Minor board reorganization and Songcrafters' philosophy/direction.

[launched]

then I'm expecting a visitor for a short while. So it will probably be at least a few hours before I can reply.

If this were any other thread...... I'd have a friggin' field day with that statement.

Yes - I love it!

[Gnasty]

then I'm expecting a visitor for a short while. So it will probably be at least a few hours before I can reply.

If this were any other thread...... I'd have a friggin' field day with that statement.

C`mon C`mon


DO IT!!!!

[Bluesberry]

deep breathing..........control.............serenity now.........

[Tony W]

then I'm expecting a visitor for a short while. So it will probably be at least a few hours before I can reply.

If this were any other thread...... I'd have a friggin' field day with that statement.

Yes - I love it!

says the guy who wrote a song about a hooker


DAMN YOU PEOPLE TO HELL

[Oldrottenhead]

take it to the drunk tank guys

[Gnasty]

says the guy who wrote a song about a hooker

Don`t go to jail for chasing that  hooker`s tail!

[Saijinn Maas]

No problem 64g...

BTW... in a different perspective, I imagine that this is a lot like trying to have a philosophical conversation in a strip club!

 

[Gritter]

says the guy who wrote a song about a hooker


DAMN YOU PEOPLE TO HELL

Neil...Swansong? The Angel is really a hooker?  huh? No way, say it ain't so.

[64Guitars]

This is intended to be about why the change should be about streamlining and there being no need to change the focus.

Streamlining:
Streamlining is okay but it's not the reason for the change. With the original proposal, we reduced the number of Post Your Work boards from 6 to 4. Now we've added Member-made backers and we've discussed the possibility of adding a Live Music board and a Bands boards. I think it's unlikely now that we'll have fewer Post Your Work boards. But that's okay. More boards will mean more flexibility in choosing the types of posts you want to see, and less posts to sort through in your favourite boards.

Changing focus:
The way I see it, we're not changing the focus. We're creating a focus. We don't currently have a defined focus other than the broad description Pedro put in the banner (Home Recording and Songwriting Community) and I think that's a bit too broad. Before the change to Songcrafters, I think everyone here understood that we were primarily a Boss users forum where people could learn about their Boss recorder, post songs they've created on it, and collaborate with other members. Then Pedro changed the name to Songcrafters and removed all mention of Boss. I believe we're still primarily a Boss users forum but you wouldn't know it when you visit the site for the first time. Why hide this fact? But that's another issue which can be discussed at a later date. My main concern right now is that people are coming here from other sites with expectations based on their experiences at these other sites. They post recordings where they've collaborated with several people from their other sites. That rarely, if ever, happened before the name changed to Songcrafters. They post older recordings which they've already posted on the other sites. Before the name change, most of our members were quite new to multitrack recording so they had no back catalogue of recordings and everything posted was newly-created. Some new members may see Songcrafters as yet another music site to post their older recordings on in the hope of boosting their CD sales or attracting interest from the music industry to get a record deal. I don't think that's good for Songcrafters. We were never about the business side of music before the name change. Most of our members had played music earlier in their lives and gave it up due to families, careers, etc. But now they've bought a BR and are just getting back into music. They already have jobs so music is just a hobby which they're very passionate about. It's not their career and they're not trying to make it their career. They just want to create music for their own enjoyment and to share it freely with others. Although, I'm sure a few wouldn't mind if a good opportunity came along to make a career out of their music.

Before the name change, I believe we had a strong focus, though it was never defined. It didn't need to be because we all came here for the same reasons. But now people are coming here for a variety of reasons. We've lost our focus and I think it's time we defined one, and it should be closer to what we had before we became Songcrafters.

Currently, there is a known imbalance for certain boards.

By "imbalance", I assume you mean that the total number of posts is different in each board. Why is that a problem? The number of members interested in the subject of each board is also different. Do you think we should try to make our members change their interests so that everyone likes all subjects equally in order to balance the number of posts per board? Or do you think the boards should be based on something other than member interests? If so, I disagree. The whole reason for separate boards is so that people can keep up with all the new messages by reading only the ones in their own areas of interest. If we base the boards on something other than interests, people will not be able to find the posts they want to read and we might as well just have one big board.

What we have found out so far in this discussion, is that the majority of regular posters will fall into the "member only" (referred to as DIY from now on) board.

Using the information avilable to us, the breakdown of the current posts are as follows:

I'm not sure where these numbers are coming from but I'll assume that they're based on the total post counts for each board. So you've shown that the number of posts in each board varies a great deal. I think we knew that. We also know that people's interest in the subject of each board varies a great deal. If there was a way to measure this interest, I'm sure you'd find that the numbers are the same as those for the post counts. People post the type of music that interests them. They listen to the type of music that interests them. And they comment on the type of music that interests them. So it's to be expected that the number of posts will be a direct reflection of people's interests. That's why Original Songs has the most posts and Backing Track Jams has the least. We have a lot of people who are interested in original songs and we have very few people who are interested in backing track jams. That last sentence will continue to be true regardless of how we organise the boards.

The backers and non-members will now be relegated to a low active board, while those who make up the majority still constitute the more active board, by quite a bit.

The activity is a result of the interest. We can't change people's interests, nor should we. With all due respect, it sounds like that's what you want. It sounds like you want to put posts with little interest into the same boards with lots of interest in the hope that people's interests will change and they'll then comment on the posts they're currently skipping. People will still view only what interests them and skip the rest. This just makes it harder to find the stuff that interests them. And it defeats the purpose of having multiple boards. No time is saved if we can't choose just the posts that interest us. That's why the boards must represent different areas of interest. In fact, I'm beginning to have doubts about lumping all of the non-member posts into a General board. Perhaps these should be separated further to better reflect the areas of interest (bt/midi/loops, bands, non-member collabs, etc). This will give people more choice when viewing posts so they'll save more time by only viewing what interests them most. That is, afterall, the objective of having multiple boards.

At this point, it really has nothing to do with being fair or otherwise, but it does show that the restructure will not really achieve much more than it is currently

I disagree. It achieves something very important. It helps to give the site a focus and provides a place where people who believe in that focus can share their music with each other.

the only thing that changes is that some members will no longer be able to post in the higher traffic'd area the members they previously interacted with.

But why would they want to post in a board where they know that the other members have a different interest? Isn't that a bit like preaching Pastafarianism at the Vatican? Wouldn't they be much better off posting in a board where they know that all of the members share their interest?

And aren't the members they currently interact with the members who share their interests? Won't they still be interacting with the members who share their interests after the reorganisation?

[Saijinn Maas]

64g,

I started to break things down for another long reply when I noticed something...

It is obvious, judging by your comments, that I am completely incapable of accurately making a point in which others can easily understand. I apologize. This is pretty common when trying to discuss countering points of view in any manner that is not face to face. Our programmers were notorious for skipping morning meetings and then not understand the designer's emails regarding what needed to be done.

No hard feelings, but I have erased everything else in my reply as I have no further motivation in continuing to waste my time on this. As others have correctly pointed out to me, both directly and indirectly, this is hardly important enough worry about. I told you what I thought, and you are free to do with that what you will. But I think I'll get back to more important things, like all the posts I am still behind on.  

I sincerely wish you the best of luck with your changes.  

Thanks