Post by hiredfox August 4, 2015 (91 of 145)
|
|
samayoeruorandajin said:
Yes, and if you'll read what Zeus has said about this community, it is a dead issue. He doesn't want it and while you and I like the forum, for me it's not about the reviews. I hardly read the reviews of even the site reviewers as I get most recommendations from forum folk. Site reviewers here hardly ever see anything bad with what they are reviewing and their grading is terrible.
I cannot help but agree upon every point you make. The reviews of Gramophone despite my oft declared antipathy towards that publication are a class above most reviews that are written on here, so like you I rarely bother with them. My main encouragement is derived from this real world forum and the experiences of fellow travellers actually telling simply their likes and dislikes of a particular new disc.
I guess when the end comes we just won't know... sounds kinda familiar doesn't it? We will mourn the passing of this Forum and the inevitable passing of our spiritual friendships.
...and the inscription on the headstone? "Also Sprach Zeus"
|
|
|
|
|
|
hiredfox said:
I cannot help but agree upon every point you make. The reviews of Gramophone despite my oft declared antipathy towards that publication are a class above most reviews that are written on here, so like you I rarely bother with them.
Do I detect sour grapes Mr ex-Fox?
|
|
|
|
|
|
I don't think it is a case of 'sour grapes'. I totally agree with Mr Hiredfox and Samayoeruorandajin in the previous post. I too rely on the forum to 'moderate' the site reviews as I believe they are sometimes far too generous. I now look to download sites to audition music for myself and now that samples can be played in up to at least 24/96 on some, I can at least sample the sound quality. This has led to me buying more downloads. The net result is a move away from SACD - the very thing SACD.net was established to avoid.
|
|
|
|
|
|
old-dog-newtricks said:
I totally agree with Mr Hiredfox .......in the previous post. I too rely on the forum to 'moderate' the site reviews as I believe they are sometimes far too generous.
I think ex-Fox is old enough to mind his own bees wax. And BTW thanks for the compliment. ‘Sometimes’ is not bad (i.e. on some occasions; at times; now and then) implying that most of the reviews are correct. Please do keep in mind that site reviewers do not get paid. They are not reviewing ‘professionally’ but rather ‘passionately’. And please do also keep in mind that most disks have been bought with our own money and that we are just as anxious as you are that we buy stuff we like. Hence the mostly ‘generous’ reviews. Finally, it is seldom (or never) that a recording company contracts musicians who cannot play or a conductor that has had no previous experience. Differences are often small and tastes differ. 3.5 to 4.5 is pretty standard. Maybe you should look at your own five star reviews. You obviously liked what you bought, although one wonders if the 5 stars for (stereo/mono) sound weren’t a bit too generous if admitting at the same time: “I am sure a new DSD recording would be a bit warmer but you can't have everything”. It’s all relative isn’t it?
|
|
|
|
|
|
I think that the biggest downside of killing this forum might be the major changes in viewing habits and frequency of many existing or future site users. I suspect that many, like myself, frequent the site daily, or even more frequently, first and foremost to see what is new in the forum. It is the forum that changes hour by hour, not new releases or reviews. I seldom visit the site just to check the new releases or new reviews. Usually, those activities are a byproduct of the main reason for my visit, which is to see what is new in the forum.
So, there are likely to be many fewer site visits by each of us, which may undermine our connectedness and loyalty to the entire site and eventually might lead to our drifting away to other sites or activities. Though the site still has excellent and useful information on recordings, its importance, priority and regular viewing habit patterns are likely going to be greatly diminished.
I also wonder to what extent new, first time users might have come to the site because they did a Google search on a topic in hi rez audio or recordings that led them to discover the value of the entire site via the forum discussion.
Obviously, this has to be weighed against the often argumentative or crazy nature of many of the forum threads, which may have driven innocent users or potential users away. Personally, I think that the forum now is relatively tame and civil, compared to many episodes in the past. It is currently much better than most forum sites elsewhere on the web, I find. But, it was not always that way.
|
|
|
Post by k-spin August 5, 2015 (96 of 145)
|
|
Fitzcaraldo215 said:
I suspect that many, like myself, frequent the site daily, or even more frequently, first and foremost to see what is new in the forum. It is the forum that changes hour by hour, not new releases or reviews. I seldom visit the site just to check the new releases or new reviews. Usually, those activities are a byproduct of the main reason for my visit, which is to see what is new in the forum.
