Let's Reconsider the Forum

[Voltan]

[Mikeo]

I'll keep coming back as long as you don't mix those Amps weirdos in with us normal people. That would be very uncomfortable! Oh and no acoustic goats... Freaks I say!

 

 

 

[hellion_213]

I was trying to check in daily, sometimes multiple times a day, but this site isn't very mobile friendly, so after checking in and not being able to load threads for a week, I simply stopped for a while. (Most recent reason for being absent) Now, I can't log in in Mobile view, only Desktop view. With a society heavy on the ability to access via Mobile, it is astonishing that this site hasn't grown into a more mobile friendly version.

Couple that with, as mentioned, Nazi admins of the past, poor platforms and support, etc., and here we are. The ads don't really bother me too bad, some are worthwhile. Personally, I'm not too interested in a New Content section, as I generally only use the EG forum, but I can definitely see the benefit.

For me, losing the strict Only rule, and becoming more mobile friendly are two big changes that may help out.

[Voltan]

i could only imagine how difficult it would be to find information about recording plug ins in a phorum about everything... especially when there isnt a functioning search feature... the various sub sections of a phorum keep interest in specific areas, in specific areas... thus making retrieving said information less of a wild goose chase in cyber space... we used to have these things called libraries and they were filled with thousands of individual books, each about specific subjects with pages in an order, books in an order, to facilitate finding specific information... now we could just as easily pull out all the pages and place them at random in a singular, worthless tome or we could try to wrap our little brains around some semblance of order with room for diversity actually being progress in a forward motion... some of you dont get it, i understand... most here play guitar and theres more guitar phorums on the internet every day. but some of us play guitar, and 18 or 20 DIFFERENT, (read “other than guitar”) type instruments. you can find info on your specific instrument on a hundred different web sites... today... do you know how many gong forums there are? (theres 1... based in the uk and averages about one poast every 6 months...). ive gathered, shared and generated more information on recording gongs here in the past 6 months than ive been able to find in two years searching, everywhere else on the internet...thank you harmony central for having areas of specific interest, it helps keep life simple.

[Voltan]

hellion? ipad seems ok here?

[hellion_213]

I'm on android. I've tried many times, I can see the login button, but there's no functionality.

[doublecross]

Things are looking up. Logged in today and didn't see any spam.

[DeepEnd]

I'm on android. I've tried many times, I can see the login button, but there's no functionality.

I normally log in from a PC but I have no problem with my Android phone. FWIW, what browser are you using? My default Android browser is something called X Browser and it works fine for logging in. I find it helps to zoom the screen but it's not absolutely necessary.

[Grant Harding]

I'm on android. I've tried many times, I can see the login button, but there's no functionality.

 

There are some buttons that only work when my Android phone is in landscape mode (eg: the Messages button)

[hellion_213]

That worked, awesome, thanks man

[hellion_213]

Chrome, but it appears Grants suggestion of using landscape view fixed it. Thanks man

[DeepEnd]

Glad to hear it.

[Grant Harding]

Fantastic!

[Drummer44]

Things are looking up. Logged in today and didn't see any spam.

 

But back to "normal" now... Looks like about 80% spam from yesterday/this morning...

 

-D44

 

[halfnote]

Haven't been so active here for quite a while but while I reactivate myself & review some of the posts in this thread, lemme point out that If there's one musical forum on the Net likely to be ongoing it's the Anderton Empire.

 

It's easy to forget that some institutions have a history longer than our awareness.

 

Take a gander at this

http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthreads.php/forums/1/1 ~ http://forums.musicplayer.com/ubbthr..._Sound_Studio_

[C-4]

I had been on this forum when it was hotter then a scalded dog. I mean this place had a living personality all it's own and the people who came here loved it. I learned a lot from this forum, and remember the people who used to frequent it fondly.

 

Then, all of a sudden, and I cannot remember the reason why, but things changed so radically that all of the members I remember being here, left like birds travelling south for the winter. That is when Rig-Talk got very popular. Then the Gear Page got more popular. It can be a good place, but the rules there are too puritan.

 

I haven't been here in a long time, but come back every now and then to see how it's going.

