The future of PA

AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: tamijo_II wrote: The best or at least Classic names in Jazz is more talked about today, than those 1000's of new Jazz bands, why should it be different with Prog.   Because true prog fans get tired of talking about Yes, Genesis and Pink Floyd etc over and over and over again. At some point you have to move on. I can understand if you aren't much of a prog band but if you are then you know more than just the obvious bands. For example, my brother isn't much of a prog fan at all so when he talks to me about any prog bands it's always either Yes or Genesis or some other mainstream prog band(maybe King Crimson but they would be the most obscure). I get that though because he's really not into the genre but for those of us on this site I would expect more.

The best or at least Classic names in Jazz is more talked about today, than those 1000's of new Jazz bands, why should it be different with Prog.  

Grumpyprogfan wrote: I am a newbie on this site and I have come to the conclusion that most forum members like prog from 50 years ago more than current prog bands. Most discussions/threads are about Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, Pink Floyd, much more than newer bands. That’s ok… I guess.

I like Prog-Rock from the early 1970's too, including those four classic Prog bands you mentioned, but I also like several modern Prog bands too, including Astra. Magenta, Mostly Autumn & Porcupine Tree, amongst others. 

Well, speaks volumes, doesn't it ? ;-)

I used to be a member of another music forum, left a few years ago. Out of interest, I went back and it's the same handful of people posting much the same stuff as the forum withers around them. Only force of habit makes them come back, I suppose. They must have high boredom thresholds. 

I've set up a couple of forums before (admittedly in the past) - it's quite easy to do. But, of course, all you're doing is adding to the pot of "prog rock forums" and therefore spreading a limited number of potential users even thinner. So perhaps the question is, given the amount of social media sites and alternative websites out there, does the internet really need a prog rock forum ? 

Davesax1965 wrote: Give me half an hour and a pad and a pencil and I could come up with some new ideas for PA.  However. If someone here starts a thread, "How can PA be improved", perhaps that'd be better rather than me wittering on and boring you all. Any takers ?  And then some of those ideas have to be implemented, or it's a sure sign that the site will eventually gurgle down the plughole of indifference.  What new stuff would be good ? What can be "retired" from the site ? (Apart from me. ;-) )

The difference being that Hemingway and King wrote comprehensible books. ;-)

Huge post = no problem so long as it stays on track and makes a point, Mosh. You've got some great experience, but, honestly, sometimes less is more. 

Mind you, this is me talking. ;-)

moshkito wrote: I get complaints that a lot of folks don't like long responses, and will not read them

Logan wrote: ^^ I'm a believer in living in the moment, planning for the future, and learning from the past. I've told people before, if a thread bothers one, consider ignoring it, and avoid bumping it as that is likely to just generate more interest in a topic (we don't all have to have to share the same interests or the same perspectives). If it violates site rules, or ones thinks it's detrimental to the site, then consider reporting it. What bothers me is sanctimonious drivel, mostly when it comes from me.

 

siLLy puPPy wrote: AFlowerKingCrimson wrote: I remember when the site would say something like "100,000" visitors a day. It seems like it had more visitors then(10-15 years ago)then it does now. Are prog fans jumping ship and getting into dance pop and hip hop or something? I would say that newer crowds just don't limit themselves to prog. RYM is hugely popular and growing every day and there are more ratings for any given prog album there than there are here, however we do have a lot of newer bands here that aren't on RYM so PA is very much a unique niche market that's relevant. And yeah, even hardcore proggers such as myself are into hip hop, metal, indie pop, Tuvan throat music, well.... you name it!

Sean Trane wrote: Logan wrote: As said, various social media sites have had an effect on sites and forums such as this, but sites such as RateYourMusic and Reddit are going very strong -- it helps that they are not so niche. PA does get new bands added that have not yet been added to RYM, partially because we have had some very dedicated suggesters who trawl bandcamp for new releases. I like this forum because I've been a long-time member here and like members here, but for searching for albums, I find the RateYourMusic site better for my needs. This is because I don't limit my listening to Prog, and because they use multi-tagging for albums, have more genres, I find the search albums and charts features better, and they have many great lists posted. I haven't posted there, but it's an awesome resource. Similarly, I haven't posted at Reddit but enjoy reading various threads, and have used it to discover various things -- from great crime and cult podcasts to discovering new to-me tv shows. There is such variety. To keep growing ones membership, it helps to always be evolving and expanding (and not just by adding new obscure bands that may be of dubious quality and few would be interested in). A complaint has been that this site has stagnated in some aspects. What's Reddit (sounds like a book site)? Yeah, one of the easest facility of RYM is that you can navigate chronologically from album to album without going backwards (babd's home page). It's something PA was also able to do (even better, you didn't have to go chronologically), but M@X took that down because it was slowing the page loading....Understantadbly too, since all of the albums were listed on the right side of the screen once you were an a particular album. The other good RYM thing is that you can navigate on the different reissues of an album in RYM, but Discogs is much more trustworthy But I find their forum rather uneasy and difficult to permeate.

Reddit does indeed sound like book site as the name does indeed derive from "read it", which is better than "red'em" which could involve violence and gore.

It's a social media news site and forum. An urban dictionary definition is "A liberal atheist's nocturnal emission." and another claims "Reddit (/ˈrɛdɪt/): A large collection of douche bags and dick heads who drastically suffer from the Dunning-Kruger effect and posses a severe superiority complex, although the majority are ignorant losers and idiots." See: https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=reddit

I'm a Philip K. Dickhead, so I should fit right in.

A more serious one is "Reddit is a social news website and forum where content is socially curated and promoted by site members through voting. The site name is a play on the words 'I read it.'" https://searchcio.techtarget.com/definition/Reddit

It has a huge number of what they call subreddits, which are subcommunities with topics on all manner of things. It's a giant in the online fora world and has been associated with various controversies (not as controversial with chan ones such as 4chan and 8chan, I would think).

I discover topics of interest there through google searches, much like with Quora (Quora is a fine resource, but different again).

With rateyourmusic, I haven't got used to the forum, and like with Reddit, I come across stuff there, such as lists by users, mostly via google searches. I find it to be good site, using the custom chart, to discover albums of interest to me. I do like having album tagging, and multi-tagging, rather than just having every album by an act listed just under one master artist category. Someone might complain that I search for specific albums, rather than considering the whole oeuvre, but I may be interested in an artist's forays into psychedelic folk music and not be so interested in that same artists foray into nu metal rap.

I also find discogs more trustworthy, and when I have added albums to PA and done research on an artist's addition, that has been a more important resource for me than RYM.