The difference is that VMP posts weekly exclusives that are, usually, just color variants. I understand that people see that as separate from the main club, because, in a sense, it is. But, to discuss a different color of wax for a week... it doesn't even happen now. Mostly people talk about delays. That happens in the pre-order thread too, so they can co-exist. Aside from that, VMP releases 3 albums a month.
@jaycee mentions that the threads have carried over from the last forum, but they really haven't, because in the old forum, there weren't just track specific threads, like they are now; there were track specific guess threads. If we used to have one dedicated thread for dozens of different exclusives and curated titles all living together within it -- remember that and how it was actually better than what they changed it to -- there's no reason that these three different albums a month can't co-exist in one. They all drop on the same day, people discuss what they're getting, what they'll swap for, etc. and it's over. Then a month of dead space opens it up for other discussion and complaints. It's actually less focused this way, not more focused.
I'm done arguing, because I believe this is an emotional decision and not a logical one. People will always fight harder and vote emotionally. Look at everything else in the world. Sometimes, emotions are more important.
I'm disappointed that so many seem to fear integrating into this new platform, but that's just disappointment. If people can't even integrate different albums from the same company into one thread, what hope do we have? It's like when my friend would use a windows simulator on his mac. It's a weird oasis. Meanwhile, they're completely fine with integrating the exclusives into one thread, which have often included more titles at once, and of varying genres, into the same space. Don't get me wrong, I'm very happy nobody has suggested dividing the weekly exclusives up by genre, too. Plus, aside from the rare indie rock or country/folk release or something, we're generally discussing only 2 genres at once, since Essentials so often include R&HH or Classics style selections.
Two things I keep hearing are that, "people that are against VMP can just ignore" all of these separate threads overtaking the clubs section, if they have a problem with them. Meanwhile, those same people can't ignore conversations about other genres in the same thread, because THAT is overwhelming. The other thing is people explaining to me that they only want to be in threads that are specific to Essentials and not the other tracks. That's one example. Some just want to hear about classics. My response to that earlier was
And... I still don't get it. And I doubt that I will, because it doesn't hold water for me. But, it is what it is and it seems to upset more people to consolidate them at this point than it does the people in favor of it. So, if that's the case, the decision to leave it alone makes more sense for now, if only for the way that it affects people.
It's been said that we will re-evaluate this in 3 months. Cool. Regardless of what your views are on whether to consolidate or not, I hope this doesn't turn into something that divides us into two groups beyond that. I started visiting the VMP threads, primarily, because I felt uncomfortable about doing that and I didn't want to allow myself to feel restricted anywhere on this forum. Turns out that there's more VMP bitching in there than anywhere. In other words, I was comfortable just fine. Hopefully, those who spend most of there time in there will also branch out and venture more across the forum at large.
This conversation sucks, but I'm really happy that we're tackling all of this as a community and that space like this is being provided by the admins to do that. This is a new community. We are defining what it is and what it will be. That's really what's at the heart of this discussion anyway.
