ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 22, 2013 20:29:47 GMT
A few musings, no criticism intended or implied in any of this, just taking stock of where we are, and where we might be heading.
FACT -
After a very satisfying honeymoon period our membership growth now seems, not unexpectedly, to be slowing considerably. In fact it has been static for several days now.
We regularly have a large number of unregistered guests viewing. The 24 hour totals often show 10 times more guests viewing than registered members.
We have (to date) 83 registered members, 41 of whom have made fewer than 5 posts, 17 of these have never posted.
IMHO -
If this place is to have a chance of long-term survival as anything more than a "club" and pleasant pastime for a very small number of people we urgently need -
i) to encourage unregistered guests to become registered and active members, and
ii) to encourage as much active participation as possible from registered members. (Whilst always acknowledging that for a number of perfectly good reasons there will always be a wide variation in active participation levels from member to member, and for any given member over a period of time.)
DISCUSS - (please don't write on both sides of the paper at once)
Keith
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Post by peterh on Mar 23, 2013 8:25:09 GMT
Hello there, after a few weeks this is my first post. I like to read what's being said, but don't always feel that I can add anything.
I also look at the L'arrivee forum, and that relies quite heavily on a few regular posters too, but they do have quite a few "newbies." There's often technical questions, eg about set ups, and strings, that seems to get others involved. There are some other ideas too, like :what are you reading, or where to try/buy studff
I know this might be the wrong place to say so BUT , I did enjoy all of the R T concert, and the whole band and guests seemed up for it, and that drummer seems important and enthusiastic but somehow leaves a it all feeling balanced.
Enough said for me, Bye for now kind regs Peter
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 23, 2013 11:27:14 GMT
Hi Peter - just wanted to welcome you to the Forum and to thank you for your excellent first post. Keith (Have sent you a personal message via the Forum too - you should see a little speech-bubble type marker appear by the "Messages" tab along the top shortly.)
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leoroberts
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My main instrument is: probably needing new strings
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Post by leoroberts on Mar 23, 2013 11:45:32 GMT
It's difficult trying to ensure this forum doesn't stultify, or become a clique, but it's only by getting folk engaging in the topics that we can avoid this, I reckon. The Plucky Duck is a great place to 'showcase' ideas - and the best thing is that members are supportive (and honest) in their comments. Even better is the fact that you don't have to be very good! There are plenty of sub-forums (fora?) for technical/specialist topics and a couple of general threads, too, which keep the place ticking over. If it all gets a bit boring I'm sure someone will post a 'strings' question and it'll all kick off soon enough And then there's the various 'meets' culminating in the HB4 in Halifax this September - a great chance to meet unpretentious musicians for beer, whiskey, music, conversation, food, general larks and get hands-on with some incredible instruments ... It'd be a shame if this forum imploded, it's such a great resource - I've put it out on my networks and know that one person has signed up as a result... Hopefully more will follow. Oh, and Peter: welcome from me, too
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andrewjw
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Post by andrewjw on Mar 23, 2013 15:05:07 GMT
Plus one Leo...although I can't see how the forum could implode unless Martin and/or Keith decide to call it a day. I'm not too concerned...this place is patently friendly and unpretentious...if that means like minded folk only join and post sporadically then so be it...I'd rather be part of that sort of group than something that is pretending to be something that its not.. You can't force people to be contributors...look at the masses that are "watchers" every weekend viewing all sorts of sport that they will never play..that's ok and all sorts of personal reasons for that...still good to have an interest however small.
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Post by thecorner on Mar 23, 2013 16:33:39 GMT
As the header of this thread states, this is a fabulous forum. I don't think we should worry too much - after all 83 members probably isn't bad at all, considering it's not been going that long. As far as "active" members goes, about 40 contributing is a pretty good proportion, and at least, as Andrew said, it is very friendly place.
