Forum participation of late

[DaveF]

Don't worry, my meltdown is close...

ah go on......you have to start a new thread now...

[DaveF]

I'm guessing that there's not a lot of movement in the gear of more established members, most folks have reasonable speakers,amps and front end. So nobody is heavily pursuing the upgrade trail with some notable exceptions of course. Any significant upgrade is horrendously expensive , like a nice pair of Avantgarde horns for example.

yeah I thought about this too. Most of the folk that have been around since the start have had pretty stable systems for several years.......with the exception of my own madness......and I'm already looking at changing one or two things just for the sake of it.
But its more than just about your own system. If you look at page 1 of the General section, most threads barely get responses in the double figures.
We dont get too many new members either so all the usual cable debates have been done and dusted and rarely pop up again and again like on other forums.

[jaybee]

I find that my usual method of checking in with the Forum ( being view active topics) nearly always is a list of CA topics which are of little interest to me (just not my thing... I enjoy computer audio, but I've no interest in getting under the hood!)

Getting back to vinyl was great for a while, but moving house, kids etc ( which I'd wager is a factor for a few) has meant I have very little time for serious listening!

I still enjoy the site though, mostly the music side of things at the mo', I've discovered some great new music over the past while by pulling the "what are you listening/ got in the postt"threads into spotify!

Maybe we need the guess the cover thread back!!

[DaveF]

Maybe we need the guess the cover thread back!!

Nice of you to volunteer! We'll be waiting.

[Adrian]

Well I would not blame the CA section. As far as I am concerned the CA boys are very welcome on here and I do pop in for a look every now and again.

I'm not getting into CA... I just don't have the time and to be perfectly honest I'm waiting for it to mature to a "Final Solution".. the Ultimate product. With so many iterations of software and what has become hundreds and thousands of variable adjustments in hardware... I don't have the energy to keep up. But I am glad that there is a section of busy bodies all beavering away and having some fun.

I do use CA... but it is Itunes and an IPod... but that's because I do travel a lot and that medium works very well for me.

I enjoy music the same as the rest of you... and I frequently listen to Music Cassette... even if it is one of the more inferior music formats. I had a friend of mine down a few months back... and he was so impressed with a LP I had... we recorded it onto a Chrome tape. That was a bit of fun.. getting the tape monitor sorted out and figuring out how to get the tape deck to record. You would be amazed at how a good Music Cassette can be, its real fun.

But the forum outside CA does seem to have lost it's way... very little enthusiasm, sometimes threads are started, several users reply with suggestions, ideas, links, explanations, improvements etc etc... but there is no response back from the OP. Which leaves the people who have replied to the OP wondering just why they made the effort at all in the first place!!

I think people have got to become more involved... if somebody posts up a reply to your question... at least have the decency to thank them, or acknowledge their post etc.

[tony]

Sure might as well take the opportunity to bang my boring drum on the forum set up again. I have always thought the general set up too vague and it doesn't encourage people to post. It should be divided into CDP section, TT's, Speaker Cables, Interconnects, speakers and whatever other stuff deemed relevant. Grouping all the stuff relating to a product under one heading provides a searchable source and I think would encourage more posts. Why bother posting about a meridian 596 CDP in the general section when in a years time it will be buried on page 15?
Nobody will ever add comments to it and the thread/posts just die.

My memory of the cloney forum was a selection of topics like above and it made it easier to search and peruse etc when looking for a particular product.

That's my tuppence worth

[nige2000]

Yes more sub sections would be great threads get buried easy
One shouldn't have to resort to Google to find a thread

[Diapason]

On a purely personal level, I never read Tir na hifi via the individual forums, I only ever use "View unread posts". Now, the moderator in me feels like I should read (or at least skim) every post on the forum just to be sure there's nothing untoward there, and that's what I try to do, but ultimately it doesn't matter where they are. If others feel the forums should be laid out differently then it would be absolutely no skin off my nose, since it would look identical to me anyway.

I think the point is well made that there's just not much box-swapping going on here at the moment, people have relatively stable systems and don't often hear new gear, so it's hard to get to a critical mass of discussion on any topic. If somebody asks about something we've heard we'll probably answer, but there's a whole rake of stuff I'd love to know about that ultimately we don't get to hear in Ireland.

Still, I'm always thinking and reading about hifi-related stuff so maybe I should try a bit more myself. I'll make more of an effort on that score.

Oh, and I should also say that while I have precious little interest in the Computer Audio stuff myself (and I can say, hand on heart, that I find some of the discussion over there bordering on lunacy!!) I'm delighted that we have a forum here where people can discuss this and push whatever boundaries are being pushed without constant assholery from other members. Long may it last.

[DaveF]

Too many categories wouldnt be good either. What if you have a generic system related question? Where does that go then?

As an idea, 4 main sections?:
Sources - which includes TT's/CDPs/Media players
Amps
Speakers
Cables

Too many perhaps but if it encouraged more participation then I'd be all for it.

The forum has gotten stale over the last while no doubt about it. Perhaps a shake up isnt a bad idea. We can always change the structure in future if it isnt working out.

[DaveF]

I'm delighted that we have a forum here where people can discuss this and push whatever boundaries are being pushed without constant assholery from other members. Long may it last.

+1

We've always struck a good balance here between the trollfest that can be the wam and the overly moderated boards.ie approach.
People shouldnt be afraid to post anything. Thats not to say that it wont ever be challenged. But it needs to be done in the proper way. The MQN experimentation thread is a good example.