Because I care (and I know you do too…) Suggestions for the HC powers that be...

[Phil O'Keefe]

To the best of my recollection, HC has never used vB4... you're probably thinking of when we were on vB3 (pre-Jive / pre-Lithium), which did indeed eventually choke on the size of the site.

[Ernest Buckley]

It's "not worth it" to spend some time helping the forum, but it is worth taking the time to trash it. Boggles the mind. Again... very frustrating.

 

When did you join the party here at SSS Nucleus? Some of us have been here 10, 11, 12 years and beyond…

 

There was a time when this forum worked. Then it went through several "updates". The site was never the same no matter how much the powers that be think its great.

 

There were times when we couldn`t log on for days. Threads were lost. Members were lost.

 

Those of us who have remained really care about the site and after all the crap, our feedback should not be considered "trash", but rather insight into what the site could and should be. And the funny thing is, I think most of us just want the site back to its old working self.

 

But that would probably require tearing the entire thing down and starting from scratch. eh?

 

 

 

[Ernest Buckley]

...and we're continually veering away from suggestions as to how to regenerate activity. And I doubt that dumping old posts from 1999 would help achieve that.

 

~~~~~

What Might Make a Great Forum?

 

So just for fun, I'll post a link to a vibrant community which is based around a guitar teacher. This forum has been going on for years, doesn't glitch very much, and most importantly, has a fun, vibrant, creative, funny, intelligent community with people who don't constantly bitch and moan. There is no political forum or Open Jam in which it's a free-for-all with people threatening each other, being a-holes, trolling, continually telling each other to f*** off, or any of that. And it's a guitar teacher, not an enormous multi-national corporation.

 

http://markweinguitarlessons.com/forums/

 

It comes down to good administration, moderating and not letting spammers, trolls, idiots, a-holes, or others get the upper hand.

 

The technical issues are irritating, and to be sure, they've driven plenty of people away. But there was a giant issue beforehand, and to me, that was the far larger issue. The technical issues just kicked it to the curb.

 

Again, this is Keyboard Corner. Same comments as above. This is about good administration, organization and moderating and, sure, keeping the forum operating well.

 

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/18/1/The_Keyboard_Corner

 

Who owns HC? Guitar Center? I wonder why any company would say, "Yeah, we run online forums that really show off who we really are. It's Harmony Central, home of Open Jam and The Political Forum, where people constantly fight, piss each other off, argue, drop f-bombs, threaten each other, spout inanities. We're trying to create the Black Hole of Intelligence. We want a place where civility and brains go to die. Anyway, please visit one of our stores to buy a guitar."

 

Yeah. Great.

 

So Nucleus, am I being negative (your words, not mine)?

 

One admin can look at this at me taking potshots at GC/HC. "Wow, uh, he keeps saying our forums are filled with morons and a-holes."

 

But another might say, "Okay, he's being forthright. He's told us why so many people left. He's left examples of really well-run forums, one of which doesn't even have a large budget. He's left examples of good, strong administration and moderating. Then he's come out and suggested that good administration and moderating is really what it takes to grow a thriving, creative, cool community. And he's given an example of how it should NOT be done and been specific with why. And he's done it several times. Hey, wow, that's pretty great!"

 

As always, YMMV.

 

 

[gubu]

Do just one thing - fix the review section. There was a time when you could Google any piece of musical equipment, past or present, and more than likely see a HC review on the first page if search results. These days, you can't even find a review from within HC itself. Like a lot of people, I was drawn to HC because of the WEALTH of information that could be found here, and the lack of gear snobbery in most of the forums here, that is the bane of other premium music sites.

[UstadKhanAli]

 

 

 

 

I don't expect anything. And nothing was ever done the previous times I mentioned this either, and that's alright.

 

From the perspective of someone who works for HC who is trying to hold the thing together with chewing gum and twine for a dying company, they don't want to hear that much of the reason for losing all these members is due to mismanagement and a proliferation of a-holes posting. These are things that they can do very little about, although it does provide clues as to how to "right the ship".

 

Unfortunately, my perspective is a common perspective from someone who has seen every single incarnation of SSS since the mid '90s, something that very few people here can say. I get why someone from HC may think that my perspective is negative, but it's the long view, and it's unfortunately quite accurate. And I have offered examples and ideas.

 