I quite often look at other art, music, jazz, guitar forums, just for information or interest, but don't really want to join in all of them. I think we should be really encouraged that there are so many people who want to see what's going on here as viewers, and seem to have enough interest to come back again. Maybe they might want to join in at a later date, if something sparks their interest, but meanwhile, lets just keep being a really friendly and welcoming forum, with the current active members really enjoying it.
Eric
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Post by pnut on Mar 23, 2013 23:18:00 GMT
:guitar1:How may posts do I have to post before I graduate from sore fingers?
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 23, 2013 23:46:22 GMT
:guitar1:How may posts do I have to post before I graduate from sore fingers? Good question Peter! Martin knows, as he set it up. Maybe he might publish it - or maybe it's too dangerous for us to know - maybe he'd even have to kill us if he told us. Keith
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Mar 23, 2013 23:51:17 GMT
10 I think...
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Post by scripsit on Mar 23, 2013 23:55:30 GMT
I lurk in several luthier and player forums.
I can't contribute to luthier forums because I've never built a guitar, but I like knowing what's under the hood. And have now been hanging around some forums long enough to be annoyingly opinionated about some issues, so it's best I keep out of the more contentious discussions.
I play solo fingerstyle guitar, and live in Adelaide, which is somewhere about the same as 'novelist' in terms of normal social contact with other like-minded musicians. Reading what other people think and say about their guitar music and playing, and hearing what other relatively sane folk are doing helps make me feel I have some connection with other humans.
The US-based forum has been excellent for good advice about home recording in particular (Doug Young and Fran Guidry are knowledgable and generous with their time), but the continual Martin versus Taylor and 'hey, should I return my dreadnaught under warranty because it has a blemish on the inside of the neck block' stuff is tiresome.
So, I just like checking out what people are saying most days.
Kym
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 24, 2013 0:00:02 GMT
Hi Kym, and a warm welcome to you! Glad you've joined us. Maybe you might post some of your music sometime in the Plucky Duck, where an appreciative, if sometimes inebriated audience awaits - but no pressure! Keith
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Martin
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Post by Martin on Mar 24, 2013 0:00:28 GMT
Welcome Kym, and thanks for posting that The feedback is really very helpful
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Post by pnut on Mar 24, 2013 0:17:46 GMT
Funny but after you were posting loads of highly witty stuff about snow drifts and flakes on another thread I decided to listen to Kate Bushes 50 words for snow last night. When i first bought that album thought it was Ok but far from her best and wasnt that impressed, for some reason last night it was awesome, I sort of got every bit of it and exactly where she was comeing from, interactions with Fry and Elton as well!!. Gave it another listen this afternoon and found it distinctly average again! It just sort of reinforced some of the things that came up in the "How to really Listen" Video i.e the musician has an emotional state they are immersed in when they generate the stuff, the listener has an emotional state they recieve and interperate it in ............... sometimes the two coincide!! As someone who works part time as a therapist Ive sometimes heard it said that how well your treatment works depends on how well you "gel" with your clients and hence how well they follow your instructions on lifestyle advice, which often has much more long term effect than the actual physical treatment you give. If you "gel well" the patient "hears you" and stops the destructive lifestyle and gets better. The therapists that do well are the ones that gel with the biggest proportion of the population! bit like musicians I suppose? for those that have to make their living from it you need to gel with an adequate percentage of the population. Adequate for some is enough to earn beer money, for others to eak out an existance, for Chris Martin et al enough to have a majorly good time! Course he may have started out as someone prepared to earn beer money though I doubt it, he's properly trained and on record as having trained bloody hard to make sure he's good at what he does and knows his trade. Just a ramblin thought love these smiley face things!
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Post by pnut on Mar 24, 2013 0:25:03 GMT
:banjo:Am I up to 10 yet? Im fed up of having sore fingers
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ocarolan
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Post by ocarolan on Mar 24, 2013 0:28:24 GMT
:banjo:Am I up to 10 yet? Im fed up of having sore fingers Pretty close! Keith
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