It seems to me that the population at Songcrafters has grown quite a bit. That's great, a lot of good music goin on.
But it also seems that with this growth, it may be harder to achieve our top goal - (along with collabs and Festivals) to listen to music and comment on it, and to post your own music and have others comment on it. If it is true that the population has grown, then there is a lot more music being posted which makes it harder to listen to it all (impossible?), and harder to get comments because everyone is picking and choosing what they listen to based on.... what?
Would it be appropriate to further divide the categories and thus create less populated segments? A logical divide might be, within the original and cover categories to have acoustic and electric categories. There might have to be some definition of what is predominately acoustic and what is predominately electric. I suspect the electric categories would be larger than the acoustic ones, but we will have spread out the posts a bit.
Just a thought....What do ya think?
Rolow
I'm not nearly as active as I once was, so my opinion should carry little weight these days.
That being said, I prefer less categories rather than more. If there were a way to tag posts and then search or sort by tags then you could have the best of both worlds, but that seems a pretty hard thing to implement here. (Although I could be wrong.) Although if there were multiple categories then I would love to have a recent posts forum. Rather a button that would sort all posts from all boards by post date. And further subdivide it by songs and non songs. That would be perfect for me.
But, honestly, I don't have an issue with the way it is right now. I'll be interested in seeing how others feel. (A few years ago there was talk of a reorganization of the site which I thought would be very good and there was enough of an outcry that it never happened.)
I'm with TC, I too prefer less categories,
As the old adage goes, If it's not broke dont fix it. ;)
Alex
Taking my admin hat off and speaking as a user/member.
Lately I have had little time for music making, listening and commenting. Can't recall last time I wrote or recorded a new song.
When I do get time to come here, I like to check on the latest songs player. That helps me catch up on song posts by other members but i am not sure how long songs stay on the player, so I can often miss some song posts. My suggestion would be for new song posts to be on the new song player for a longer period of time.
I'm a less is more kinda guy. The problem isn't in the site, it's the members that consistantly post yet never comment. I'd say we have 4 to 6 that post somewhat regularly, get support yet don't return it. That's probably never gonna change.
I love the latest song jukebox and I usually listen to the active members first. When I listen, I listen to the whole tune and I almost always comment, weather one song or 10. With that said, my time has been limited lately and I haven't been as active as I'd like.
I notice Johnny Robbo apologises for his lack of participation and I wish he wouldn't because when he listens he listens and comments like a man on fire. You don't have to log in daily or weekly to be an active member. Hell, only be active when you have a song to post, just remember how lucky you are to have a positive place lime this to post your recordings and pay it forward.
Rock on my friends!
I wasn't really aware that the membership has grown to any great extent. Looking at today's Latest Songs Jukebox there's only six songs in the past four days, I wouldn't call that unmanageable. And there's only ever been around 20 votes or so in the festival polls. So I don't see any particular need to for changes. If it ain't broke, don't f#ck about with it.
I do feel the weight of responsibility with regard to listening and commenting on others; although it's always a pleasure to do so, I do worry that I'm not diligent enough. I am aware that I am more inclined to comment on a submission from a member who I know comments on others' regularly, though.
I like Jim's suggestion about keeping songs on the Latest Songs for longer, although not for so long that it becomes a daunting juggernaut. I go there first most times I visit the site. Ten days?
Quote from: Oldrottenhead on April 25, 2017, 02:13:59 AMMy suggestion would be for new song posts to be on the new song player for a longer period of time.
+1
Alfredo
Quote from: ODH on April 25, 2017, 08:59:30 AMI wasn't really aware that the membership has grown to any great extent.
It hasn't.
Quote from: Oldrottenhead on April 25, 2017, 02:13:59 AMWhen I do get time to come here, I like to check on the latest songs player. That helps me catch up on song posts by other members but i am not sure how long songs stay on the player, so I can often miss some song posts. My suggestion would be for new song posts to be on the new song player for a longer period of time.
Quote from: ODH on April 25, 2017, 08:59:30 AMI like Jim's suggestion about keeping songs on the Latest Songs for longer, although not for so long that it becomes a daunting juggernaut. I go there first most times I visit the site. Ten days?
Till now, the Latest Songs player has included songs posted in the past 3 days. It's hard to determine the ideal number of days to include since activity on the site varies quite a bit over time. At the moment, activity's a bit low so there are currently only 5 songs in the Latest Songs player. If I increase the number of days, it will be better for
now, but what about when the site's really busy? I'm afraid some people might feel overwhelmed if they see 60 or more songs in the player, so they might not listen at all. But if they see only 5 songs, they might think they've got enough time to listen to them and comment.
I'll change it to 7 days for now and we'll see how it goes. If, after a few months, people still think it should be longer, I'll try changing it to 10. On the other hand, if people find 7 days too long, I'll try dropping it back to 5.
