Membership Drive Underway

[Xenu]

YOU LOVE DRUGS, RON.

[Ron]

Yes, that's true. But drugs haven't impaired my ability to post messages intelligible to the average member here [excepting, of course, several posts on this forum--possibly even a few on this particular thread] as the average member *here* is pret-TY f*ck-KING keen. Sometimes, and again I stress that only on very rare occasions, your posts are just a liiiiiiitle esoteric and remain unfathomable to the average Joe [unless that particular Joe should happen to have taken a "hit" of whatever "substance" you may also have imbibed].

BTW, you never *did* figure it out, did you--the reason you were thrown out of sh.tv? It had nothing to do with drugs or, as some have speculated, your rather liberal use of profanity. No. You got the boot as too many members [read: gorts and the boss his-own-fine-self] COULDN'T FIGURE OUT WHAT THE FUCK YOU WERE TRYING TO SAY!!! So when you got PMs asking you to "agree to our conditions" [conveniently appended to your signature here], what they were really trying to say was to lay off the "stuff" long enough so as to enable you to post messages that maybe 9-10 members maybe? might? possibly on a good day understand.

And what are *yooouuu* listening to as you read this and other threads? And could you please tell us your favorite Stones song?

[lukpac]

"Sister Morphine"

[Ron]

Luke, were only Xenu "O Great One" capable of making that admisson himself. But alas, no. You were forced to do it for him. I'm afraid the "character" issue has surfaced yet again.

[Grant]

Again, you may be right, but I wonder if it's more because a majority of members simply aren't familiar with the artist you'd posted about. I've always felt that your threads were quite popular/successful. I'd be curious, though, to know some of the posts/threads that you thought were ignored.

Ron,

It's just frustrating when so few people are into the music you're interested in. Most of the guys are yer basic classic rock/60s music fan, even the owner of the site. To put it bluntly, yer typical white-boy rock crowd that dabbles in Sinatra and Motown a bit. The Motown board is pretty restricted to Motown stuff, and Detroit Soul is a real pain to navigate with a heavy emphasis on...you got it...Motown! Now, one of the gorts wants to cut out frivilous threads, and they are jumping on people to watch their spelling. And, if a gort thinks you did something wrong, even if they are mistaken, they scold you. The gorts are *always* right. YOU are always WRONG! End of story.

Sorry for the rant but...you know...

[lukpac]

Maybe you should start your own forums, Grant.

[Ron]

Again, you may be right, but I wonder if it's more because a majority of members simply aren't familiar with the artist you'd posted about. I've always felt that your threads were quite popular/successful. I'd be curious, though, to know some of the posts/threads that you thought were ignored.

Ron,

It's just frustrating when so few people are into the music you're interested in. Most of the guys are yer basic classic rock/60s music fan, even the owner of the site. To put it bluntly, yer typical white-boy rock crowd that dabbles in Sinatra and Motown a bit. The Motown board is pretty restricted to Motown stuff, and Detroit Soul is a real pain to navigate with a heavy emphasis on...you got it...Motown! Now, one of the gorts wants to cut out frivilous threads, and they are jumping on people to watch their spelling. And, if a gort thinks you did something wrong, even if they are mistaken, they scold you. The gorts are *always* right. YOU are always WRONG! End of story.

Sorry for the rant but...you know...

Aaah. I now much better understand your point[s]. And I believe we [briefly] touched on this several months ago in a "What is Soul?" thread. For better or worse, of the music you most enjoy maybe 70s soul is tops [if I remember correctly] and even white boys like me who really love soul music tend to lose interest from somewhere past 1972 or so. All to say that you're not going to have that many people to talk to about that particular genre. And I can see how that can be frustrating.

