Vinyl Me Please Essentials

Enoch said:
a lot of that has to do with how badly they have screwed it up, once things settle down and there are fewer posts I don't think that will be an issue. also, we still have a lot of now ex-members commenting in the threads that should also decrease, again all of this is thinking about the future of these threads, not the present and as @dbarila said it will be natural selection but be prepared for it
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Sure, if activity in separate threads naturally die down to the point that they can’t sustain themselves or the same conversation is happening in multiple places then absolutely do the necessary housekeeping. But that is not what was proposed.
 
LG&M said:
Okay, I’ll take a leap...

Hi, my name is Dave, and I still enjoy VMP. {ducks}

I thought the way they handled the shut down of the other place was cruel and misguided, but I still like getting my ROTMs and don’t feel like cancelling my membership over it. I don’t want to recreate the “old forum” here — the old place got on my nerves sometimes and I looked forward to not having to wade through flame wars with the staff or CS back and forth — but was excited to have a chance to talk about record collecting and other nonsense with other cool people and, since VMP is still my biggest connection to that hobby and this was billed as a place open to all comers, I thought those conversations would be allowed here. I also was well aware that there are hurt feeling and some had cancelled their memberships, and expected that working through this would be part of the launch of this forum. But I sure didn’t expect to be told that the community would like those of us who still enjoyed VMP should limit our discussions because it might reflect positively on VMP, or that the forum was considering structuring the site it a way that would intentionally cut down on the volume of VMP discussions. It doesn’t seem in line with the published mission of the forum, and it sure doesn’t make me feel very welcome.

I truly do appreciate all the hard work our mods have done in the last couple weeks, and humbly suggest that they take sometime to really think about how they want to handle this issue before commenting or making changes. I feel like I know you from your posts, even though I don’t often post myself, and don’t think that (understandable) spite and anger is why you work so hard to build this place.
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I think like just on the old forum we are all blowing this way out of portion, it makes sense to discuss how to treat VMP [threads] as a whole given how this forum was created, it doesn't seem any rash decisions are being made, but we should all be aware that things we do impact others whether we mean it to or not and that is the primary concern right now. VMP releases are constantly being posted in the What's spinning thread, no one is advocating we stop doing that. Let's be rational and admit there are many differing opinions on this and decisions will be made, but no one that I am aware of is trying to force them on anyone/any thread currently. Staff have indicated there may not be a real need for a bunch of threads and I think down the road that will be true due to actual participation in the threads. We are all learning and exploring this new place, immediately going nuclear on comments is not the answer.
 
Ethos99 said:
I appreciate the ability to vote, not everything should be democratically decided but this seems like one that should.
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I'm new, but don't forums inherently "vote" organically. The mods can certainly do what they want. I think wisdom would be to shuffle people politely to certain forums that were more or less positive. I probably won't vote. I came over because I like VMP still and want to discuss it. I won't vote, because that seems nonsensical to me. I will "vote" by deciding whether I want to participate in the new direction. The thing is that would happen no matter what. You build it. You moderate it. You lead it somewhere. People decide via participation. It seems that the more places you have (within reason) to catch the different type of people on the front end the better. If a segment dies off, then there is your answer. The other attitude of strictly cutting out one segment or the other just seems bitter, and in an ironic way similar to what you are mad at VMP for doing.... picking a new target and alienating you in the process. Just my 2 cents as a sort of new observer.

Not picking on the quoted commenter either, just used the quote to move the discussion forward.

I'll add that coming even to the old forum it was a little frustrating as a newcomer to click a thread title and have half the discussion off topic. If you want to pick up new traffic politely keeping things on topic is a no brainer in forum moderation to me. Most of the ones I've participated in will let discussion go off topic, but create a landing spot(even if temporary) for it and redirect if it gets too much. Just for the sake of sorting through things.

Again it seems to me if the creators want to take the forum a different direction people will vote anyway. But it would be easier to make all current parties welcome and gently direct traffic to those places, until you see who the bulk of your audience is.
 
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VMPKJ said:
I'm new, but don't forums inherently "vote" organically. The mods can certainly do what they want. I think wisdom would be to shuffle people politely to certain forums that were more or less positive. I probably won't vote. I came over because I like VMP still and want to discuss it. I won't vote, because that seems nonsensical to me. I will "vote" by deciding whether I want to participate in the new direction. The thing is that would happen no matter what. You build it. You moderate it. You lead it somewhere. People decide via participation. It seems that the more places you have (within reason) to catch the different type of people on the front end the better. If a segment dies off, then there is your answer. The other attitude of strictly cutting out one segment or the other just seems bitter, and in an ironic way similar to what you are mad at VMP for doing.... picking a new target and alienating you in the process. Just my 2 cents as a sort of new observer.

Not picking on the quoted commenter either, just used the quote to move the discussion forward.

I'll add that coming even to the old forum it was a little frustrating as a newcomer to click a thread title and have half the discussion off topic. If you want to pick up new traffic politely keeping things on topic is a no brainer in forum moderation to me. Most of the ones I've participated in will let discussion go off topic, but create a landing spot(even if temporary) for it and redirect if it gets too much. Just for the sake of sorting through things.

Again it seems to me if the creators want to take the forum a different direction people will vote anyway. But it would be easier to make all current parties welcome and gently direct traffic to those places, until you see who the bulk of your audience is.
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I agree except on one point, we all feel vested here and would rather settle a matter with our voice than our silence. I could just go away if i feel this forum is going away from my wants or i can politely say what direction i would like to see it go. If I'm understanding you correctly..?
 
Ethos99 said:
I agree except on one point, we all feel vested here and would rather settle a matter with our voice than our silence. I could just go away if i feel this forum is going away from my wants or i can politely say what direction i would like to see it go. If I'm understanding you correctly..?
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Not exactly. My point is that if they shuffle traffic they can keep more people rather than tell anyone to go away.

What I don't know is whether they can make the investment to make that work. I don't think it's much more...

e.g. if a thread turns bitter and gets railroaded on a topic. Thread the topic and direct people to the "I'm pissed about the latest whatever tread." I might end up there myself if I have a bad experience LOL

I'm super new, but my initial impression of the mods was not positive. I felt things got off topic too easy in every forum. Many became the same complaints in every tread. I waded past it, I bet some didn't. Look if that's what they want they should just do it. Then I'll have to decide if I want to stick around. I'd imagine it dies down anyway soon.

All I'm saying is I don't get the logic of a vote. If there are two groups of people hanging around that seems like a net positive. Make room for both and direct traffic. If the mods don't want to, or don't have time to then just start shutting down what you don't want and folks will leave.

The very idea that they are concerned with losing traffic enough to create a vote indicates that they DON'T actually want to run anyone off. If that's the case the easier solution is creating threads as needed and directing traffic. JMO
 
As an example You and I should currently be redirected to the "Vote thread" as we've hijacked the Essentials. Or at least if it goes on and on and others get involved.
 
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