What do you think about the forum?

CyberGene

I've seen some friction on another thread and I started wondering what you think of the forum now, after two months. What makes it a better place than PW, what makes it worse, do you believe it has future, do you prefer it has stricter rules, etc?

I created it because I was frustrated with PW and the rules against offtopic, politics, etc. I myself love off-topic and sometimes I also love a bit of a silly humor.

I've learned that one can be sensitive about some topic and be grumpy about it but it doesn't lead to anything. For instance, I've been a vegetarian for most of my life for ethical reasons, but I've realized confronting other people would never change their mind. Let alone seeking to forbid them from doing/saying something. I really hope we can all try to just accept that people are not perfect and that what we think is very important and a sensitive topic for us, can be insignificant or even funny for them. That's life, let's not make it more complicated than it really is.

Del Vento

CyberGene I've seen some friction on another thread and I started wondering what you think of the forum now, after two months. What makes it a better place than PW, what makes it worse, do you believe it has future, do you prefer it has stricter rules, etc?

I think it works well and better than PW. The only problem I see is when a thread on a topic (e.g. the PTQ one you are probably referring to) becomes massively derailed on a tangential discussion, which is often futile and as such it attracts easier and faster and many more replies than the original thread -- as discussed in https://pianoclack.com/forum/d/109-the-anatomy-of-going-off-topic . That way, somebody who was not engaged in the futile discussion (but everyone else too) find "a mess" to sift through when they go to that thread for the original discussion that they care to read or discuss. I think sending the OT topics out of the other thread as soon as possible is a perfect solution to that, as we discussed earlier in the life of this forum. The only way I can think of improving it, is by allowing more people to be able to do that "thread splitting", so that the burden doesn't go entirely on you, @CyberGene and on @David B -- but if you are ok with that burden, and perhaps can try to be more responsive to such events (*), everything is fine as is.

(*) e.g. leave alone the first OT message, but if there is a reply to that, move both to purgatory asap -- of course you cannot be expected to monitor the forum as a job, but based on the frequency of the post I see from both of you and overall from everyone else, this seems doable (at least for now).

Deleted

CyberGene I've seen some friction on another thread and I started wondering what you think of the forum now, after two months.

I haven't visited since a month now, and the reason is that I don't care for 90 % of the topics, which all revolve around (computer) screens and what to put on them ("pixel peeping"), while I use the piano to get away from the screen. By hiding these topics (this option is hidden from the discussion list, only following is possible there) you end with almost nothing left making it worth visiting this forum on a daily basis.

It's not your fault, that your platform pulled that specific audience, but the main piano audience didn't seem to show up.

QuasiUnaFantasia

I think PianoClack is more alive than PianoWorld, and the community here seems more engaged than over there. In a sense PW seems "tired" compared to PC.

Personally, I am much more active here than over there, although I have always enjoyed posting over there (and I still do enjoy that, but primarily in the ABF).

If it were down to me, there wouldn't be any major changes to PC at this time, because I think it works well.

MacMacMac

QuasiUnaFantasia I think PianoClack is more alive than PianoWorld, and the community here seems more engaged than over there. In a sense PW seems "tired" compared to PC.

Yes, I agree. And I've not been back to Piano World since the ban. Nearly three months.

Also, the openness here is tangible.

And the topics here are fresher. I was fed up at PW with the incessant what's the best piano and what's the best headphones threads. And the pivot length threads. And the downweight threads. And the repeated questions that could have been answered by a simple search rather than by starting a new thread asking the same old, tired question.

But mostly I like the clientele here.

EssBrace

I think it's a good mix of piano talk and some off topic meanderings (I'm very guilty of the latter). The main thing is that when typing a post I don't feel a pressing need to agonise over every word in my mind or try to second guess what may or may not be pounced upon by moderators. It's freeing (compared to the other place).

Pete14

I like the forum the way it is, CG!

The most important thing is that we all do our part and not abuse the freedoms we are afforded here; for example, going off-topic is fine, but that doesn’t mean we should be looking for unsuspecting threads simply to derail them. If you notice, I stay out of most threads, so as not to cause any unnatural chaos; however, there are moments/threads that are ripe for the plucking, and that can be a lot of fun, too.

In general, I feel that threads that still have a little tracking in them after some OT will often survive and move on.

Also, threads like “purgatory” are great, and those who dare step into purgatory do so at their own peril!

ClothEaredNincompoop

Labeling off-topic as off-topic and having a way to filter it out from the front page (if one wants) would probably help.

Maybe there already is a way(?) I haven't really studied.

Any newcomer on the forum might be turned off by "irrelevant" discussion.

9190

ClothEaredNincompoop Maybe it depends on the device, but in my case it is perfectly possible, which is what I use, and what I like about this forum. All the marked topics that you can see in the screenshot, I do not see on the main page of the forum.

David B

I like it just the way it is. However, I would like to see more traffic and topics.