Those are my visiting habits exactly.
I do check out the reviews if I am interested in a particular disc but am often led there by the forum.
|
|
|
Post by windhoek August 5, 2015 (97 of 145)
|
|
Fitzcaraldo215 said:
I think that the biggest downside of killing this forum might be the major changes in viewing habits and frequency of many existing or future site users. I suspect that many, like myself, frequent the site daily, or even more frequently, first and foremost to see what is new in the forum. It is the forum that changes hour by hour, not new releases or reviews. I seldom visit the site just to check the new releases or new reviews. Usually, those activities are a byproduct of the main reason for my visit, which is to see what is new in the forum.
This.
I use a variety of devices to visit sa-cd.net depending on my whereabouts and am not always logged on when I do so, so my activity as member doesn't always register, even though I usually visit to register what's happening in the forum every few hours or so because as you say, there's no need to check for new releases any more than once a day at most.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Fitzcaraldo215 said:
I think that the biggest downside of killing this forum might be the major changes in viewing habits and frequency of many existing or future site users. I suspect that many, like myself, frequent the site daily, or even more frequently, first and foremost to see what is new in the forum. It is the forum that changes hour by hour, not new releases or reviews. I seldom visit the site just to check the new releases or new reviews. Usually, those activities are a byproduct of the main reason for my visit, which is to see what is new in the forum.
Exactly.
Of course, I'm sure zeus knows this - he has access to the site's logs. And clearly he doesn't like this, thus the changes that are being made.
But the whole thing is directly contrary to how things actually work on the internet - you have to drive traffic and cater to how that traffic uses that site and then work on monetizing that use of the site. Instead zeus built this site, had the forum as an afterthought, and that became the main use of the site, and a community of regulars who do things like talk about new releases, submit reviews (albeit not as much as zeus would like), and submit titles to the database.
I see the potential move the HRmusic as a good thing - but killing the site's forum is driving a stake through the heart of the site, even if zeus doesn't realize it. There is so much more to the site than the forums, be they the wonderful reviews, the detailed tree of works on discs, which is invaluable and I'm sure is going to be more fully implemented in HRmusic, and of course the catalog of every SACD ever commercially sold. These are wonderful things and I use most of them.
But the forum is the heart...it's what supplies energy and life to these other features, and connects them together and gives them nuance and humanity. And that's not even considering how the other features help support the forum, particulary the ease of referring to different titles in conversation here.
The option to discuss specific titles is frankly not enough - the wide-ranging discussions on the forum inform a community that is interested in physical high-res media in a way nothing else does, and killing it seems a folly to me.
|
|
|
Post by Marpow August 5, 2015 (99 of 145)
|
|
Ubertrout said:
Exactly.
Of course, I'm sure zeus knows this - he has access to the site's logs. And clearly he doesn't like this, thus the changes that are being made.
I am getting a feeling that Zeus might just let this forum go? We have been talking about the end of the Forum for months now, but we still keep using it to all of it's potential.
Maybe the almighty has tricked us into thinking it is going away but it really isn't.
There just won't be a Forum on the new site.
I am just plugging along like everything is OK. I have a little input that I am going to post on another thread, as I have found out some interesting things by connecting the dots. Just don't have time to do it yet.
|
|
|
|
|
|
I, too, cannot but repeat myself: if/when the forum will disappear, it will be a great loss for the site. Folks who share a same passion need to communicate, to chat on their interests, they are drawn on the place which offer them this possibility: to interact, to share opinions, to ask/wonder about stuff related to music, and why not even a casual chat if it's anyhow related to music. And when this happens since quite some time, they become aquainted to each other, they need the presence/words of each other.
Even when this means flame and arguments(rarely lately, as I hear), something happens here - it is a warm place, which attracts and makes you want to come again. Wether it's the diversity of discussions, the possibility to ask something and find answers, or to find various points of interest, the forum maintains a hub.
It should have been kept alive, as is.
|
|
