Suggestions & Ideas you have for the Community

[Bluesberry]

Greeny summarized the argument well.  What we all want is a community where there is friendship and helpful advice and participation from all members.  We have these "Fests" and "backing track guitar jam challenges" and the like which we all agree are great fun and foster a friendly/family atmosphere.  We always say these things are open to all regardless of which Boss BR machine they were posted on.  For this reason it would be nice to have all posts go into the same thread regardless of which BR machine it was done on.  Take the Backing Track challenges, what if one member used thier BR-1200 to record their contributionn and posted in the bR-1200 spot.  The odds are that their post will not get noticed for quite a while (days/weeks), while all the other posts in the microBR thread will get noticed right away and recieve 10 comments in the first day.  This example does not foster the kind of comradrie that we all want.  All these posts need to go in one spot, regardless of what machine they were recorded on.  We need one spot where all the instrumentals/guitar jams go and any BR machine is welcome to post there.  Why should the microBR guys have all the fun regarding these types of challenges.  If anything this probably discourages folks with non-microBR machines from participating.

Another example was the "Neilfest".  If it wasnt for the Index, a lot of the posts would have been not noticed because they were not posted in the microBR thread, and even with the index, the posts in the microBR thread recieved much more views and listens than the other BR threads.  And now when you want to go find these posts they are spread across 6-7 threads.  We need a spot where all Covers go regardless of which BR machine they were done on if we truly want to foster the kind of forum that we all want.  The same goes for the "Blues Fest" we had a while ago.  At the time it was only a microBR site, but nowadays, how can we say all Boss BR machines welcome to participate when the non-microBR posts will hardly get noticed for days/weeks.  Once again, this probably discourages folks with non-microBR machines from participating.  For this very reason I choose to create all my Neilfest covers on my microBR, I didn;t want to post my contributions in the BR-1200 spot, it felt like all the excitement of the Neilfest was over in the microBR thread and I didn't want my posts to get passed over.  Now what if I didn't have a micro in addition to my BR-1200?  I may have been much less likely to have participated in the same way.

And with Original songs, I would like to have one spot where I can go and see only original songs, this way I can check in and see the latest original songs posted to the site within the last couple of days, regardless of the Boss Br machine they were created on, all in one spot.  No chance of missing any of these impostant posts.  Original songs take a lot of effort (months sometimes) and you really stick your neck out when posting them, they leave you feeling the most exposed of any kind of post you can make on here.  We need one spot where these kind of songs go, where they will all recieve much attention and get lots of comments, and there is no chance of a few not getting noticed.  These original song posts deserve to be listened to, and the person posting desperately wants comments.  I know for me when I post an original song of mine I am shaking in my boots every time, I have no idea if it is any good until I get comments back, and then I get confidence to do another one, I crave and need that feedback to keep going I find.  Once again do we want a community that supposts all Original songs regardless of the Boss BR machine it was created on, or just the ones created on the microBR. 

I do not see how re-aligning the forums to be more inclusive to all BR machines would in any way make some folks feel insecure or drive away new members.  It simply organized the posts into functional groupings so it is easier to find what you are looking for, makes it real easy to see where to post what type of music created, does not marginalize any type of Boss BR machine and to a newby it would look like this is a very organized site that was totally dedicated to making music, posting music and giving feedback on all the Boss BR machines.  I would think.  Who would not want to jump in and start posting. 

There would still be  a spot for beginner recordings, simple stuff, silly stuff, guitar jams, song sketches, instrumentals, covers, original songs, etc.  All the stuff we enjoy posting now would still have a place here, it would just be organized so it is easier to see where to put stuff, find stuff,  and it becomes inclusive for all Boss BRmachines.

If we want a site that is inclusive to all Boss BR machines, and want to have these "fests" and "guitar jam challenges" and the like, and want these to be open to all BR machine owners equally, there is no other choice than to merge all BR machines into the same thread.  This would create a pretty big and unwieldly thread, so it would be best to break it up in a few functional groupings, along the lines of what Boscko and myself and a few others have suggested.  It is the only way to make this an all Boss BR inclusive site.  Either that or have 64Guitars create "index" lists for all our "fests" and guitar jam challanges, and the like.  Maybe create an Index of all new Original songs posted in the last week (regardless of BR machine), that would ensure that no original song gets missed, but all these indexes would be hard to manage.  It makes more sense to include all BR machines in the few functional threads like suggested here.

[Pine]

BB for Parliment!   

Seriously though BB, your ideas are all sound and would simplify and unify the site even more than it is now. Can't miss with that approach. As long as people state when they post what machine it was done on, that all works for me. I'm here as much for technical enlightenment as anything else and i want to be able to ask tech questions from foks with MY unit. They seem to vary considerably model to model.

[Bluesberry]

BB for Parliment!  

Seriously though BB, your ideas are all sound and would simplify and unify the site even more than it is now. Can't miss with that approach. As long as people state when they post what machine it was done on, that all works for me. I'm here as much for technical enlightenment as anything else and i want to be able to ask tech questions from foks with MY unit. They seem to vary considerably model to model.

