TheBig3

Half the threads around here have posters we haven't seen in years. Whats the OP got to do with the quality of posts in a thread?

Edit: By the by, I've got a Tom Waits discography I have barely touched and have been dipping back into some other music (which is why I've been knee deep in the TOOL thread lately). I've never mined one vein with music, I don't think asking posters to be beholden to a thread is a healthy thing.

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mr dave

yeah sorry i was a bit harsh earlier.

i'm not saying people should babysit their own threads, that gets insane quickly, it's what mods are for. but at the same time if you're going to go to the trouble of laying down the groundwork for a thread that requires significant thought and effort to participate in, it seems kind of halfhearted to just stand by the wayside after creating it.

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Seltzer

The problem with fairly subjective topics like music is that they offer only so much room for discussion. You can attempt to put your passion for it into words and hope that anyone reading can translate it back again and strongly agree/disagree given that it applies to them. And if your niche is older music, that eliminates a lot of prospective topics such as anticipation of upcoming albums/concerts and band news etc. If you then account for the fact that in many cases, average modern albums are more likely to garner interest/discussion than good albums from the past (sacred cows excluded) and then account for the fact that people are time-constrained/lazy or feel what they have to say is inadequate, it becomes apparent why these threads aren't too busy. I think it comes down to the fact that serious music discussion with its pre-requisites demands a great time input.

I agree that youtube, media library, last.fm and latest album acquisition threads are the more petty spammy ones which don't tend to constitute real discussion. I'm guilty of posting in those threads more than I should, especially when I have a latent KC review thread waiting for me. I'm putting off doing any reviews until the hols though.

I realise that this post came out sounding somewhat negative, but I don't mean it to be.

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Bulldog

Is pretty much what I do and what I'm going to be doing...minus the KC bit obviously!

For reasons I'll keep to myself, my life in general's become a lot busier this last week or two, so I don't really have as much time as I once did to about updating any threads I've got going (like the Leonard Cohen and Talk Talk ones), putting enough research and thought into any new artist threads I might usually start besides a sentence or two or take part in any of the hot musical debates that are going. All that'll change when my hols start soon enough though.

And in saying that, I don't really remember MB being much different than it is now since I've been here. As I think I've said somewhere in this thread before, it's only gotten as stale as anything else I'm this familiar with, ie not very in my opinion.

Guybrush

It seems a significant portion of the people I have musical interests in common with have left the forums and they're not being replaced with new regulars. As an example, I would like to put some effort into making a Canterbury thread, but I fear it wouldn't generate much interest at all. That doesn't have to be because of lazyness, it's just a niche category with a relatively few amount of followers. We can't all like the same thing .. There used to be people here who would get excited about such a thread, but most of them disappeared.

If all of us disappear, then I think that's quite sad because then there will be no discussions here on stuff like Canterbury that will appeal to newcomers who like that sort of stuff and musicbanter is one more step closer to becoming a more homogenized mix where everyone likes the same stuff. With the roots of a subcommunity gone, it's hard to build it up again later on.

I'd like to stress that I think this is just an observation on my part. It's not like I blame you guys for not liking the same stuff I do, nor do I blame people for leaving, so please don't interpret this as criticism towards the community or any of you in particular! In essence, change is inevitable and nothing lasts forever .. And although I personally don't like some of the trends that have taken place since I came, I'll try to put some effort into new threads now and then even if they're doomed.

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TheBig3

I've never really taken part in many of the underground-ier sections of MB. I don't really go into the Punk section or its sub-forums, I never do any of the electronica stuff, and while I like Indie, going into that section makes my skin crawl so I avoid it like the devil. I say this because it might be different there but...

I feel as if when people remember the good old days they remember brutal in fighting and mean and slightly humerous personal attacks. take this how you'd like but those are squashed before they even erupt these days. Maybe fighting drives people off, who knows.

The boards aren't dying they are just running slower. Good posts are made, but good posts aren't encouraged. I would say, if you want to solve the supposed issue of disinterest, when you see a post you thought was insightful, quote it, respond to it, and challenge the other persons position. Make them explain it.

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duga

I just find discussion comes in waves. There will be a week or two where this forum gets tons of great participation, even from new members (who usually end up leaving). Then there are dry spells where nothing really worthwhile gets posted. I don't mind, it's still an entertaining place to post. I still find great new music I would never otherwise find. My own participation has dropped in the past couple weeks just because of my new job...and I don't have the net at home atm (which will change in a couple months).

I do feel the frustration of trying to prompt a discussion and it doesn't happen. In my own review thread, I try to mention quite a bit that I want people discuss the band. Maybe Rush isn't as popular as I thought they were. Anyways, it happens.

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TheBig3

Keep in mind the summer is always a dry season.

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Necromancer

I've been here at MB since 07 and I think it has come a long way since then.
The main thing that I have noticed that is for the better, is allowing the younger generation to verse their own opinions about who/what they like to listen to.
To me, MB seems like they want to aquire a music forum where younger people are able to speak they're mind without being attacked or criticized.
If your not drawing in the younger crowd (which in my opinion only), should be a priority, a music forum could turn into an 'old folks home' with maby 4 or 5 (older) active members that post.
Young people can be very high strung, and sound insulting with posts at times, while not really meaning to.
But hey, we were all young once and I knew everything about everything also.
We need the youth of the nation!

Bulldog

I know where you're coming from, as I certainly get the feeling that I don't exactly see eye-to-eye with a lot of people in a musical taste sense here myself. I don't really think I ever have, and that's not me trying to be a hipster or anything, but more a way of saying that I guess it depends how you use this place. I personally only use MB as a place to bring up music in a way that real life doesn't let me, seeing as it's very hard to find people who don't use music forums who have even slightly similar tastes to me. As far as that goes, I don't think this place will ever exhaust itself with me...at least as long as I keep feeling as passionate about music as I do. I do agree that it's definitely a pain in the arse if you wanna educate people around here though.

Yeah, I get that feeling too, and I do remember it vaguely. I did join up around the time there was still the odd bit of that going on, back when Cobe Kai came here and Lucifer Sam would, frankly, have a tendency to act like a bit of a prick, and so on. I guess those things do liven up the boards and so on but, the fact is, there aren't even a lot of particularly abrasive people joining MB these days. About 99% of the posts I delete and bannings I give out are just for people who can't read the rules spamming some crap or other.

In that sense, yeah, I guess it a bit quieter these days, but even in its quieter moments MB is a much, much more active message board than a lot that I've ever seen. For example, I used to be a member of David Bowie's official fan board, which requires a paid subscription, and even that was dead compared to here. I got the feeling people only really post there in the that hope the man himself reads and replies to one of their posts.