[mrbrown49]

I had been on this forum when it was hotter then a scalded dog. I mean this place had a living personality all it's own and the people who came here loved it. I learned a lot from this forum, and remember the people who used to frequent it fondly.

 

Then, all of a sudden, and I cannot remember the reason why, but things changed so radically that all of the members I remember being here, left like birds travelling south for the winter. That is when Rig-Talk got very popular. Then the Gear Page got more popular. It can be a good place, but the rules there are too puritan.

 

I haven't been here in a long time, but come back every now and then to see how it's going.

 

Yeah, those were the days. Remember when you had to "bump" a thread to keep it on the front page for more than an hour?

[Midlife Rocker]

I was at NAMM for the first time in January of 2017. Just walking around, I got to meet some pretty famous (and very nice) artists,musicians,celebrities. Everyone I met was cool about taking a picture, chatting and just saying hello. As long as you didn't stalk them and ask personal/uncomfortable questions, they were cool.

 

So, why can't we get some of these musicians/artists/etc to host a forum, take questions, etc?

 

 

[sammyreynolds01]

because they have better things to do.

[GAS Man]

HCEG was and now is a reflection of the change in times.

 

Guitar enthusiasts went from trolling the ma n pa music stores

to discount mail order catalog companies and finally to

online discount sales

 

Online sales were fast and furious and for sometime were hugely competitive.

 

That all fueled an era of unheralded consumerism, chasing deals and a lot of very useful conversation about the opportunities and the gear that was out there to be had as the manufacturers stepped up offerings and discounts for an expanding market.

 

I know I found my way here by googling information about certain guitar models. After a very short while I realized that it was not an authoritative site, but certainly a very useful site for recommendations and for getting a consensus of opinion from a knowledgeable community.

 

Consumerism gradually came under attack - "quit spending your time GAS'n for new guitars and learn to play what you have" was certainly good repeated and echoed advice, but also an antithesis to what this forum was about. Within the last year I saw a thread where one of our venerable and more interesting collectors posted his lifelong collection of guitar purchases. I thought better about about joining in on that, and sure enough, that thread drew some negative criticism. I thought it was a pretty interesting collection myself. And isn't that fair game on an electric guitar forum, especially when it's starving for new threads?

 

The online dealers, striving for market share, put themselves on the brink of bankruptcy, with many of the catalog dealers and smaller online shops throwing in the towel. So the era of "shooting fish in a barrel" slowed down. (But I still have my Fender Showmaster Blackout HH with Duncan '59 & PG Plus I got for $250 - And let me know if you still need a $99.99 Squier '51 to mod - LOL)

 

There's still the occasional great SDOTD or model close-out sales, but the fever pitch of "we'll beat any price" and with most of us having reached our limits of consumerism, or at least, no longer feeling it should be publicly disclosed with the change in culture and other privacy concerns.

 

There was also the opportunity to inject good doses of humor, and real camaraderie with folks you truly felt you got to know from the frequent banter.

 

Tossing out folks like Batotman, who were quite entertaining and harmlessly blunt with his critiques, took away some of the sizzle and draw. Although, there were trolls that did have to go.

 

The software upgrades, and site down, drove folks to other social forums (as WRGKMC notes above). I also lost contact info and thereby continuity with some of my buds here; hence, although I did burn a copy of "Attack of the Killer Surf Guitars" for Ratae (and still have it available) I lost his PM with his address due to a version upgrade before I got around to mailing it to the U.K. (resend it to me and I'll get it out to you).

 

So what can we do to get it moving again? Wish I knew.

 

I did post the last great deals thread on the Moog Minifooger Analog Delay that was on a clearance sale at SW. Back in "the day" others would have been on a deal like that and then it would have been a topic, but now "crickets". Pages used to click by faster in a day than they now do in a month.

 

I'll keep checking back from time to time. It still feels like home, even if it might now be a bit more like a convalescent home.

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Still plenty of very knowledgeable and skills folks here that make it a useful platform, it's just no longer the catnip site sponsored the industry it once was.

 

And that pedal is pretty cool by the way.