Craig mentioned something about having plans for SSS in the future, so we'll just see what happens.

[Anderton]

 

Craig mentioned something about having plans for SSS in the future, so we'll just see what happens.

 

I will admit that the switch to Jive took the wind out of my personal sails. I had put my neck out because I had faith in others, and that faith was not justified...but my neck was still out there. And then during the switch to Lithium, I was (and I don't use this work lightly) lied to about aspects of the site and not from Lithium - from people who are no longer with GC. Even before I was offered the gig at Gibson, I was already planning my exit strategy to leave Harmony Central. I felt that the site was damaging my reputation for no reasons of my own, and I could not afford that any longer.

 

The thing about Henry J at Gibson is he's not just smart, he's perceptive. He saw what was happening with HC and he knew something was wrong. He knows my work, and HC clearly had become something he wouldn't associate with me. He knew the timing was perfect to ask me to join Gibson, and I did. I had my doubts about taking a job, let alone at Gibson, but I've never looked back. Henry provided a warm and welcoming, as well as exciting and challenging, environment that came along at the ideal time in my life. Yes, there was life after HC! Don't get me wrong; Gibson is a demanding and often stressful job...but not unlike a very demanding mistress who's sexy as hell. Someone once asked me what it was like being employed at Gibson, and my answer was "Gibson is to employment as white water rafting is to a hotel swimming pool." Fortunately, I love white water rafting.

 

You can talk about the wild west atmosphere that was HC back in 2005, but it was making steady progress while retaining its numbers and growing revenue...both things that matter to a parent company. I had hoped to continue in that direction. Those kind of changes take time, but until 2010 things were on schedule. 2010 was the end of my first 5-year plan and all the milestones had been accomplished. Most were successful (a notable exception was trying to go multi-lingual...only the Spanish forum survived). I had what I thought were great plans for the next five years, but never had a chance to implement them.

 

As to the present, I wouldn't get too much on Nucleus's case. Not only was HC in a shambles when Dendy took over for me, so was the site. Nucleus had to put Humpty Dumpty together again with a minimal budget and people. IIRC Jeremy from Nucleus has been a member of this community since before I came onboard, and he does in fact care about it, probably more than most people here realize. I certainly don't expect him to comment but I'm sure losing the editorial team was not a highlight for him.

 

Nor would I be too hard on GC. HC was a perfect fit for MF, as both were pure online entities. GC, at least at present, is about retailing and stores. Trying to find the right fit is much more difficult.

 

However...always in motion, the future. The way things are is not always the way things will be.

 

[UstadKhanAli]

I've actually acknowledged the job he is doing, given GC probably taking and administrators being fired. At least he responds sometimes, which is more than most support staff has done around here when we have a discussion. But at the same token, if Nucleus is going to say I'm being negative, I'd like to show where I'm coming from.

[Goober(s)]

id

 

 

It comes down to good administration, moderating and not letting spammers, trolls, idiots, a-holes, or others get the upper hand.

 

...

 

From the perspective of someone who works for HC who is trying to hold the thing together with chewing gum and twine for a dying company, they don't want to hear that much of the reason for losing all these members is due to mismanagement and a proliferation of a-holes posting. These are things that they can do very little about, although it does provide clues as to how to "right the ship".

 

 

 

I'm actually more keen on the "idiots, a-holes, and others" than you are.

 

the irreverence, humor, and wit of OJ is much more reminiscent of my experience working with musicians than an umpteenth discussion of analog vs. digital, and I like it.

 

I like you and I like the other posters here (I am here, after all!) so don't get me wrong. it's just that I also like OJ.

 

In my view, a good forum integrates if not tolerates both.

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeRivers]

Is Nucleus a person? A company that maintains the software here? The real brain behind Guitar Center? I see messages with that name attached but I don't know where they're coming from, or why.

[nucleus]

I've actually acknowledged the job he is doing, given GC probably taking and administrators being fired. At least he responds sometimes, which is more than most support staff has done around here when we have a discussion. But at the same token, if Nucleus is going to say I'm being negative, I'd like to show where I'm coming from.

 

Nucleus is a company headed by a person who, is a long time member (as noted by Craig), and deeply cares about HC,

 