Thanks for reading my essay Pinedog , As for technical questions, that part of the forum would stay the same, with threads for each type of machine.  We are only talking about Post your Work and Collaborations sections.  It just seems to make sense to me.  If we are trying to have a community that embraces all Boss BR machines, and we want all members to interact and share and colab with each other regardless of which BR unit they own, If we want all members the opportunity to view all music posted, regardless of the BR machine, then the post you work area has to be set up this way.  Otherwise it could end up with these separate areas where each BR type hangs out and doesn't  interact much with the other BR type.  I don't want to see that happen.  Lets foster and encourage full interaction between all BR machine types.

[Greeny (No longer active)]

Nicely put, BB. Sound, coherent sense!!!!

[Geir]

Having read all input on this matter, I'm still in doubt what's best (I really don't envy Pedro who have to make a decision on this). I think 48 made some very good points, but so has BB, Tim, Andy and others ...

For me the most important thing is to keep that good spirit that this forum has! And to keep that we should do something about the boards that get less attention. BUT I don't think the problem is as big as some makes it sound. OK if you post something outside the MBR board it will take longer time to get response (I've posted some in "other recorders" so I know it kan be a pain), but I'm not sure the number of responses are significantly less than on the MBR board if you give it time. (I might be wrong here) 

The suggested merger would solve that problem .... probably ... but for me there's a BIG difference in recording with 4-track, and with 8+ (I have a korg D-16) ... not only in the possibilities, but the whole concept is different. If we were to merger the boards I would at least appreciate a field in the post where you had to check out what recorder you used.  In that way it would be less intimidating listening to some of the great works made on the "big" recorders.

I try to visit the other boards on a regular basis, and one way of forcing oneself to do that is to hit the "Show unread posts since last visit." link at the top of every page (which I strongly encourage everyone to do).

Maybe a similar link, that only selected unread posts from all the "post your mp3" boards would solve the problem without having to redesign the forum ?

[launched]

I try to visit the other boards on a regular basis, and one way of forcing oneself to do that is to hit the "Show unread posts since last visit." link at the top of every page (which I strongly encourage everyone to do).

I do the same when I have time - it's really hard to keep up.

And I agree that it might take longer in the non-MBR music post section to receive comments, but it seems like a lot of threads are like that. Nothing for a while, and the wham - 30 posts. Kind of like a school of fish travelling or a bunch of 9 year olds chasing a soccer ball(Why can't they just spread out!) It may be because I sometimes don't see a post until it gets brought up front by a recent reply, and then other people see it as fresh and so on...

And above all, let's just hope it stays a happy, fun site!!

[guitarron]

I try to visit the other boards on a regular basis, and one way of forcing oneself to do that is to hit the "Show unread posts since last visit." link at the top of every page (which I strongly encourage everyone to do).

I do the same when I have time - it's really hard to keep up.

And I agree that it might take longer in the non-MBR music post section to receive comments, but it seems like a lot of threads are like that. Nothing for a while, and the wham - 30 posts. Kind of like a school of fish travelling or a bunch of 9 year olds chasing a soccer ball(Why can't they just spread out!) It may be because I sometimes don't see a post until it gets brought up front by a recent reply, and then other people see it as fresh and so on...

And above all, let's just hope it stays a happy, fun site!!

amen to that brother-hard to keep up and i been on vacation this week!

[Ted]

I'm listening to many--okay, most of the NeilFest songs for the first time right now, in my regular music player, which is iTunes.

I'd find it much easier to keep up with the songs uploaded on this forum if only there were a playlist automatically generated from all of the MP3's that have been uploaded in the last day or week?  (Pedro, 64, and other geek types: I'm talking about an M3U file.)

Here's an example from a randomly-chosen CD Baby album:
http://cdbaby.com/cd/bosstweeter2
Click either "Play All Songs" button.

This example plays 30-second samples of the songs, but it could also be entire songs.

Imagine an automatically-generated list like the NeilFest Index, with links to the individual posts as well as a "Play All" button.

You can just skip ahead to the next song if you aren't interested in the one that's playing.

I'm guessing that there's not already a module for this for SMF.  I'm also guessing that it wouldn't be too hard to create for someone with the PHP skills and an SMF background.  I'd even pitch in some cash if we found an interested developer.

Just dreaming.

[Ted]

Okay.  Here's an idea that's not so outlandish:

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[Pedro]

Hi guys!

Sorry for the late response, I kind of forgot this topic.

As I understand the real problem is the lack of a even user interest in all of the Post your MP3 sections. Therefore generating much less posts of feedback in all the other boards.

This problem comes from the old days, where we were known as the Boss Micro BR community.All links in other websites point to this website as the Boss Micro BR community. Google and all the other search engines know this, and they only send people here that sought something related to the Micro BR, and therefore are mostly willing to read and search about the Micro BR.

Also, there is the fact that MOST active users are Micro BR users.

I'm going to be honest, I like the organization as it is. I think it is simple and it sticks to the original theme, the Recorders. So I think the solution should not be in rearranging the organization, but in attracting other BR users, to make more posts of feedback and songs!

I think we have a great forum here, filled with GREAT people of around the world, but is this enough to attract more people to join in? No, simply because people don't know about this forum. If you search Boss BR-600 (or other BR than the Micro) on Google, our forum will show up in the 7th page!

How can we attract more people to populate the other recorders forums?
With website marketing and promotion. I've to admit this is a world I've never been a fan, but I think it is extremely important. I'm still reading about the best ways to promote our forum, so for now I won't post any suggestions, if you have any I will be glady appreciated!