Update: I've made the change to 7 days, so there are now 19 songs showing instead of 5. We'll have to wait and see what it will be like when the site is busier.
Quote from: ODH on April 25, 2017, 08:59:30 AMIf it ain't broke, don't f#ck about with it.
Yep.
Probably best to leave it as is.
Its been a bit slow on here as late - but still totally love the site. Sometimes the energy runs a bit low - but there's still new tunes, and always "the next one ..." - so keep going y'all.
This place always has the capacity to surprise!
B
Confession: I was not aware of the Latest Songs site. That is a much better solution to what I imagined to be an issue.
It also shows that what i saw as an increase in postings was an illusion, I must be checking in at busy times.
Quote from: 64Guitars on April 25, 2017, 11:03:00 AMTill now, the Latest Songs player has included songs posted in the past 3 days. It's hard to determine the ideal number of days to include since activity on the site varies quite a bit over time. At the moment, activity's a bit low so there are currently only 5 songs in the Latest Songs player. If I increase the number of days, it will be better for now, but what about when the site's really busy? I'm afraid some people might feel overwhelmed if they see 60 or more songs in the player, so they might not listen at all. But if they see only 5 songs, they might think they've got enough time to listen to them and comment.
I'll change it to 7 days for now and we'll see how it goes. If, after a few months, people still think it should be longer, I'll try changing it to 10. On the other hand, if people find 7 days too long, I'll try dropping it back to 5.
Update: I've made the change to 7 days, so there are now 19 songs showing instead of 5. We'll have to wait and see what it will be like when the site is busier.
As usual, our friend 64 is on top of the situation. Many thanks to him and all the other administrators as well.
Quote from: Rolow on April 25, 2017, 02:01:04 PMConfession: I was not aware of the Latest Songs site. That is a much better solution to what I imagined to be an issue.
I'd encourage everyone to check out the buttons in the top two rows of every page. They can be really helpful in discovering things to listen to and comment on.
(https://songcrafters.org/community/index.php?action=dlattach;topic=26765.0;attach=186827)
First Row:- Latest Songs - All the songs posted in the past 7 days, ordered by post time. Note: When I say 7 days, I don't mean calendar days. It's actually based on the number of seconds in 7 * 24 hours (7 * 24 * 60 * 60 = 604,800 seconds). So the list changes throughout the day. A song that was posted in the morning 7 days ago won't be there in the afternoon because more than 604,800 seconds have passed since the song was posted.
- On This Day - Songs that were posted on today's date but exactly 1 year ago, 2 years ago, 3 years ago, etc. It's a great way to check out songs you might have missed when they were first posted by listening to them on the anniversary of the day they were posted.
- Member Jukeboxes - By default, this jukebox shows a Random Dozen songs out of all of the songs that have been posted. At the right of the jukebox is a list of member names. Clicking a member name will load the jukebox with all of that member's songs. At the top of the member list is "Random". Clicking on that wil load the jukebox with another dozen randomly-selected songs.
- Overlooked Gems - Songs which have had few, if any, comments (less than 3 replies). Sometimes, some great songs get overlooked. This can happen, for example, when the site's busy and songs get pushed way down the page by all the new posts. So please give the Overlooked Gems jukebox a listen now and then and comment on the songs you like. Once they get 3 or more replies, they'll automatically come off the Overlooked Gems jukebox. There are currently 401 songs in the Overlooked Gems jukebox. It would be nice if we could give those songs some attention and reduce the size of the list to under 200 songs. I don't know if that will ever happen but if we all do our part, it just might. I think it's especially important to listen to the songs at the top of the list because they are the most recently-posted. If they stay in the list too long, the song posters might think people don't like their songs and get discouraged. That would be a shame.
- Covers fest - A quick link to the jukebox for the current covers fest.
- Originals fest - A quick link to the jukebox for the current originals fest.
Second row:- Suffering Machines - A great concept album that was created by some of our members in 2010/2011. If you're not familiar with it, do yourself a favour and have a listen. And don't forget to comment on the songs you like.
- Songcrafters on the Radio - Occasionally, one of our members gets one of their songs played on a local radio station. When that happens, we try to capture the radio broadcast and include it in this jukebox. Check it out.
- Samplers - Every year, each member has a chance to select one song that they posted in the previous year which they're most proud of and we include it in the Sampler jukebox for that year. A great way to find some of the best that Songcrafters has to offer.
- The last three METs - Normally, our members collaborate over the internet and don't actually meet in person. But when a few members do get together in person, we call this a "MET" (because members who had never met before have now met). When this happens and 6 or more songs are recorded and posted from the get-together, we create a jukebox for the MET. Have a listen and comment on what you like.
Liked the breakdown on all the buttons Thanks Much appreciated
Tim