Is Nucleus a person? A company that maintains the software here? The real brain behind Guitar Center? I see messages with that name attached but I don't know where they're coming from, or why.

 

From my perspective there are two parts to HC, the software and the content.

 

Nucleus and GC "own" the software issues - no doubt there. We are working diligently to iron-out the issues in order to create a great user experience that has ease-and-flow.

 

The content (for the most part) is up to the community, and determines the ethos of the community. I ask the question "what do you want newcomers to experience?" a slew of complaints about the community and software or a positive and supportive community about gear and music?

 

Nucleus and GC are making great headway in fixing the s/w, but it's all-for-not if the community is not a fun place to be.

 

My two cents.

 

 

 

 

 

[MikeRivers]

I have to be honest here. I don't have a big problem with the software, but then I read only one forum (this one) and rarely go anywhere else on the Harmony Central web site. I only visit here with a real computer and not a phone or tablet, I read posts, I write now and then, and then I've killed a half an hour. That's what retired people do. (oh, and we clip coupons)

 

It would be nice to not see the trash posts but it's easy to recognize and skip over them. People on this forum are pretty civil most of the time. I don't expect every forum I visit to look and work the same. I can deal with it. Just keep it running.

[Goober(s)]

 

Nucleus is a company headed by a person who, is a long time member (as noted by Craig), and deeply cares about HC,

 

 

 

From my perspective there are two parts to HC, the software and the content.

 

Nucleus and GC "own" the software issues - no doubt there. We are working diligently to iron-out the issues in order to create a great user experience that has ease-and-flow.

 

The content (for the most part) is up to the community, and determines the ethos of the community. I ask the question "what do you want newcomers to experience?" a slew of complaints about the community and software or a positive and supportive community about gear and music?

 

Nucleus and GC are making great headway in fixing the s/w, but it's all-for-not if the community is not a fun place to be.

 

My two cents.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I appreciate that, but right now the software is unuseable for most people. just now, in writing this response, I am struggling with multiple cursor jumps. it is error after error, and a sluggishness that web users almost universally no longer accept.

 

It's not a chicken or the egg situation...

 

the fundamental software must work before people will fill up the site with content.

 

and it currently doesn't work. reducing a 10 second lag to 3 seconds in your tests is still unacceptable for most, meaning they literally won't accept it.

 

(I wanted to soften the previous sentence, but the cursor started jumping around so I gave up. please read it understanding that I appreciate your efforts).

 

hard decisions should be made -- throw out the database if you can't support a forum on top of it -- as is, it's untenable. new people won't come here and use it no matter what kind of happy threads they see.

 

the number of centenarians currently posting is 18X the national average.

 

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

[nucleus]

 

 

I appreciate that, but right now the software is unuseable for most people. just now, in writing this response, I am struggling with multiple cursor jumps. it is error after error, and a sluggishness that web users almost universally no longer accept.

 

It's not a chicken or the egg situation...

 

the fundamental software must work before people will fill up the site with content.

 

and it currently doesn't work. reducing a 10 second lag to 3 seconds in your tests is still unacceptable for most, meaning they literally won't accept it.

 

(I wanted to soften the previous sentence, but the cursor started jumping around so I gave up. please read it understanding that I appreciate your efforts).

 

hard decisions should be made -- throw out the database if you can't support a forum on top of it -- as is, it's untenable. new people won't come here and use it no matter what kind of happy threads they see.

 

the number of centenarians currently posting is 18X the national average.

 

Hopefully this is helpful.

 

 

 

[nucleus]

I'm glad to answer any and all questions, but not here in the SSS forum. You'll me find me over at the Community Voice forum. Hope to see there.

[Goober(s)]

I'm glad to answer any and all questions, but not here in the SSS forum. You'll me find me over at the Community Voice forum. Hope to see there.

 

 

I don't have any questions, but would like to extend a similar invitation to you to stay here and participate in this discussion.

 

please don't feel like you have to defend anything or answer questions, we're simply sharing experiences.

[MrKnobs]

HC had a bunch of yahoos and morons and here. If that's not an issue, I'm not sure what is. It was well known for that, and who knows how many dozens of times I heard that when SSS was going to move here. I'.

 

