My vision for this site

My vision for this site
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#111

That would great. I think that ‘all threads’ category should still be the default at the top of a split column. That way no one really misses anything, and we notice immediately where the high activity threads are.

The difference would be that it looks more organized, and the sub categories can be accessed and queried without having to jump to a separate ‘by category’ tab.


#112

Are you interested in delegating out the ‘badge’ idea?


#113

I just read this thread pretty fast, but I really empathize with the situation of IRD. It parallels Audiopolis.org insofar as the active participants seem to pare down to a handful, and even though we know why, there is not much we can do.

We have a lot of knowledge, but we don’t have a site for music consumers or artists wanting to promote their music. We have a site with an amazing forum within which is built a lot of music as well, but it is far from public friendly. I think the mechanics of the site feel great, though, and that bodes well.

I have this notion that struggling music sites need to link to one another more actively, especially when they offer complementary services. We could be indie boutique sites, catering to niches. We might get more cross circulation. We could even create more sites if they don’t exist.

And in my mind it would be swell if the funding for the site could be member paid for. It shouldn’t be expensive, say $20 to be a basic lifetime member. You get a badge and a mention on a special page. Pay $100, be a Gold Member. Etc etc.


#114

PS:

I was going to mention that I had a great experience in BTR with Planet of Beautiful People. And even greater in the Collaboration Forum with the Interstellar Fur Traders project featuring that song.

It of course is only beginning, but I have an extremely optimistic feeling about it. It is 10 songs plus as many spoken parts, a whole album of music, and that is a lot to ask for help on. I’d even say it was too great a task, too much to expect from anyone, except that I’ve seen it happen before at Audiopolis, so I knew it could be done. Even still, I had no idea what would result from this.

And why? Because I’m a no name hobbyist with a campy sci-fi musical idea. So it is not the commercial value, a possibility but unlikely, but we discussed it anyway, just in case. In my case, I split equally to keep it simple and honest in that any commercial hope will be due to everyone’s contribution. It must be the music and the story sounded like fun, and that we enjoy the idea of the musical direction we want it to take, the Roxy Music Billy Thorpe Tubes future fusion rock that we call it.

And that’s the value here. We really do have opportunities to make original exciting music better than we could on our own. In BTR, it is production that is improved, it is concept that is challenged. In Collab it builds upon that and more. It is freedom and diversity of ideas, and then creatively incorporating them all in actual songs. In my experience, it is often unexpected and maybe not what you had in mind, but you have to try to roll with it, and in the end you may like it that way, maybe a lot better.


#115

I’m trying to be better about at least checking in on the site once a day. Working full time, running a busier than expected side business, and taking care of an aging parent keeps me busier (and more tired) than I want to be. I do like the ideas I see coming across in this thread.


#116

If I ever get enough time to record the drum track for the song I posted for collaboration, we will have another mixing contest.


#117

I think these are extremely important points. I’ve always felt a bit frustrated by the layout of this forum.
When I enter a site, I like to know where I can find the information that I’m looking for quickly. Some kind of chart or map to direct me would be very helpful…

I wonder if you could make a make of the world for the main page and have each category written on a country, on the map… For instance, the USA might be “Recording and Mixing”…The UK could be “Plugins”…Canada could be Newbies…etc, etc. :innocent:. Hey Canadians , don’t be offended…I’m a Canadian too. :grin:


#118

Wow. A lot more people bringing up the layout issue than I would have expected. I personally liked how everything was mashed together with different colored tags for sorting. But it seems a number of others hate it. Including some users that didn’t convert from RR.

I still support the idea of a categories page as a split screen when someone hits the home page.

I do feel it should remain obvious and evident that its a forum. Not a site with a forum on it.

Thoughts?


#119

Do you mean splitting the screen in the middle and having categories listed vertically on both the left and right sides of the split ? … I’m probably not understanding correctly.

I agree.


#120

Wicked, I appreciate the idea. I’ve been spending a lot of time on the Produce Like A Pro forum, and subdividing recording related categories has worked badly for them. The womb, which was one of the other highly active forums eventually collapsed all their recording categories together and it really helped things.

