Music Banter - Why message boards go down hill.

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been there, done that, moved to this site to have fun being one of the little people (and it is SO much more refreshing than being a mod or admin).

even the idea of becoming something more than just a message board is old. i'm not trying to discourage, just saying what it is. the enthusiasm is normally rampant in the planning stages but when push comes to shove very little normally happens when it's time to get the hands dirty.

it's the same kind of idea that comes up whenever old members become set in their ways and new members simply fellate their entrenched opinions.

It's where I wanted this place to be.
The idea would be an extension of the MB Reader.
The site would still be moderated with moderators having Editor status.
Contributors would be invited from among the regular members due to their writing ability (on merit) to write reviews, articles etc much in the same way as the journals, but on a more serious (as serious as amatuer will allow) level.
There really is no end to the potential. Even band member interviews wouldn't be out of the question if the place was handled correctly.
The site would still have it's message boards and community members could aspire to become a Music Banter 'Contributor'.
For this to happen the site would need a fair bit of money spent on it and an online magazine look.
There's no reason why a serious, amatuer online music magazine couldn't be successfully run by ordinary music lovers with little to no journalistic experience.

It's just end up with all the mods favourite members getting 'contributor' status.

Quote:

Originally Posted by right-track (Post 830289)

Contributors would be invited from among the regular members due to their writing ability (on merit) to write reviews, articles etc much in the same way as the journals, but on a more serious (as serious as amatuer will allow) level...if the place was handled correctly

Emphasis on merit.

wait, jackhammer departed?

and rt, when did you stop being a mod :(?

When I realised what I just posted isn't going to happen.

Quote:

Originally Posted by right-track (Post 830302)

Emphasis on merit.

I know, but I still think it'd be biased, consciously or not, maybe if there was some kind of anonymous submission method for reviews/articles and what not.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nine Black Poppies (Post 830281)

On a related note, there's an undercurrent inherent in the kind of musical snobbery being talked about here that I've always found rather... I dunno, unsettling, I suppose. It basically comes down to the idea that having a critical perspective on art (music in this case) seems to be more about disliking things than actually liking them, finding something wrong in the taste of the less educated. IE: "That thing you like sucks because this thing you've never heard of is better" instead of "That thing you like is sort of like this thing that I like that you've never heard of, but here's what's cool about my thing." There's something of an ugly undercurrent of art-as-social-currency in that, as well as a... for lack of a better word, laziness or lack of understanding at least.

Although I guess it is difficult, since as was pointed out, reasoning here is based more on emotional response and personal passions than any kind of objective logic. Still, I think it's unfair to assume one can't take a scholarly approach to popular music just because most people don't default to doing so.

And for the record, I enjoy a lot of Nirvana, Minus the Bear are alright now and again and Radiohead are good but far from untouchable.

Totally, and I think the reason for this is that people get bored of talking about their favorite things. One of the ways people convince themselves that their tastes match up with the creme de la creme is to denounce "inferior" music, and music forums serve as the perfect outlet for bashing in the skulls of people who are deemed musically-inept by the old guard/elitists.

Quote:

Originally Posted by stormjh (Post 830306)

I know, but I still think it'd be biased, consciously or not, maybe if there was some kind of anonymous submission method for reviews/articles and what not.

There's a bigger picture involved than the one I outlined.
Big ideas can become big realities.
For the good of the site members would be chosen on merit. Anything less and the site would suffer. Any bias would be detrimental.
The community boards would remain the same however, but with a higher profile and with more potential to grow.

Quote:

Originally Posted by anticipation (Post 830307)

That's probably true, actually--it does get a bit dull talking about the same things all the time.

My retort to that attitude, though, is that there's so much music out there and so much constantly being released, all of which is made so easily available, why not just extend a little bit and find something new to talk about? That's the upside to the digital music culture--it's not as much of an investment or effort to explore something new as it used to be. I'm not necessarily condoning a constant consumerism--always getting new things without ever forming an opinion about or relationship with them (something I occasionally find myself guilty of and about, I admit)--but there's got to be a balance there somewhere.

Plus, the denouncement of "inferior" music in such a way just creates a divisiveness that actually stifles the kind of "authenticity" and "originality" generally praised by said old guard, in a "you are what's wrong with the music you hate" kind of way. Maybe that's not true 100% of the time, but sometimes it's hard not to feel it.