OK, I can't read this revisionist history anymore.

 

HC was the the largest, most successful musician's forum on the web before you guys came - that's why MF bought it.. NOT saying you guys destroyed it, I agree with Craig that moving to Jive destroyed it. Whose decision that was I have no idea.

 

I don't know where you get the ridiculous idea that the people here were "yahoos and morons" unless you mean by that anyone who was not part of the Music Player crowd (I was over there too, btw).

 

So as one of your "yahoos" and / or "morons" I take severe issue with your characterization of this once thriving forum. You comment does not fall into the "refreshing" classification our friend Nucleus mentions.

 

Terry D.

[UstadKhanAli]

It's not revisionist history. This was the concern of many before SSS moved here. I am not saying that every person was like this, obviously, but that there were quite a few yahoos and a-holes. This isn't just my opinion, but was the concern voiced by many people. I stand by everything I've said 100%, and am sorry if you feel slighted.

[UstadKhanAli]

Also, I might want to add that in my 19487 posts here, I have never resorted to "revisionist history", so I'm not going to start here.

[MrKnobs]

It's not revisionist history. This was the concern of many before SSS moved here. I am not saying that every person was like this, obviously, but that there were quite a few yahoos and a-holes. This isn't just my opinion, but was the concern voiced by many people. I stand by everything I've said 100%, and am sorry if you feel slighted.

 

Ken, this was a huge forum, vastly more active users and traffic than now. Of course there were some "yahoos and morons" here, that's inevitable. But there were also thousands of active users that contributed heavily and productively to the community - many, many more than there were at the MusicPlayer forum. This was a thriving, healthy community, not anything like what how you characterized it and certainly NOT the cause of its demise. You don't know that becuase (so far as I know) you weren't here.

 

Craig has it right. When the forum software stops working, the people stop coming: simple as that.

 

I don't feel slighted, and of course you're entitled to your opinion of how a forum should be run. What I object to is exactly what I said: the revision of history. HC was thriving, the new crew headed by Anderton arrived, it continued to thrive, then Jive happened.

 

With respect,

 

Terry D.

 

[Anderton]

I think it was the tubgirl pix and porn bombs that didn't help HC's reputation. My goal with HC was always to have balance, so you could go to some forum and be wild and crazy, and discuss particle physics in others.

 

As to Jive, two things stand out. MF really thought they were doing the right thing because the site was indeed falling apart from a technical standpoint, and something had to be done. But IMHO they also got sold a bill of goods on how customizable the site could be and Jive's ability to handle the amount of traffic HC generated.

 

 

 

 

 

[UstadKhanAli]

 

I don't feel slighted, and of course you're entitled to your opinion of how a forum should be run. What I object to is exactly what I said: the revision of history. HC was thriving, the new crew headed by Anderton arrived, it continued to thrive, then Jive happened.

 

With respect,

 

Terry D.

 

Respectfully then, we will have to agree to disagree.

 

I know many who have specifically stated that it is why they left, and this was prior to Jive. I cannot change this because it is fact.

 

And the only reason I continue to state so is because I care about the forum, otherwise I would just shut up. I think everyone here has known me long enough that I would not fabricate any of this.

 

But no worries, every time I post this, it ruffles feathers, so I probably won't say it again, certainly not for a while.

 

[bieke]

Harmony Central got my attention in 1998 or so, while researching gear.

I discovered the review section and used these as a benchmark for acquiring gear.

I started lurking at the forums in 1999, and finally joined in 2002. My first thread was a question about a pedal purchase I was about to make, there was no review to be found, wanted some feedback. I got feedback within an hour. I bought the pedal, it was a Frostwave Resonator.

Trolls were funny, the community was great, perfect balance between garbage threads, spam and informative threads, no mods back then, there were some flameouts and the occasional serious internet fights, people came and went. Thick skin helped, you had to establish a reputation before people would take you seriously.

It was the great era of HC forums. Free speech, great interaction and genuine informative and knowledgeable info to be had.

 

June 2005

Musician’s Friend Buys Harmony Central

It was all good

Forums became moderated

Still a thriving global community

 

August 2008

The connection has timed out

The server at acapella.harmony-central.com is taking too long to respond.

The site could be temporarily unavailable or too busy. Try again in a few moments.

