[tonyandrewgiles]

Over the past 2-3 weeks I've gone to write this post a few times and I've tried to be eloquent and constructive about it but just ended up skating around the point, so now I'm just going to lay it out.

This forum is a gift.

If you'd have told me a couple of years ago that I'd be a member of a vinyl enthusiasts forum that wasn't full of self righteous dickheads I'd have laughed, if you'd then told me that the forum would be soundtrack centric I just wouldn't have believed you and yet lo and behold here we are.

Understandably sometimes people have negative experiences in dealing with labels but that's consumerism, nothing is perfect every time but this new trend of running things down needs to stop.
If you don't like something that's cool, that's your right but blind negativity just isn't warranted.

This forum always has and always will encourage constructive criticism but comments like - product A is shit etc etc does nobody any good.

This post isn't aimed at any one user it's just here to remind everyone that we've got something great going on so lets keep it that way

[seb]

+1

[philball1974]

there will always be criticism and comments that are negative, it's just the way it is. You get people who have a genuine point and you get people who try to get a reaction from people.

Truth is there's too many people on this board that keep this forum ace. Just don't react to the negativity!

[DISCOSUCKS...]

Well said Tony.

(I was half thinking of suggesting a thread purely called " Bitchin' " where people could take all of that gripin' n moanin', and those who have no interest could avoid like a leper colony. But of course the built in flaw is that the true troll wants to infect as many as possible with their pointless negativity, so are not interested in being herded into a Negativity Ghetto! Doh!)

[tonyandrewgiles]

@phil - Agreed buddy, the folk here are most of the reason I'm on here.

You can garner any info about new releases etc from the internet but it's you guys that keep me coming back

[philball1974]

How about reverse psychology. Have a thread called bitchin where all the cool folks go and vacate all the other threads?

I generally avoid the record label threads which is a shame cos I probably miss good info, but I broke protocol and looked this morning and oh surprise a rant about DW! So I'll go back to avoiding!

[ghostfires]

Well now that we've established there is the old group that's been around for a while that participates positively, and then there is a negative group of newbies that just come around to bitch and throw around negativity...

Any of you positivity group members want to donate to a 'help ghosty buy the Witches from Unbox/DW' fund?!

[tonyandrewgiles]

@ghost - I wish I had thought of that idea myself…

[philball1974]

Yeah theres no need to be down, there isn't much negativity here i don't think, most of use use it as way to interact with like minded folks. I think negativity probably comes from the kids who come here have a bit of a rant and then realise most of use are old gits who don't use lolz and wtf or rofl, and then they leave. No big deal.

[phantomnoir]

@phil, I like your idea of a specific thread where people could moan so others wouldn't be polluted.

[siforster]

The problem with one of those is that they become very personal very quickly - everyone likes a rant and a moan, but nobody likes it when those rants and moans are aimed at you... and in the case of the past few weeks, much of these rants and moans are aimed specifically at one of the people who set up and paid for this site to be here.

Much as it's irritating, almost 100% of it is "look at me!" narcissistic titting about on the internet, and that always happens and will happen more often the bigger this board gets, as well as increased spam and conspiracy theorists. The spam is easily dealt with by anyone with access to the "trash" button. The keyboard "I know my rights!" warriors are trickier, but giving them a thread for them to play in probably isn't the best way

[philball1974]

@TAG Why don't we have a sticky Introductions post where you can stick a board etiquette reminder and a place for people to say Hi?

[tonyandrewgiles]

Not a bad idea Phil.

How do the other mods/keymasters feel about adding an intro/etiquette sticky?

I don't mind adding it just want to get some other opinions.

[static14]

that is a good idea. Kinda the STBC code of conduct.

Oh, and @tony congrats on being the newest keymaster!

[tonyandrewgiles]

@static - Thank you good sir

I do think it's a good idea, it is something you find on a lot of forums, I just think it's a bit of a shame that we need to.