As far as the somewhat restrictive nature of the sh.tv board itself goes, I hear you on that score also. By and large they try to avoid "rough edges," which is unfortunate as those "rough edges" tend to give a place character. But I understand it. I mean, if I were Steve and had a web site w/ chat room whose aim [not exclusively, by any means] was as a promotional device re: my career in the music industry, I'd want as little trouble and fewest rough edges as possible. And let's face it--it's a very successful place with [literally] thousands of members. It's a rather genteel place, but that's not by accident. It's by design. If the one and only goal of the place were to discuss music, I think it would be run a little differently. But as a place for both promoting Steve's work *and* discussing music . . . well, that's a tough balancing act. Unfortunately, I think they do a good job of balancing those two goals.

[Xenu]

Yeah.

There are a few "garage" posts occasionally, at least.

I've made several efforts to get into soul/classic R&B/etc. It's never worked, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of (this, of course, applies on a more "obscurity" scale...I'm quite fond of all of the "mainstream" stuff, like lord Curtis M.). I think a large part of it has to do with my total lack of soul whatsoever...just as my problem with metal has to be my contentedness.

I did, however, successfully get into blues, so perhaps I'm just very confused.

[Grant]

Maybe you should start your own forums, Grant.

How much $ does it take to get one of these things going? I wouldn't want to restrict the type of music discussed, but the overall orientation would be a forum with an emphasis on R&B/soul music, with a slant towards the audiophile or serious collector. It's just that those who frequent most sites on the net are almost exclusive rock fans. I'm also a big hard rock fan, but few of these sites are very conducive to anything but rock. There is a whole world of music that doesn't get discussed. Of course, the same goes for other types of music, but my main focus is soul.

[Grant]

Again, you may be right, but I wonder if it's more because a majority of members simply aren't familiar with the artist you'd posted about. I've always felt that your threads were quite popular/successful. I'd be curious, though, to know some of the posts/threads that you thought were ignored.

Ron,

It's just frustrating when so few people are into the music you're interested in. Most of the guys are yer basic classic rock/60s music fan, even the owner of the site. To put it bluntly, yer typical white-boy rock crowd that dabbles in Sinatra and Motown a bit. The Motown board is pretty restricted to Motown stuff, and Detroit Soul is a real pain to navigate with a heavy emphasis on...you got it...Motown! Now, one of the gorts wants to cut out frivilous threads, and they are jumping on people to watch their spelling. And, if a gort thinks you did something wrong, even if they are mistaken, they scold you. The gorts are *always* right. YOU are always WRONG! End of story.

Sorry for the rant but...you know...

Aaah. I now much better understand your point[s]. And I believe we [briefly] touched on this several months ago in a "What is Soul?" thread. For better or worse, of the music you most enjoy maybe 70s soul is tops [if I remember correctly] and even white boys like me who really love soul music tend to lose interest from somewhere past 1972 or so. All to say that you're not going to have that many people to talk to about that particular genre. And I can see how that can be frustrating.

As far as the somewhat restrictive nature of the sh.tv board itself goes, I hear you on that score also. By and large they try to avoid "rough edges," which is unfortunate as those "rough edges" tend to give a place character. But I understand it. I mean, if I were Steve and had a web site w/ chat room whose aim [not exclusively, by any means] was as a promotional device re: my career in the music industry, I'd want as little trouble and fewest rough edges as possible. And let's face it--it's a very successful place with [literally] thousands of members. It's a rather genteel place, but that's not by accident. It's by design. If the one and only goal of the place were to discuss music, I think it would be run a little differently. But as a place for both promoting Steve's work *and* discussing music . . . well, that's a tough balancing act. Unfortunately, I think they do a good job of balancing those two goals.

Yes, thanks for "getting it"! That is exactly my feeling on the problem. There are TONS of people out there who dig and grew up with mid 70s-mid 80s R&B/soul, and while some of the music is available on the market, there is a lot more that isn't, and again, the majority of people who frequent most high profile websites don't listen to it. Why the stuff doesn't sell is:

1) People who love the music aren't always in the financial position to buy the stuff again.

2) Fans of the music tend to hang on to their collections because they percieve/know that the major companies don't focus on it.

3) R&B fans, more than rock fans, tend to be slightly less nostalgic.

4) If the product is out there, the potential customers don't know about it because the advertising either isn't there, or the ads don't seem to target the music's main audience.