If you are unable to load any pages, check your computer's network connection.

If your computer or network is protected by a firewall or proxy, make sure that Firefox is permitted to access the Web.

 

HC reached the limit, too much info, no search, it was time for new hardware , imminent changes ahead, a lot of good people would be leaving, not a massive purge, but a constant and continuing exodus of regulars.But nothing like the change ahead.

 

2010 : Jive

AN OPEN LETTER FROM CRAIG JOHNSON, HARMONY CENTRAL CEO

Dear Harmony Central,

We listened.

Harmony Central is not just a web site, nor is it bits and bytes. It is a community. This community has been loyal and supportive, and we have been happy to provide a home for what we feel is the most important community in the music world.

Unfortunately, that home has been falling apart at an accelerating rate due to a combination of hardware and software issues, many unique to our situation. To keep the community alive, we made a decision to switch to a more capable platform. Our intention was to take Harmony Central into the 21st century with a site worthy of all of you.

As you know, that is not what happened. After a week of operation, it’s painfully clear HC 2.0 is not ready for prime time. However, we’re also aware that many people are getting familiar with and enjoying the new site, bugs and all, and we respect their opinion too.

So, we are working to create a “hybrid” site. For example, there have been virtually no negative responses and many positive responses about news on HC 2.0, so it makes no sense to roll that element back to the 1.0 version. On the other hand, user reviews on HC 2.0 are, frankly, broken. There are no articles in the 2.0 Resource Center, and due to the video player only recently becoming stable, only a handful of videos in the 2.0 Media Center. And the forums...

This is clearly unacceptable.

Our plan – and there are significant technical challenges, so bear with us – is to maintain those elements of 1.0 that work until the equivalent elements in 2.0 are equal or better, regardless of how long that takes. For example, if you want to go to user reviews, then you could access the 1.0 version until we are absolutely sure that the 2.0 version is better. If you want articles, you’ll go to 1.0 because that’s where they are for now. Same with videos.

Forums are a special case. Our plan is to make most forums available as HC 1.0 / VBulletin forums. There will be some exceptions (like Pro Reviews, as they have so much rich media, and archived forums, as it makes no sense to re-migrate them as they get limited traffic). If particular moderators want their forums on 2.0, that’s fine; if they want to stay with 1.0, that’s fine too. If they want, they can even moderate both and steer them in different directions. We want the moderators – the unsung heroes of Harmony Central – to have full freedom in charting the course of their own communities.

Concurrently, we plan to keep the 2.0 forums open for two reasons. First, these forums need a lot of changes for them to meet our (and your) expectations, so we need a “test lab” to try these changes. Second, based on user feedback, there are people who see the huge potential of the new format but don’t like the implementation, so who better to direct us on how to improve it?

Unfortunately, getting 1.0 back into the picture brings back its problems as well. But if all goes according to plan, 1.0 will remain viable while 2.0 will continue to improve with the help of the community. In a way, it’s the same kind of transition as when Apple went to OS X or Intel chips; old and new platforms were supported until the new platforms were up to the task.

One fact remains certain: We can’t have a site where things don’t work, or that people don’t want to visit. We recognize and deeply regret the disruption to the community. The hybrid approach is risky, but either rolling back completely to 1.0 or trying to tough it out with 2.0 are even riskier. And details need to be worked out: What happens with re-directs? Will you have to log in twice if you want to visit both 1.0 and 2.0? Will 1.0 crash and burn before 2.0 fulfills the community’s expectations? Will it be possible to migrate the 1.0 forums to 2.0 if 2.0 is also live?

So please, this isn’t the last word; this is the first word. But we wanted to let you know as soon as possible what we hope to do. We are certainly aware it’s a compromise, but after studying all the possibilities, it’s the least objectionable combination of a quick fix while simultaneously laying down the long-term foundation we have to pursue.

Finally, I want to express my deepest appreciation for our exceptionally hard-working team of moderators and our editorial staff, who have taken the heat for problems not of their own making – particularly Craig Anderton. They made a heroic effort to make a problematic site work, but in the end, even they couldn’t. They have all served as extremely strong advocates for the community. The course of action we are pursuing is based on their input as well as yours.

Reading over your feedback on the new site, yes, I saw anger but more than that, I saw passion for what Harmony Central represents. We do not want – ever – to interfere with that passion.

