RIP Music Lounge? aka What's the Site Announcement Forum For?

[katnapz]

Not to gripe or anything, but some of us don't have the time to log into the Den everyday (multiple times as some do)....shouldn't this forum be used to announce to everyone that the Lounge was being axed out....and perhaps why? Yes, after digging around in the General Forum I found some threads relating to the matter but....

Also a counter comment to U2Lynne mentioning that the Lounge only got a couple posts a day....using that same logic shouldn't forums like "Loops" "Vines" and this very forum be eliminated too? People can just post all that in the General Forum if a lack of posts is reason enough for deleting a forum.

What actually boggles my mind is that the Den was set up for the exchange of music/and music related discussion....and the music forum gets the axe. I find that to be true irony, or an indication of just how much interest the participants here actually have in music discussion. :hmm:

Suggestion #1? I've noticed it's possible to PM to more than one person with the same message,...why not make it possible to post a thread to more than one forum (by the thread creator only)?...any follow-up posts would follow the rules set by the thread creator. That way if someone is worried that no one will read their thread in the appropiate forum they can cross it over the the general forum.

Suggestion #2? Delete all the forums and only leave the General. (I'm serious!...sortta) If I follow some of the comments correctly on the deletion of the Music Lounge, a large number of people don't care to flip from one forum to another so I think it should be made easy for everyone to just have one forum to go to. Later on if the need arises you can create different forums,

Realizing I'm a small voice in the crowd (i.e., not a post whore ;) ) my opinion shouldn't hold much sway, but if you plan on getting any significant size to the Den, having everything lumped into one forum only because people are too lazy or don't have the etiquette to post in a more appropriate forum might not be bad now, but later with more users...could lead to confusion or frustration as they try to find a post from "just a couple days ago" afterall, wasn't lazy programming what lead to the whole Y2K problem.

Anyways...still love y'all...just doing a sanity check. Feel free to bash me :)

[New Homebrew]

Bring the music section back.

[pyro]

:thumbsup I liked the Piano Lounge, wish it had gotten more posts and stayed alive...

[diggrd]

I was one who would post in the Piano Bar occasionally and although I see having it and taking it away as being backassward I also understand the problem with not enough traffic to warrant keeping it. That being said I am sure that if the traffic picks up the forums could be split again.

[RainDawg]

These were merged because there really only were very few posts in there. In fact, there are more posts right here in this thread then there are daily in that forum. I thought it was a great idea, but the fact is that there was very little actual musical discussion going on in there, and we just didn't see keeping it separate.

Nothing turns a newbie off more than entering a new forum and seeing only 1 new thread every few days. If discussions on musical topics picks up in GD, then we'll certainly want to move it to it's own forum.

[RainDawg]

By the way, the vines section is already being discussed. This one is really not getting much traffic either.

[New Homebrew]

Nothing turns a newbie off more than entering a new forum and seeing only 1 new thread every few days. If discussions on musical topics picks up in GD, then we'll certainly want to move it to it's own forum.

I think it's a turn off to people who are serious about music to see a site like this without a music section.

[U2Lynne]

Maybe what we need to do is bring it back but with a more defined purpose. Like 'discussion of your favorite bands, tours, songs, and lyrics go on here'.

It seems that many people were confused about the purpose of The Piano Bar and that was part of the reason it wasn't being used.

[wazoo2u]

Maybe what we need to do is bring it back but with a more defined purpose. Like 'discussion of your favorite bands, tours, songs, and lyrics go on here'.

It seems that many people were confused about the purpose of The Piano Bar and that was part of the reason it wasn't being used.
Or possibly that people assumed that it was, like GD, simply full of vapid discussion ?

A vote to re-create the music forum.

[U2Lynne]

Go ahead and post a Poll in The Lounge and see what people think of bringing back The Piano Bar. But, like I said, you might want to include a statement that it have a more defined purpose.

[toys]

I think if more of the musical discussion threads that were in General Discussion had been moved to the Piano Lounge it would have helped. Piano Lounge wasn't getting much action, but it wasn't cuz of no musical discussion, it was cuz we spuds were too lazy to post our musical threads in the proper place.

For instance, all the threads on music festivals (Bonnaroo, Langerado, Wakarusa) could be moved there, as well as Musical Alphabet, Jukebox... just those alone would give the reinstated Piano Lounge more traffic.

