Has The Archives lost it's way?

The one thing I like about RYM is the ability to catalog my own collection in it (something you can do at Discogs too). The downsides, as others have mentioned: it takes a long time for a correction to be approved, it takes some considerable amount of time to add a new band and add a new album (but once you get the hang of it, it isn't too bad), you probably should own a scanner if you want to upload album covers (they are very unaccepting of pulling album covers from other sources), and the rules for doing so are a considerable learning curve. The latter problem is an issue for newcomers, but on the other hand, their data is consistent across the database due to these rules. Their rules seem like they were well thought out and designed by someone (or some group of people) that has experience with cataloging standards and I can respect that as I have about 30 years of various cataloging and metadata standards under my belt from working in the library world.

I've said many times that a load of bands in the seventies that were never considered 'prog' at all are now included in PA. Prog was a much more niche thing then than many would now have you believe. An awful lot of rewriting of history has gone on here and I believe that someone not that well versed in prog history would be very mislead if they visit here. The Doors are indeed a good case in point. Nowwhere near prog at all back in the day even if they were well respected generally. Riders On The Storm is cool but I could care less about anything else they did. I suspect they had more connection and influence on punk rock and the indie scene which is fine but I've not heard any prog luminaries talk about them as a major influence or anything like that.

Edited by richardh - September 11 2023 at 21:34

verslibre wrote: richardh wrote: I've said many times that a load of bands in the seventies that were never considered 'prog' at all are now included in PA. Prog was a much more niche thing then than many would now have you believe. An awful lot of rewriting of history has gone on here and I believe that someone not that well versed in prog history would be very mislead if they visit here. The Doors are indeed a good case in point. Nowwhere near prog at all back in the day even if they were well respected generally. Riders On The Storm is cool but I could care less about anything else they did. I suspect they had more connection and influence on punk rock and the indie scene which is fine but I've not heard any prog luminaries talk about them as a major influence or anything like that. I had no idea The Doors were on PA, let alone defined as "Proto-Prog"!

lazland wrote: verslibre wrote: richardh wrote: I've said many times that a load of bands in the seventies that were never considered 'prog' at all are now included in PA. Prog was a much more niche thing then than many would now have you believe. An awful lot of rewriting of history has gone on here and I believe that someone not that well versed in prog history would be very mislead if they visit here. The Doors are indeed a good case in point. Nowwhere near prog at all back in the day even if they were well respected generally. Riders On The Storm is cool but I could care less about anything else they did. I suspect they had more connection and influence on punk rock and the indie scene which is fine but I've not heard any prog luminaries talk about them as a major influence or anything like that. I had no idea The Doors were on PA, let alone defined as "Proto-Prog"!  It needs to be remembered that the owner of this site saw it not just as a progressive rock encyclopaedia, but as a means of making money through traffic generating advertisement income. The more traffic, the more income, hence the ridiculous inclusion of acts such as The Doors, Black Sabbath, Deep Purple, and etc. It had nothing whatsoever to do with “progressive traits”, but everything to do with attracting people to visit the site.

Although I personally don't see The Doors as proto-prog, I have no problems with the categories "proto-prog" and "prog-related". I think their name is self-descriptive enough, they are meant to include bands which are not prog, but which for some reason are probably of interest to many prog fans.

^ Generating traffic is what the website is about, at the core. 

Hrychu wrote: Not necessarily an advantage. I speak 4 languages and can read two more It is an advantage cuz the language is standarized. That way, it's less distracting and more accessible to an average reader. :)

Edited by moshkito - September 13 2023 at 04:36

The Anders wrote: There is nothing to belittle about Deep Purple as far as I am concerned. They were one of the most original rock bands of their time