Your support is greatly appreciated. Thank you for speaking, so that we could listen. We can’t promise this will be a glitch-free process, but we will do everything in our power to give you the site you want now while simultaneously building you a better one, with your continued (and greatly appreciated) assistance.

Sincerely,

Craig Johnson

CEO, Harmony Central

 

 

 

 

[bieke]

April 2010

I find it hard to believe, but it is almost 5 years ago

personally, I consider it to be the 1^st major blow to the community, caused a huge member purge.

A corporate entity taking over a community built site, then trying to reformat the thing and change up the whole interface without any regard to how the community would react.

 

May 2010

Dear Harmony Central Community,

We will be shutting down the Jive ("HC 2.0") forums Tuesday morning (May 18) at 3AM Pacific Time. The forums link in the top navigation bar will then become a straight link to the vBulletin forums.

Jive search will be reindexed that night, and all 2.0 forum posts will be removed from search. Nothing will change for those using vBulletin already, but for at least the short term the community will have to live with two accounts, two profiles, and two log ins - one for the vBulletin forums, and for the content part of the site (articles, videos, etc.).

We deeply regret any inconvenience to those who liked the 2.0 forums, and want to thank you for standing by our attempts to renovate the forums to include more functionality. Unfortunately, we cannot continue to maintain two separate forum structures. Based on comments from the community and the traffic stats, there is an overwhelming preference for the vBulletin forums. Although the problems with the vBulletin forums that served as a motivation to change them remains, we are working on solutions to these problems. Please bear with us if there are occasional system outages as we work on this.

We also apologize for the short notice, but we want to implement these changes and fixes as soon as possible.

The content part of 2.0 will remain, and several fixes in that section are being made concurrently with the forum switchover: News articles will now display properly once you get past the first page, the session timeout is being increased to avoid people being logged off during long sessions, and user reviews will display the overall rating and number of reviews. Additional fixes, enhancements, and updates are forthcoming, and we will keep you informed of these.

We greatly appreciate your patience during this difficult transition to improve Harmony Central's reliability and functionality. Our commitment to creating a better site remains unchanged, and we will continue listening to the community in order to make sure that commitment takes the right direction.

Again, thank you. We believe the worst is behind us, and the best is yet to come.

-- Your Harmony Central Team"

 

So they brought back the vB forum, still no search engine.

Then both Jive and vB went down

Crappy servers

 

 

September 2010

An increasing number of members have left, hardliners are bowing out.

Content becomes mainstream

Immaturity ensues

Traffic continues to decline.

the forums did not recover the Jive debacle and things continued to deteriorate progressively

[bieke]

Time for some drastic action

 

January 2013

Lithium

 

Announcement: IT’S TIME FOR THE NEW PLATFORM!!

 

Before the end of January, Harmony Central will move its forums and content to a new platform.

Frankly, we’re pushing this ahead of schedule because we just can’t wait any longer to have a functional, stable home for what has got to be the most loyal and patient online community on the planet (maybe even the galaxy).

We’ve been testing, running the workflow past regular users, checking off bugs, and we admit it, doing a few burnt offering to the Gods of Endless Code . . . and so far, all signs say “go.”

However, there are a few of what software manufacturers refer to euphemistically as “known issues” (translation: “we know it’s a problem, but we haven’t been able to fix it yet”). Namely...

At a certain date (we’ll announce it, but it’s soon), all content and posts will be migrated to the new platform.

That’s the good news.

The bad news is that anything past that date can’t be part of the migration process, which is fairly lengthy. So, posts after migration starts will be gone forever.

If you post the answer to the meaning of life after migration begins, please save it and re-post in the new environment. Private messages and attachments in vBulletin can’t be migrated.

Anything embedded in a post (YouTube video, image, etc.) will migrate; it’s only files attached to the message that will be lost. We may have multiquote at launch, but probably not.

We will not have Open Jam or the Political Forum at the outset.

We need to limit traffic until we know things are working.

Yes, that sucks. Yes, I know. I've argued against that decision and there's nothing I can do about it.

There will be no reviews of any kind—pro reviews, user reviews, or review articles written by our staff—until February, and possibly March. Separating them out lets us switch over to the forums sooner, and we don’t think anyone will consider that a bad tradeoff.

 