5) These websites are not as populated by fans of classic soul because, well, face it, fewer blacks or latinos have computers in America. Not that many whites are seriously into the music.

As for the SH site, I fully understand what they are trying to do there. Actually, with his stance on compression/peak limiting, being high profile can help us all (yet we still have yet to SEE/HEAR any real results of the bitching about it). Problem is, homoginized viewpoints may not sway the industry to do anything.

Hey, I help moderate a website. Believe it or not, I am trying to implement many of the rules the SH site has, though the other guys don't want much moderation. The focus is a soon-to-be-released high-profile product, Audition, formerly Cool Edit Pro, now owned by Adobe. We intend to be the main satelite forum for all Adobe/Cool Edit needs. We will enforce the rules about trolls and warez to the hilt!

[Grant]

Yeah.

There are a few "garage" posts occasionally, at least.

I've made several efforts to get into soul/classic R&B/etc. It's never worked, for reasons I'm not entirely sure of (this, of course, applies on a more "obscurity" scale...I'm quite fond of all of the "mainstream" stuff, like lord Curtis M.). I think a large part of it has to do with my total lack of soul whatsoever...just as my problem with metal has to be my contentedness.

I did, however, successfully get into blues, so perhaps I'm just very confused.

I have a friend who is trying to get me into Opeth, his favorite band. He is into death metal.

Me, I grew up with soul music, and pretty much everything else except opera, country, and polka! I love all sorts of music but I foucus on 70s soul music basically because so much of it has become so obscure. Think of the 70s and most people come up with Elton John, Sex Pistols, Commodores, or disco. I go deeper than that.

Country? Yeah, I like some older stuff, pre 1980, even some Garth Brooks or, believe it or not, some Randy Travis. But, I can't get into the stuff like, say, Bradley can. I do think it is cultural.

Opera? Talk about Mariah Carey screaming? That'e all opera singers do, with no breaks!

Polka? Well, I had a childhood friend whose parents were polish. Lawrence Welk every Sunday at 6:00 PM, without fail! Barf!

[lukpac]

How much $ does it take to get one of these things going?

It depends. The software is free, you just need a place to host it. You can either buy server space somewhere, or run your own server. Of course, the latter requires a 24/7 connection that's reasonably fast and not crippled (some types of DSL), your own dedicated computer, and the know how to do it all.

[lukpac]

5) These websites are not as populated by fans of classic soul because, well, face it, fewer blacks or latinos have computers in America. Not that many whites are seriously into the music.

I may be wrong, but I'd venture a guess that fans of such music aren't as obsessive about it, either. It's one thing to listen to a type of music a lot. It's another to spend several hours a week (at least) talking about it online.

Believe it or not, I am trying to implement many of the rules the SH site has, though the other guys don't want much moderation. The focus is a soon-to-be-released high-profile product, Audition, formerly Cool Edit Pro, now owned by Adobe. We intend to be the main satelite forum for all Adobe/Cool Edit needs. We will enforce the rules about trolls and warez to the hilt!

There's a difference between keeping away trolls and silencing legitimate arguments, even if they are heated. The whole "place nice or else" idea...

[Grant]

I may be wrong, but I'd venture a guess that fans of such music aren't as obsessive about it, either. It's one thing to listen to a type of music a lot. It's another to spend several hours a week (at least) talking about it online.

The fans are just as obsessive, it's just that they are not online talking about it. They are probably downloading it. But, sometimes that even hard to believe, because it is hard to find classic soul on Kazza and WinMX. Now the new stuff? It's all over the place! Age plays a role in this. You find fewer younger R&B/soul fans going after the old school stuff. I guess they'd rather hear it sampled.

There's a difference between keeping away trolls and silencing legitimate arguments, even if they are heated. The whole "place nice or else" idea...

Oh, I know that! The trick is to just keep personal attacks out of it.

[lukpac]

Where's Ron the cheerleader? We're stuck at 84.

The first person to bring on a new member gets one of my very own audiophile duplex receptacles. Never worry about poor power contact again!