@holster, and @bozmillar, I’m of the opinion at the moment, that any an all tech talk (Daws, plugins, software, virtual instruments) need to be left in one category tab, then divided with the color scheme within that tab just like we’re doing now.

I think he main categories that need to be split are business, bash, backstage, and intro.


#121

@Wicked, I’m talking about this…

So leave the categories within the category color coded and searchable by group. My main frustration with that page, is if you click BASH, I intuitively want to see the right column ONLY show recent bashes, but still have access to the tabs on the left column. Instead it applies a filter to everything within that category, and makes it full page.


#122

I think that looks A LOT better than what we have now! It adds much more clarity and direction for newcomers and the rest of us.

Yeah, I totally see your point…I wonder if there’s any work around for that problem? Even if there isn’t a solution, I really think that your forum layout would be a big improvement.

I appreciate the effort you’re putting in to this site Jonathan ! :beerbang: :thumbsup:


#123

You seem to be making a lot of assumptions about the way people think and act generally Andrew. Obviously the site is set up wrong for you - or more accurately, for your perception of a new member, but I’m not so sure it applies to everyone.

I’m not sure your music shop analogy works either. I mean, it’s not a music shop, it’s a forum. People act differently on forums compared to real life, and most people know the way that forums operate.

Personally I think it’s good that the home page shows the latest conversations in chronological order. As a new member on a forum, that’s exactly what I want to see, it allows me to check out the general level of conversation and topics, see how often people are posting (i.e., is the forum dead or thriving), and get a feel for how things generally progress. If there is something I specifically want to know, there’s a search button on most forums.

Having said that, the only way that we can know what people actually want is to ask them, so it’s all conjecture until that research is performed.

As a former internet marketer of “dubious” methods, if I wanted people to come to this forum, I’d contact people whom I know are definitely the type that are going to join, stay, and become a valued member of a home recording forum. i.e., people who are already members of other recording forums.


#124

@holster said earlier he thought it would be possible. Whats the status on this one Bryan? Are you still debating whether to make this change? Figuring out how to implement it? Getting cold feet on it?


#125

When you go to the home page, click on “CATEGORIES”… this will have that split view that I was talking about. Check it out and let me know what you think. I’m curious to see if everyone would want that view by default.

It’s possible that you can set your own view as a user also. I’ll let you know what I find.


#126

Bryan, the category view doesn’t really help organize anything unless it holds the categories in one column then the threads in another. The problem is that you have to continuously hit your back button or tab to the category page again to access the list of categories.

If I’m hearing others correctly about the format, the problem is that people intuitively want category organization from the home page of the forum.


#127

Just my .02 on the forum look: I like the default view as is. Now, maybe I have got used to it and change would take some adapting to. Anybody who chooses to look around will find what they need. I found the forum fairly intuitive once I poked around for a bit. Earlier I mentioned sending out an email survey to your current members to find out what people would like … AJ just mentioned research and that’s what I was talking about. The key is to come up with good questions, obviously.

Many sites have that feature, so I’d hope this forum platform allows for it. That seems like the best solution.


#128

@Stan_Halen, my concern is that seeing everything will only work as long as there’s only about 20 of us who post. The mishmash of activity in the everything view is good because you never miss anything, but with a larger user base, you’d miss too much.

The split screen on the category view sort of does let you see the same thing because the right side of the screen shows ‘latest’ threads. But the category tabs (which I think is the first thing someone notices on a forum) are easier to find.

Think about it. If avid didn’t categorize their forum, and at least let people post bugs and complaints and feature requests in a dedicated section, the ProTools part of their forum would be completely over run by angry rabid disgruntled users threatening to sue them and others who are threatening to switch to Logic lol.


#129

While the contest was going, nobody complained about the layout, so maybe we are making a bigger fuss about it than we need to.
I’ll try to gauge that better during the next contest.


#130

Good point.

…maybe its us engineers trying to continue to tweak things when we should bounce the mix and call it a day! lol.
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