - both on-topic and off. Sure there was some drama, but it rarely got out of hand, and it was amusing to watch. In any good community, there are interesting personalities and a little conflict now and again. Now, I check in about once a week. There may be a thread or two that pique my interest, and usually upon opening, they're pretty disappointing. You can blame it on Facebook all you want, but other forums are doing just fine. Flourishing even. This place was just a classic example of bad business - crap platforms and server changes, slow loading, poor performance, poor moderation (sometimes too much, sometimes too little), and administration largely ignoring the user base. The ads all over the page now are tacky and repetitive. It doesn't have some of the basic forum software functionality that people have come to expect - a way to look at all recent posts, go to last read post within a thread, go to top of page button, etc. Intentions were good, I'm sure, it's just that the technical and business savvy wasn't there.

 

I agree, when the latest iteration of the site came back up for air, they should have downsized it to match the actual traffic they were getting. Instead they decided to make MORE sub-forums led by "industry experts" or whatever. Bad move.

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Marks forum and the wrx forum both have a " new content" option. It shows the most recent posts across all forums, excluding the the ones you've viewed. Wrx has a "my content" option which lists each thread youve contributed to, with some in bold, meaning they have been contributed to since you last visited.

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Is that mostly in PP and OJ?

 

-D44

 

No, although both (especially HCPP) are fairly high-traffic, this forum (EG) and SSS are also pretty busy. KSS has also seen an increase in interest / activity lately.

 

But there really are too many open forums, and the powers that be have been talking about either consolidating and / or closing and archiving some of the less popular ones in the upcoming year, which I personally think would be a good idea.

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I don't look at any other forums besides EG and AG but I am very sure that those two are way down. That wet guitar thread was the last visited (and a zombie to boot) for, what, 10 days. Got a couple to pop up today but again, one of those is over a month old and the OP will never come back.

 

Phil, I have done a build thread just about every year for the past 6 or 7. When I did the LP build in 2011 it ran to 26 pages, my L-5 build a year ago was 2. Most of the people who commented on the LP are long gone. Its pretty hard to go thru the work of documenting a build when no one seems to care.

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No, although both (especially HCPP) are fairly high-traffic, this forum (EG) and SSS are also pretty busy. KSS has also seen an increase in interest / activity lately.

 

 

I'm surprised to hear that. When I have time to use the "Latest Activity" to browse across the whole board... seems like 80-90% or so (my guess, on any given day) is in PP, OJ... or is spam.

 

--D44

 

 

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