[CATyler610]

For instance, all the threads on music festivals (Bonnaroo, Langerado, Wakarusa) could be moved there, as well as Musical Alphabet, Jukebox... just those alone would give the reinstated Piano Lounge more traffic.
I doubt either of those threads would have lived if they were in the Piano Lounge. If the Lounge comes back, I would want to post my thread in whichever forum would get the most response. I think part of the complaint was people having their threads moved.
I don't know if it is possible, but it would be nice if a peripherally music related thread could be allowed to exist in both Forums with updates showing up in both. Not sure that works but it's a suggestion.

[CATyler610]

I'd also like to point out the success that phishhook.com has had with one forum:
http://www.phishhook.com/board/index.php
Not that I want this to become a phishhook.com kind of site. :)

[katnapz]

Well,...I never said in my original post whether I thought the Music Lounge should come back. Ok, my personal opinion is that it should, and that the Mods should move any musical related disscussion in the General Forum over.....(the only way to properly train a bad dog is with a newspaper over the nose as far as I'm concerned...and if that doesnt' work a shotgun with rocksalt does the job). If people want to complain about a thread being moved then so be it and they can leave, but if your users aren't trained/educated properly then what use is having seperate forums? Sure GENERIC covers a lot of ground, but if there's a proper forum for a thread I say a Mod should move it. I'm sure this opinion doesn't make me popular with Lynne and the others as it's a ton of extra work....initially...but as people get used to it they tend to police themselves. I'm a usegroup junkie and I see it work all the time...

The points/suggestions I brought up that I'd actually like to hear back on are:
-Why wasn't the fact brought up in this forum that the Music Lounge was being deleted? That's what this forum is for....if the matter had been posted here, and then maybe a short discussion then perhaps some points would've been raised by people who read this forum.....and also then a person wouldn't wonder what the heck happened without wading through all the "stuff" in the General Forum.

-What about my suggestion that a thread creator could opt to have a post appear in more than one forum (and any follow-up posts)? Then if someone was worried that their posts may not get the proper attention, they can always "opt in" the General Forum. I have nooo clue how the programing on this site works so maybe it's a bit NO, but it's a suggestion.

[pyro]

I think if more of the musical discussion threads that were in General Discussion had been moved to the Piano Lounge it would have helped. Piano Lounge wasn't getting much action, but it wasn't cuz of no musical discussion, it was cuz we spuds were too lazy to post our musical threads in the proper place.

For instance, all the threads on music festivals (Bonnaroo, Langerado, Wakarusa) could be moved there, as well as Musical Alphabet, Jukebox... just those alone would give the reinstated Piano Lounge more traffic.

That's what I was thinking... Of course leaving the ghost threads that redirect to their new location up for a few days too. I think after a while people may have started using it more and more and posting their music threads in there again. And of course if the admins couldn't keep up they could have created temporary mods of some of the bored PW's...

[U2Lynne]

The points/suggestions I brought up that I'd actually like to hear back on are:
-Why wasn't the fact brought up in this forum that the Music Lounge was being deleted? That's what this forum is for....if the matter had been posted here, and then maybe a short discussion then perhaps some points would've been raised by people who read this forum.....and also then a person wouldn't wonder what the heck happened without wading through all the "stuff" in the General Forum.
My bad. I guess the way I read this site is totally different than the way anyone else does. I just hit the New Posts button and I get all the posts and I just never look to see what forum the post is in. The was a post that addressed the issue of getting rid of The Piano Bar. It had also been brought up just the week before. I took a look in the forum and saw only, at max, a couple of posts a day in there. I just didn't see a problem with getting rid of it. And, the posts that were in there really didn't have many replies. So, not only was the forum not getting many threads started, but it didn't seem to be very active.

-What about my suggestion that a thread creator could opt to have a post appear in more than one forum (and any follow-up posts)? Then if someone was worried that their posts may not get the proper attention, they can always "opt in" the General Forum. I have nooo clue how the programing on this site works so maybe it's a bit NO, but it's a suggestion.
That would involve some programming. I assume you would want more than just a "Redirect". A "Redirect" just leaves a pointer to the post in another forum, but it doesn't bump when the other thread bumps. Redirects also don't show post counts or thread views with them. But, even if we just put a redirect in one of the forums and the actually thread in another, that would require someone to manually do that to the thread. If you are talking about a thread that actually looks like it is alive in both forums but is actually only one thread, well that will require some programming. We are looking for programmers (there is a post in this forum and in Technobabble about that).

