Could Forums Like This Make a Comeback?

[Mark]

Facebook groups suck. Search is shit (the concept is to keep people interacting, not to provide a resource), and visibility depends upon algorithms.

MUCH prefer forums. But I'm old.

This (apologies for the belated reply).

FB is shit for the kinds of things that message boards do well. I've seen various non-music related forums die over the last decade and, as they have been taken by web rot, many, many excellent archives of knowledge have gone too. I'm talking about motoring, car and bike maintenance, stuff like that. Some incredible model specific forums for Honda and Kawasaki etc. totally vanished.

At least the TOMBs are still here even if they have long since been covered over by accumulated drifts of digital tumble weeds.

You're alive!!!!

I too prefer messageboards/forums for threaded conversations. Personally I coped just fine before social media became the predominant method of communicating over the web. We had instant messengers protocols and clients for talking to other people without spending money on phone calls or actually having to see them face to face; and if we wanted to talk to groups of like-minded people who shared our interests we had forums like this one.

Social media (whatever that is) only really took off with the exponential increase in the ownership of computing devices that came as the first generation of desktop and laptop computers, with processors capable of handling relatively fast streams of data, fell into the category where they could be purchased used by Europoors like us for the kinds of prices we could afford without having to take out a loan.

[bobbydj]

Facebook groups suck. Search is shit (the concept is to keep people interacting, not to provide a resource), and visibility depends upon algorithms.

MUCH prefer forums. But I'm old.

This (apologies for the belated reply).

FB is shit for the kinds of things that message boards do well. I've seen various non-music related forums die over the last decade and, as they have been taken by web rot, many, many excellent archives of knowledge have gone too. I'm talking about motoring, car and bike maintenance, stuff like that. Some incredible model specific forums for Honda and Kawasaki etc. totally vanished.

At least the TOMBs are still here even if they have long since been covered over by accumulated drifts of digital tumble weeds.

You're alive!!!!

I too prefer messageboards/forums for threaded conversations. Personally I coped just fine before social media became the predominant method of communicating over the web. We had instant messengers protocols and clients for talking to other people without spending money on phone calls or actually having to see them face to face; and if we wanted to talk to groups of like-minded people who shared our interests we had forums like this one.

Social media (whatever that is) only really took off with the exponential increase in the ownership of computing devices that came as the first generation of desktop and laptop computers, with processors capable of handling relatively fast streams of data, fell into the category where they could be purchased used by Europoors like us for the kinds of prices we could afford without having to take out a loan.

Mark, eh up -

I tend to divide the internet in two - pre- and post-smartphones. The latter era stressed short-form exchanges that seemed to have a social slant, the former permitted use of proper keyboards and therefore slightly more informative and discursive stuff. It went from usually quite literate, intelligent and canny stuff contributed by 10% of the population in the 2000s to much more throwaway, and often barmy tin hat shite contributed by a much bigger demographic in the 2010s.

Still, I'm really glad that broadband connections are so easy to get hold of. I love that side of the 2010s onwards.

[Mark]

Ow do Bob, reckon as it's a bit blowy right now

The one big advantage of places like Facebook (and its long dead predecessors) is that, being browser based, they're easier for people to find.

Although you still need to have an account, so I'm not sure how that differs from Microsoft, Yahoo or Google Messengers.

[Rob Coates]

I hope this forum makes a come back. I'm really sick of the bickerfest over @ Gearspace.

[kslight]

I hope this forum makes a come back. I'm really sick of the bickerfest over @ Gearspace.

The advantage gearspace and Reddit have is traffic. The disadvantage is, with that hugely increased traffic the quality of posts goes to hell. I have gotten sucked into Reddit on multiple occasions and I always end up deleting the app because so many of the people there are just completely obtuse.

[digitaldrummer]

RGO is maybe not as bad, but sometimes I think it still smells like GS...

[vvv]

I only use GS for research purposes, and then only a half-dozen times a year.

Reddit has too much offensive crap onnit for me to support/wanna use the site - they can support all the fascists they want, but I won't be there - same for Xitter*.

This forum is sweet - everyone is trustworthy and credible.

The biggest troll here is prob'ly me, and I can sorta tolerate that arse.

I have a small audio forum (5-10 members, all friends)- I like that one, of course.

And talkbass is well-moderated, altho' not so much about recording ... it's pretty niche but can be educational, and has the best "for sale" section, altho'
mostly for bass gear.

I hang on one political forum, but it's tightly-moderated and used by the well-informed, non-extremist, center to left (emptywheel).

As for a "comeback" ... no, because the social element of attraction for the casual musician is not really here - I think we are all a little more serious about it.

That'll be $42.00.


*in Chinese, "X" = "sh"

[jimjazzdad]

Forums definitely appeal to an older demographic (I am a 'senior' myself). One advantage of smaller forums, like this one, is that you can choose to be much more dialed-in to your specific interests. And, as noted, they each have their own personalities. I agree that a lot of GS is adversarial and "look at me" but there are quiet corners of the behemoth, like Remote Possibilities, that I really enjoy. SOS has some good people, but a lot of space is devoted to answering the same noob questions time and again. Taperssection can be interesting but I'm not really a taper. TOMB seems to be oriented to a small cadre of musician-engineers. I not a musician, but I enjoy the vibe and enjoy dropping in here regularly. I long ago made a conscious decision to never drink the musky alphabet meta soup, so I will never know (don't care to know) what audio stuff exists over there. Hopefully server costs and availability will permit the continuance of places like this for old guys like me.

[transmothra]

I too prefer forums, but also curious if anyone here is on any interesting recording/mixing Discord servers? I'm on a few although i really only use the Unofficial Reaper Users Group, being that it's specific to my preferred DAW. It's pretty lively and has many very useful channels for things like plugins, mix critiques, scripting, tutorials/resources, etc.. Tbh, i haven't been HERE in a while and was kinda hoping there was a Tape Op Discord.

[Mark]

Say hi to MURK for me