Any ideas what we could do to improve this place?

[Seren]

some very sensible suggestions here...

[mgriffin]

I guess I see less value in separating out discussion of forum member music from non-forum member music, and more value in separating "here's my new CD" announcements from discussions of music that arise out of listener interest.

What does everyone else think?

[Julio Di Benedetto]

There are people who come to this forum and really add to it and make it an interesting place....some of those people are musicians that are not affiliated with Hypnos and use the forum as a promotional tool, they give and take so to speak.  Others come here just for "self promotion" and offer nothing else.  Personally Im cool with it all, so I would prefer the forum dedicated to non Hypnos new releases, where guest, forum member, passer by or whoever promotes his or her new music, other than Hypnos release which have their own section.
Im interested in discovering new music...my own taste will determine what I buy.  I do like the "Other Ambient Music" forum.  I think that will work well and kept discussion & promotion somewhat organized

I dont think I answered your question Mike.....just some more thoughts.

Also the 2 gear forums as Forrest suggested could become one.....for me sound sources, pre amp or mixer, fx, monitors and cables are all part of the same long chain. I suppose a discussion of where to put microphones on a marimba could warrant being placed in a dedicated recording forum, not sure how much recording technique type discussions we have here.

All in all the forum is coming together nicely......Thank you Mike

[phobos]

I am amazed at the speed the changes have taken place, it must have been a hell of a lot of hard work. Well done all concerned.
I must admit when I first saw the new look and all those headings I thought "Oh no where do I find stuff", but over the last few days things have settled down, the headings have been trimmed down and it is looking really good.
I do agree in general that the 2 gearheads sections could be combined into 1 section, therefore trimming the headings down a little more.
On the whole then very successful and as I said earlier, well done

[hdibrell]

I came home after a few days away and found the changes to the forum. It was a little confusing at first, but not too much. I like the way it is evolving now. Shows a lot of thought and work is going into it. It also shows that Mike is listening and responding to what others are saying and want. Thanks Mike for all of the effort here. It's looking good. 

[mgriffin]

You're welcome! 

Just keep on making your suggestions and we'll try to modify things just enough to make the forum more useful and inspiring, and not so much as to make it confusing or overwhelming.

[Scott M2]

I guess I see less value in separating out discussion of forum member music from non-forum member music, and more value in separating "here's my new CD" announcements from discussions of music that arise out of listener interest.

What does everyone else think?

Yes, perhaps just a New Releases section or an equivalent.

When you think about it, you have to join the Forum to post - so all posters are members
(at least until you delete them). 

[mgriffin]

It's true of course that anybody has to be a member to post.

I'm wondering if I'm the only one who sees a difference between a member (whether they're a musician or not) posting about someone else's music they've discovered and enjoyed (or just have questions about), and a member posting what amounts to a press release about their own work?

I see a huge difference between these, and I hate the idea of sincere inquiries and discussion about music from a listener's perspective being snowed-under by the much more common and frequent self-promotional posts. I'm trying in a sense to reward honest discussions from the fan or enthusiast's point of view by giving them their own space, apart from self-promotional announcements by artists and labels.

If I'm the only one who sees or cares about this distinction, of course we can combine them.

[ffcal]

I agree with Mike that the self-promotional posts should be separated from the listener posts.  But I also agree with Anthony and Scott that promotion is probably a better and more neutral term than self-promotion.  I tend to associate the word self-promotion with spam.

Forrest

[El culto]

I see a huge difference between these, and I hate the idea of sincere inquiries and discussion about music from a listener's perspective being snowed-under by the much more common and frequent self-promotional posts. I'm trying in a sense to reward honest discussions from the fan or enthusiast's point of view by giving them their own space, apart from self-promotional announcements by artists and labels.

Why there cannot be a honest discussion in a thread someone posted as self promotion? This is more or less what you say and i disagree. IMO people donīt make a difference in this. Also, the scenario youīve mentioned will happen anyway since not all discussed music are made by members. In your example also Hypnos releases have to be discussed in the "other section".

[jkn]

actually that whacky Canadian Scott has a good idea... drop the "self".

I think I may stop saying that over on rM also.

I "promote" for a lot of stuff that really isn't mine.  Heck, I've even promoted Scott and Mr. El Culto.  ;-)

[mgriffin]

I've renamed that forum section to change "self-promotion" to "news and promotion."

I never intended "self-promotion" to signify an equivalence to spam. I guess I've been in the music business long enough that I see self-promotion for what it is -- necessary, inevitable and completely reasonable as long as it's tasteful or somewhat restrained. There's no need to apologize for announcing your own project, and I think most people are actually eager or at least receptive to the news.

Most people only become annoyed when someone loses all sense of proportion and goes over the top, flooding people with persistent or repetitious announcements and updates. That's not a problem inherent to self-promotion, though. Some people just become over-eager, throw all restraint out the window, and end up irritating everyone.

[El culto]

Also the 2 gear forums as Forrest suggested could become one.....for me sound sources, pre amp or mixer, fx, monitors and cables are all part of the same long chain. I suppose a discussion of where to put microphones on a marimba could warrant being placed in a dedicated recording forum, not sure how much recording technique type discussions we have here.

I totally agree on this!

[mgriffin]

Why there cannot be a honest discussion in a thread someone posted as self promotion? This is more or less what you say and i disagree. IMO people donīt make a difference in this. Also, the scenario youīve mentioned will happen anyway since not all discussed music are made by members. In your example also Hypnos releases have to be discussed in the "other section".

Of course there can be honest discussion in a thread that begins as self-promotion. I hope there WILL be honest discussion in threads like that.

You seem to believe that having separate areas for different kinds of discussions is harmful, while most of the input I'm getting from other forum members indicates that organizing the forum into sections for different topics is helpful so long as the areas are well considered. No matter how a forum is organized, you could inevitably suggest examples of discussions that could go into more than one area. Does this mean we should have no organization or categorization at all, and just have one big central area where everything gets posted?

[mgriffin]

I have consolidated the two "gear talk" forum areas as there really wasn't any reason to separate them.

[El culto]

 Does this mean we should have no organization or categorization at all, and just have one big central area where everything gets posted?

Nah Mike, now you are black or white 

I didnīt mean this at all. I just say, that i think people like to see and discuss things in a specific thread for a release (and again this doesnīt interact with the other post when people speak about other release which are NOT posted here). It seems logic for me that several threads talking about the same are just confusing and making things more messy. Is it not better people speaking/discussing in mainly 1 thread of a new Hypnos release instead of several posted in different sections?