Posting habits versus reviewing

[chapperz66]

Another thought has just occurred to me.  I ought to stop listening to you lot and try to get some of my own music finished!   

Then again, perhaps one more....

[AndyR]

Another thought has just occurred to me.  I ought to stop listening to you lot and try to get some of my own music finished!   

This is what I do! Unashamedly, and it works for me...

I am lurking most days but my listening abilities are restricted by a) no streaming at work (otherwise I'd be spending lunchbreaks etc listening while browsing) and b) when I'm at home, it sure as hell gets in the way of me doing music myself.

And... as we all know... the gestation period for an Andrew Russe recording seems to be, er, slightly longer than for others!

You can always tell when I'm about to post a song - I'll start commenting on other people's songs. Depending on how my thing is going, you might see a few comments in the days leading up to my finishing what I'm doing. And then there'll be a flurry of comments from me either side of when I post mine.

When I've finished something I'm proud of and have put it on the table, I actually WANT to hear what everyone else has been doing. When I'm in the middle of something of my own, I don't want to hear what anyone else is doing... and it'll still be there when I've finished

So my commenting goes quiet again when I start something new. It also happens if I get stuck on something new and get depressed about music (and listening to other people's songs doesn't seem to inspire me or help in anyway) - I tend to leave music alone altogether for a bit then... I find it comes back faster then.

Of course, I sometimes have an enforced period of no music - wife wants me to put up a shed, or do the hoovering or something (or there's something good on the telly!).

I'm not as much as a slave to music as I used to be - and I don't really want to be anymore, it caused me far too much hassle in my life years ago when I was "living for music". I do it (and this includes joining in here and elsewhere) when it feels good. If it don't feel good, I don't do it - life has been a lot better since I decided to go that route 15 or so years ago.

Also, you may have noticed, I'm not a big one for collaborating. I love hearing how others collaborate, but it doesn't do anything for me - I've got so much stuff to record and quite fixed visions of what I'm trying to achieve for myself, there isn't really room for anything else in my musical life. Equally, and for the same reasons really, the festivals don't light any fires for me. I know what I'm trying to do, and there won't be enough time to do it - adding other stuff to my music making just gets in the way. I won't say "never", never say never again ... but right at the moment I'm very happy ploughing my own furrough.


Anyway, I thoroughly approve of the advice of "listen to and comment on 3 or 4 songs for every one that you post" - in fact, same as everything else in life, it seems SO obvious that you need to give attention in order to get much attention yourself. However, I wouldn't want to feel anyone feels required to comment like that, or to feel guilty if they can't. Basically, I kinda think it's a case of "you get out what you put in".

I kinda don't worry too much about what other people are doing with regards to commenting or not... but it is worth bearing the following in mind: Someone like me, who reappears every month or two, is naturally going to be listening to and commenting on the folks he knows, and those who appear to be actively joining in. I mean, I do try to listen to some left-field stuff from people I've no experience of yet... but I'm after some interaction when I'm on here - and if you walk into a club you haven't been in for a while, you tend to gravitate towards the people who seem to be awake!

I suppose what I'm saying is that I personally regard it as less of a "hey! people aren't commenting" problem... more of a "hey! you want more friends? Join in then, it's easy "

[Geir]

I have a simple posting rule:

Post at least as many comments on others music as you want replies on your own posts.

And I think that works out rather good.



the posting Hobbit

I love you all !!!

Long live songcrafters !







........ I'll be back soon !

[fenderbender]

 
I love this place !!!!!!
If I had'nt got side tracked though the last couple of years though life and......
I reckon I would have been a contender for poster of the year.
 
Yippppeee I just found my songwriters pen again
It was underneath my PC -stuck between my jumble of wires and the printer
Ohh I would love to be a real yuppie -no wires -no leads -just a little thingy tablet
just press a few buttons and -jingo -away my new song is on SC--

Dream on Tommy

[IanR]

Hi from Ian.

I haven't been around as much this year for lots of different reasons. But I've logged in today to find this post.  It seems to pop up every year in the hottest part of the Northern Summer.  I remember sending 64 Guitars a PM last year when the posting rate dropped and all the usual suspects seemed to go on holidays at the same time.

I miss some of the people who seem to have dropped off but my advice is: don't worry. New people will find this place.  I have noticed some really talented new songcrafters here recently and we should welcome them with the same gusto we direct at all the old favourites.

I'll be back with some new songs soon and I hope to find some time to comment on others. But if I don't, you shouldn't think I have abandoned you. I am determined to get to 1000 posts this year one way or another.

Ian

[Hook]

Praying for you Wille! I too have been dealing with anxiety and panic attacks recently, a very new and unenjoyed experience for me. Music does help me, as does Zoloft.

Perhaps we should be putting our heads together to increase membership (a double-edged sword) and/or motivation/participation/collaboration.

Blooby

I think that's what threads like this do!
Rock on!

[Flash Harry]

Watch out for that Blooby character - he seldom wears underwear....

[DeificDave]

I've been away from the site for a while as well, numerous reasons for that which I wont go into but when I am here I always try to comment on a few songs before I post anything of my own, for me it just seems the right thing to do. I try to only post on songs I genuinely like and like some others it's all about collaboration for me. I loved it when a certain songcrafter took a piece of mine and added a vocal, I listened to that a lot and got a great deal of pleasure from it.

Sorry to hear a few of you have some issues with anxiety, if you haven't already, you might want to check out cognitive behavioral therapy, can be helpful to some.   

[Vanncad]

Do what you feel is right.
Like any other social media, this site can suck your life away and interfere with family and other important parts of your life if you let it.

I think we all felt a little apprehensive about our first posts and how great it felt (still feels) when someone gives you a positive comment or some constructive criticism. Remember that.

You can't like everything you hear.
If someone's idea of music is farting into a Kleenex box, and playing an out of tune bagpipe over top of it, and that doesn't float you boat, then skip it. They will find their kindred spirits somewhere.

This a great site. Always has been.
The "golden rule" might be your best guideline.

Anxiety sucks. Thanks for the platform SC admins!

[Nelson]

I agree Bruno

If you're too busy to comment on other folks songs, you should be too busy to post.
If you make time to post, you should make time to comment.

I'm not around much, so I don't post much and when I have a song to post but I'm "too busy" to comment on others songs, I hold off on posting my new diddy until I have the time to show some love to other artist here.

You don't necessarily have to comment on the songs of each and every person who comments on your songs. I've seen that a few times and I think it's pretty obvious that those people are just trying to fulfill an obligation. Instead, you should comment on the songs that you like, regardless of who posted them. But you should try to keep the number of comments in the same ballpark as those that you received. For example, if you post a song and get about 20 comments, then you listen to 2 songs by other members and post a comment on each, don't pat yourself on the back and consider yourself a good member. There's a bit of an imbalance there. You need to listen to a lot more songs from other members and post more comments. I'm not suggesting that you count the comments to your song posts and make sure that you post exactly the same number of comments to other people's songs. That would be silly. But you know whether you're in the same ballpark or not without counting. Just try to give as much as you get (or more). If you do, you'll find that there will always be people who are happy to comment on your songs when you post them. Unless you've become the Phil Collins of Songcrafters.