Are we nervous? You bet. We all remember what happened with the “revision-whose-name-we-dare-not-speak.” But one of the problems before was that we moved from a site that was falling apart, yet still mostly functional, to one that was dysfunctional. This time, we’re moving from a dysfunctional platform to one that shows tremendous promise.

 

Two more things. First, much of the non-forum parts of the site will have to be reconstructed. You may run across articles that haven’t been formatted properly, or are missing audio examples. We’ll be going through the articles one-by-one and prepping them, which will be time-consuming but also gives us a chance to do some tweaks and revisions. It’s all good.

 

Second, and most importantly, you have no idea how grateful we are for those of you who didn’t give up on HC. If you think this has been frustrating for you, imagine how we felt as we watched the site we’ve poured our lives into fall apart. Yes, we’re nervous . . . but we think our faith will be rewarded. And as a result, we think yours will be, too.

 

You have our deepest thanks and respect. Now, I have to stop typing so I can go back to crossing my fingers.

 

--Craig Anderton on behalf of the entire Harmony Central team (including the hamsters who kept the vBulletin servers running, No worries--they’ll be getting a generous severance package, and get to spend more time with their families.)

by Anderton at Jan 9, 2013 7:50 PM

 

Later that month

 

Not long after this announcement, we got another scoop from Craig.

"Let me clarify a few things.

I have consulted to Gibson on and off for seven years. It has always been a wonderful, challenging, and educational experience. I was asked to consult again on another project, and went to Nashville for a meeting. There I was offered what is essentially the opportunity of a lifetime. I was the only person under consideration for the job, and Gibson made very sure that I would take it.

 

History repeats itself. When I moved my SSS forum from Musicplayer.com in 2005, I had seven offers of where to take it. HC wanted to make sure I would choose them, and acted accordingly.

 

Obviously, it was very difficult for me to leave HC. But, I also felt that I could leave now because of several factors:

 

There is a 90-day transition period where I will continue in my present capacity, and oversee an orderly transition. In fact, Gibson specifically said that taking good care of HC during this transition was a priority. So, your being stuck with me for a while longer is actually part of my job description with Gibson

 

We now have a solid hardware foundation for the platform, which allows doing so many things we couldn't do before.

 

Although I'm the "face" of HC, this has always been a team effort in the strongest possible sense of the word. Losing any one of us would have equal impact. Conversely, all of us can fill in for each other at a moment's notice.

 

The current team will be augmented. The exact details remain to be worked out, but I've recommended some people who I think are a perfect fit for the community.

 

The new platform indicates the depth of commitment that MF has to Harmony Central. Yes, it was probably pushed out too soon because the old platform was non-functional, and I was a factor in saying it was worth the risk because an incomplete platform was better than no platform at all. So, I take responsibility for that gamble. However, work behind the scenes is ongoing. The punch list is extensive and shaped by the feedback from the community.

 

And by the way...I'm not dying or going to Mars or anything. HC will always be a click away on my computer. I will continue to update articles when possible, and don't be surprised if I nuke some spammers whenever I see them

 

I believe Harmony Central's best days lie ahead. As long as people like Phil, Jon, Dendy, and Chris are involved, they know how this ship needs to be pointed. They are as good a bunch of people as you will find anywhere, and they understand and respect this community.

 

I do have one advantage in that I know what the plans are for the future. I don't think it's my place to say what those plans are, but that gave me the confidence of knowing HC would be in good hands.

 

Again, let me emphasize that working with Gibson on this level is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I definitely have more years behind me than ahead of me, and it was "seize the day" time. Even companies I consulted to for decades, to whom I will no longer consult, were happy for me and conveyed the dominant opinion..."You would have to be insane not to take that opportunity."

 

You're in very good hands, far better than the situation we've had the last couple years when we didn't even know if the forum would open when we clicked on it. I am not being pushed away from Harmony Central, I am being attracted to Gibson...big difference.

 

In a recent interview, I was asked why I thought HC had such staying power,and the implication was that I had something to do with it. It's not me, it's not even Phil. Jon, Dendy, or Chris. I said "It’s the community that has the staying power and makes Harmony Central what it is. I’m just a very active part of the community. You don’t give credit to the wine glass for the wine that it contains."

 