Still as the forum grows and we add new members it's probably best to have something set up.

[siforster]

Does this place really need a list of rules though? It's not unfair to say that the average age here is somewhat higher than the usual internet messageboard and just as there were no regulations to agree to on signup, there shouldn't really need to be any code of conduct to be enforced among adults.

Whatever anyone else decides upon I'll go along with, it's just that I've found in the past that giving people a list of what they can and can't say (which is essentially what etiquette on the internet boils down to) causes a lot more problems than it solves and I'd rather not go down the stupid road of what happens on messageboards when people start to enforce rules.

[strictlywayward]

So, in lieu of rules, we'll have a dark moderator....

[tonyandrewgiles]

@Si - I wouldn't say a list of rules but maybe something?

[philball1974]

I was thinking more along the lines of "welcome, enjoy and this is not a customer service helpdesk for record labels" rather than a list of rules.

[Spun out of control]

Am I the only one feeling that there is more of a song and dance being made about this than is strictly necessary..?

Am all in favour of adults behaving like adults and leaving it at that.

Does the occasional moan or bit of rudeness really warrant all this discussion?

Surely it is 'nature of the beast' of forums & time to draw a line under it and let's move on to talking about more exciting issues such as new vinyl, new music... etc?

+1 for Si's common sense approach.

[Whip Wilson]

I'm with Si and Spun (jinx!). Less is more works well for the vast majority of active users 'round here. Someone posted something shitty and they were instantly rebuffed or ignored by the various members of this forum. Now we have a new thread on conduct (making two new and four total where we are running this same topic into the ground) and we are discussing an etiquette sticky? The more rules we create, the more they will be ammended and enforced and then this board becomes as much about discussing that as it does the reason(s) we all joined in the first place. Why not continue to ignore or politely rebuff (when necessary) posts that, intentions aside, amount to little more than trolling attempts? Look how much that one person's post has engaged this entire board. That is sad. Move on, STBC. We're better than this.

[tonyandrewgiles]

If we can all be cool then let's leave it at that.

We're all here for the same reason after all

[Dollarhyde]

I do find it crazy how some people as a consumer think they have a right as to how some dude runs his business.

I think some constructive criticism and recommendations is a good thing, but when people start getting aggressive, fanatical and all OTT, it's not cool and is kinda stupid really.

I try my best not get involved in any of the rants that go on here as I find it all a bit pathetic and embarrassing, sometimes kind of funny even as an observer.


I don't agree with a bitching thread or a set of rules on how to behave. Maybe an introduction sticky with a note saying please be respectful, but isn't that what is expected of people anyway?

I do find the format of this message board seems quite different from others I have visited, in that I'm not sure how well it would accomodate stickies.

I find I don't navigate through the sub forums but am always going down the line of most recent posts.

[siforster]

I think that it's rather unavoidable that STBC will be employed to an extent as a Customer Service point, given that so many labels have such a high presence here, it's a good place for them to be visibly helpful (ie, one answer covering 500 of the same emailed question displayed permanently for anyone bothered enough to look) and the discourse is generally a hell of a lot more polite than anything they'll encounter on Facebook. If they wish to continue to do that then it's up to them, if they don't, it's up to them also. And to be honest, it's because of the mostly laid-back atmosphere in here that allows the few stroppy mares to be called out in the same manner that they pushed in the first place, which is refreshing to read and I suspect rather pleasing to those doing the responding.


But yeah, we've done nothing but crap on about problems caused by less than half a dozen people in a list of over 1400 over the space of a few weeks now for far too long, and it's giving far too much bandwidth to a tiny handful of people who aren't worth the bother. The only thing I would suggest if it's possible on here is a mods-only private section where keymasters and above can discuss any problems/issues/world domination, but even that is something a bit OTT for a board that is 99.99% bullshit-free.

[tonyandrewgiles]

@Si ^^^ great idea chap.