[U2Lynne]

And of course if the admins couldn't keep up they could have created temporary mods of some of the bored PW's... :eek2: :eek2: :eek2:

[pyro]

haha, yeah, bad suggestion I guess :-P

how about this suggestion though, how about a tounge-sticking-out-smilie-mawhatever? :-P

[Rider]

You know what if all the people who want the piano bar had posted in their to begin with we would still have a piano bar. Plain and simple most of what should be in the piano bar was posted in GD. Sorry but the mods have other things to do besides moving disscussion threads all day.

[New Homebrew]

You know what if all the people who want the piano bar had posted in their to begin with we would still have a piano bar. Plain and simple most of what should be in the piano bar was posted in GD. Sorry but the mods have other things to do besides moving disscussion threads all day.

Why don't you check the history? People did post music related material there.

[katnapz]

I'm not going to win a popularity contest here by saying this,...but what do you think the Mods are for but to enforce the rules? YES, I know that they don't get paid, and YES I know they have a life to live but still there's a job to do (and I'm guessing they signed up for it without a gun to their heads). Really the only one I see put their foot down once in awhile is Lynne with a comment to behave or freezing a thread (Five and RD occassionally too) but the repeated mantra of "when there enough music related discussions" is holding about as much water as "I'll fix the leaks in my boat when it's sank down to the flag." I just did a very quick look at GD and out of the first 20 threads listed we have 8 that sure look like musical discussions:

Oasis to tour...
who played with....
The Jukebox Thread...
My CD List...
Interest in these shows...
Robert Randolph and...
Fan Clubs: Whats...
Musical Alphabet...

Obviously it's open to interpretation to the above (I definately say five of them are musical...other three ???), but in the time it took me to type out the headers,....wouldn't it take about the same to move them? Ok, a Mod might want to take an extra half minute to make sure on each one, but it didn't take me long to review them.
RainDawg is right,...a newbie hates to show up and see only one thread in a forum like a musical discussion....problem is....newbies plus others hate to wade through a bunch of other stuff to find musical discussion. If you take the music related threads out of GD "right now", then a music discussion forum will sure have more than one post.
Ever hear of a GI party? In the military that's when they pull everyone in a unit in on a weekend to clean up a building/area...no excuses, no vacation time off. How about a Mod party? Get all the Mods together for a couple hours over the weekend and relocate the appropriate threads. Heck, give me god mod for a couple hours and I'll extend Lynnes avatar down a couple inches :cool:
Now that I've probably got every Mod gunning for me I'll shut up.... ;) Did I mention I love y'all? :D
(and I'm sorry that this thread may not still be as related to Site Announcements at this point, but I guess it's still Suggestions)

[pyro]

You know what if all the people who want the piano bar had posted in their to begin with we would still have a piano bar. Plain and simple most of what should be in the piano bar was posted in GD. Sorry but the mods have other things to do besides moving disscussion threads all day.

I did post threads and inside threads there whenever I saw something. Only problem with my threads is though that other people would find the article or whatever and post them in GD...

[Chachi420]

Maybe what we need to do is bring it back but with a more defined purpose. Like 'discussion of your favorite bands, tours, songs, and lyrics go on here'.

It seems that many people were confused about the purpose of The Piano Bar and that was part of the reason it wasn't being used.


I was confused about what the piano bar was for. Maybe a title like " General Music Discussion" would be a better description.

[Evenreven]

Toys started a poll:

http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3841

Vote for the Bar! ;)

[U2Lynne]

Poll going on here: http://www.thetradersden.org/forums/showthread.php?t=3841

[Evenreven]

Hey, I beat you to it for the second time. :)

[LewZealand]

Or possibly that people assumed that it was, like GD, simply full of vapid discussion ?

A vote to re-create the music forum.

Stated much more eloquently than I was going to express it.

[U2Lynne]

Hey, I beat you to it for the second time. :)
I thought I beat you to it the first time? Hmmm, or maybe I need a faster computer. :D

(Sorry, just noticed this.)