It's gonna be fine."

 

 

 

[bieke]

March 2013

Pron threads are back

Trolls make a return, closed threads are open again, mods cannot issue bans

Spam threads are omnipresent

Cheap kitchen units, superman costumes and your usual load of vuiton fannypack offerings.

Things may have moved

Passwords need to be reset.

Hang in there, stay tuned

Time to bring the Harmony back to Harmony Central

 

April 2013

Special Announcement:

Beginning at 5 PM PDT on Friday April 4 2013, Harmony Central will be in "read-only" mode for an estimated 40 - 65 hours. There may also be brief periods when the site is taken down completely during this time period. That's the bad news. The good news is that this is being done in order to bring the User Reviews back! Thank you for your support and patience - we appreciate it!

 

It would take another 9 months before the reviews made a return.

The community is shattered, definitely not making a return

 

May 2013

Important Announcement About Harmony Central by Dendy Jarrett

 

Dear Harmony Central Community Member:

Harmony Central has been getting a lot of attention lately—the forum structure is back to a familiar environment, the Home page focuses on editorial (with the return of the ever-popular news feed), and many User Reviews are back. (Most reviews dating back to 1996 are also in the database, however they are not being searched properly. We’re working on this, and hope to resolve this issue soon.)

Harmony Central’s Mission Statement is “Educating, entertaining, and empowering the world’s largest online community of musicians.” Unfortunately, for several years Harmony Central has been banned from public schools, libraries, music conservatories, university music departments, and the like. Additionally, various ad agencies have refused to advertise due to the extreme nature of some forums, as well as language.

This needs to change, because it costs money to provide a community like Harmony Central—and it’s discouraging that some institutions aren’t even allowed to know we exist. Furthermore, Harmony Central recently became Safe Harbor Certified, allowing musicians as young as 13 to have access to the site. The next generation needs to be able to tap Harmony Central’s incredible expertise.

Therefore, we need to provide a more civilized environment across all of the forums. Starting Thursday, the Off Topic forums will become Opt-In forums that require you to request access. Once you’ve been granted access, you’ll see them on the forums list just like you always have, and will see no difference going forward even though they’ll be hidden from general users.

Also, over the weekend we’ll be turning on a limited language filter (for the non-hidden forums) to restrict language that’s not appropriate in a public setting. The bottom line is that Harmony Central will be shifting to a PG-13 status as of Friday, May 24th, 2013.

We hope you will embrace these positive changes, and that they will improve your experience at Harmony Central. As always, thank you for your support.

Sincerely,

Dendy Jarrett

Director of Harmony Central Communities, for Team Harmony Central"

 

the spammers swiftly adapted their strategies and started offering Fisher Price Toys

Also, bleep

 

December 2013

forums are slow,

site is frequently down for maintenance.

 

An announcement that the days of bad strategic choices are over.

Rumors of a big change ahead

Hurrah.

 

 

March 7, 2014

ANNOUNCING THE ALL-NEW HARMONY CENTRAL

 

We're pre-empting this week's edition of Music Gear Weekly with a very special announcement: Harmony Central is about to undergo a major renovation! We've been working behind the scenes for months on an all-new platform, along with the return of everyone's favorite forum software, vBulletin. Now it's time to have all hands on deck as we prepare to "flip the switch," so to speak, and ensure that everything is working as it should. The new Harmony Central has a fresher, brighter feel (as reflected in Music Gear Weekly), along with fully functioning user reviews, powerful search functionality, and of course the aforementioned return to vBulletin in the forums.

 

When you log in for the first time, you will be prompted to reset your password. Once complete, we recommend you clear your browser's cache. Then log in and start exploring!

 

If you run into any problems, Team HC is here to help. We'll be active in the Feedback Forum answering questions and making sure the transition is as smooth as possible.

 

Later that day:

Important Notice

We are currently experiencing a site wide login issue and are working diligently to fix it. Please stand by. Thank you for your patience.

Team HC

 

February 2015

Team HC is dismissed.

And again, a lot of rumors about the current state of GC.

The switch to vB5 did not go as smooth as expected, lots of frustrations, but behind the scenes, a lot of effort is put into revamping the site and fixing whatever needs to be fixed.

 

Plan for the Future

Restore the community. Hmmm, start posting more ?