God Bless,
David

n-player

"Warwick University scraps term 'trigger warning' because it fears the phrase is too 'provocative' and could UPSET snowflake students"

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10225629/Warwick-University-scraps-term-trigger-warning-fears-phrase-UPSET-students.html

Drew-r

n-player

words ( “provocative” )of advice:

“this is a university, not a daycare” …. perhaps rivaling ( and somewhat mirroring, phonetically)

“In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act”

CyberGene

Del Vento I don’t think having a bit of an off-topic in a thread is bad and that we should be in a hurry to split it from there. I understand some people are annoyed by off-topic though. I think we should act ad-hoc, depending on the context and discussion.

DPPianoPhil

CyberGene Agreed. But when it drags on and on, like that Yuja bit, it is quite appropriate. I think you are doing a great job administering this site and I like the vibe here a lot better than at PW.

Del Vento

CyberGene delvento I don’t think having a bit of an off-topic in a thread is bad and that we should be in a hurry to split it from there. I understand some people are annoyed by off-topic though. I think we should act ad-hoc, depending on the context and discussion.

I agree with the sentiment. The reason that I suggested a hurry is because if I write "Do you like optical sensor A or B?" few people will respond and those who do may take a long time doing. If meanwhile in-passing I write something in that same post that triggers another poster to say "Do you like Marta or Yuja?" literally everybody has an immediate opinion and everybody (even I) immediately fells compelled to respond and derail the original topic. Admittedly, this is not a big deal (unlike PW), since you can move them later, and the subscribers won't receive more than one notification (unless they actively engage, in which case one can assume they want to engage).

On the other hand, where would you put the line? Each post would be only "one other OT message", do we act on just one? So I arbitrarily picked two posts as "the line", but I agree with @DPPianoPhil that "when it drags too much" could be the right line. FWIW, the "drags too much" for the PTQ thread IMHO was crossed a few hours before eddie wrote his disappointment, but I did not want to bother you and thought that they had exhausted the topic…. this last point is me falling into the "just one other OT post" trap which I was trying to avoid with the arbitrary numeric choice of two messages….

In general, I also agree that you are doing a great job already, yet I still hope we (collectively) can make this forum a place where everybody is happy: I've enjoyed communicating with both eddie and pete and I'd hate to lose either.

spanishbuddha

I'm still browsing and active on PW (flame vest on). The OT never bothered me until it went OT away from PSO's (piano shaped/software objects) and some of the inane posts. I recognise other (most) people on here enjoyed some of that nonsense, but my view was it diminished the value of PW, or maybe my taste in humour is just different. The difference here is it is almost to be expected, open discussions, so easier to avoid if desired and often less derailing of the PSO thread, especially when moved into another thread which is an aspect I like. I have participated here in some of the non-PSO discussions, which I never felt inclined to do so on PW. For those that aren't looking at PW it seems to have quite a few new users, new voices, posting of course on topic about PSO's, so it has not in my view gone quiet or stagnant. But yes the same old, same old, so stagnant in that sense compared to the clack. I have no skin in either and wish both success, although this may be a minority view, or so it seems, on this forum. It seems a pity that Frank can't or won't upgrade PW to a more modern code base. This forum end user UI experience is definitely superior.

One thing I wish was that the thread topic or header stayed visible at the top when viewing many posts down in a browser page. Is this possible?

CyberGene

spanishbuddha One thing I wish was that the thread topic or header stayed visible at the top when viewing many posts down in a browser page. Is this possible?

Yes, many people ask about that. I also asked. They may implement it in a future version.

Del Vento

CyberGene spanishbuddha One thing I wish was that the thread topic or header stayed visible at the top when viewing many posts down in a browser page. Is this possible?

Yes, many people ask about that. I also asked. They may implement it in a future version.

A workaround is looking at the URL which stays visible and sort-of is the thread topic name.

Pete14

I would certainly respond to “do you like optical sensor A or B?”

Del Vento

Pete14 I would certainly respond to “do you like optical sensor A or B?”

Please do at https://pianoclack.com/forum/d/243-diy-piano-sensors -- looking forward to it 😀

Pete14

I’ll take optical sensor A (that’s my final answer)!

I tried your link, but it’s broken! 🤣

Frédéric L

Pete14 the link works well here (on an iPhone). (If I were you, I would choose B, perhaps C).

Pete14

Frédéric L the link works well here (on an iPhone). (If I were you, I would choose B, perhaps C).

I have tried uploading my data, but the link just doesn’t work (I’ll keep trying).

Now, I understand how you would choose optical sensor B or C, and it’s not a bad choice, but if you had access to my data it would most certainly tilt you in the direction of optical sensor A.

This is not a personal thing for me; as a matter of fact, at first I couldn’t believe the data, but the more I analyze it, the more it points towards optical sensor A.

I would post the information/data here, but I’m sure Gombessa would complain about us “going off topic”, so I’ll just keep trying Delvento’s link.