trends in gear..all you lemmings

alamak, why torture the cat?. Got real twang bar dont want to pull
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oh anyway, i am listening to the chinese ballad thingy on you soundclick. Nice leh, i rike.
 
No. That is not a cat. It is a visual representation of my acceptance of your dodgy offer.

Ballads. Chinese ballads. Its love. Its pentatonic. Its bland. Anyway, I'm posting this on G4C, I intend to do a little "workshop" thread there.
 
1) I agree with you broadly.
2) I also agree with Shred - this post won't accomplish anything except to allow a few people to vent, especially the OP.
3) I agree again with several people that if you don't like it, don't read it - vote with your feet; don't let it annoy you because you can't change it. People are in different places in their development at different times. I often spend months not interacting on the forum due to the relatively low level and 'sameiness' of the conversation. However, there's nothing wrong with that - many people are new, seek basic info and so forth and they outnumber those who want more diverse and deep/meanigful conversation.
4) Gear obsession *can* be a surrogate for undeveloped musical ability but let's not generalise. There are many gear obsessives who are actually decent musicians. Not saying you're implying this, but this is a subject that occasionally rears its head - there have been people on the pedalboard thread for example who say 'great - you have 100 pedals but how well do you play? just curious...'.
4) Shred's right - find those who you connect with and meet up with them or have email/IM conversations off the forum. I also do this. Good way to make new friends and to learn new things.
5) Start an interesting conversation yourself Arctopus - tell us - what would you like to talk about? Examining your 'all posts' list doesn't exactly highlight you as one who is sparking off any new and profound discussion.
6) Go and interact more on the 'how to' forum. Encourage more people to do this. Liven that forum and those threads up more so more and more people care about the process of making music as opposed to the acquisition of shiny toys. If there's a buzz there, more people will go there.
 
as for the fashion trends in gear, it'll always be around and evolving. remember those days where Zoom9000 used to be THE multieffect? or Boss Metalzone was THE distortion? or when you talk about delays its Boss DD3 or DETH? or the period where only Analogue delays using BBD chips are considered serious delays? or Brass nuts? or Earvana nuts? or Kinmans being THE noiseless single coils? Callaham bridges? mint green pickguards and knobs?

but but but... The Metalzone is still THE distortion!!!!!!:twisted:

Or am I passe now? Hmm...:???: Maybe I should go keep up with the jones and get whatever is "in" now huh?;)
 
you ah, damn impressed by the tone knobbage arh? Hahaha, cool trick no? It doesn't come up as pronounced on the dirt channels and my current knob used - its a smooth plastic knob so it doesn't lend itself well to the swells. I did play around with the tone knob positions though.

Its a casio keyboard. Line in direct of course, no speaker sim, nuthing. ;)
 
=ShredCow

Ya man... I likes that tone knobby thingie you do... It's great for chords and subtle nuances for soft leads.

Wah... cool man Casio keyboard... totally non-lemming...:mrgreen:
 
Every forum will always have their fair share of netidiots and whatnots. Trying to change this forum to nothing but "intelligent" arguments and debates is like asking Singapore to abolish the NS system.

From what I have gathered by reading the thread so far, some people in this forum here are irritated, annoyed and/or can't be bothered with how this forum has "degraded" into or so they say.

I also noticed that this thread failed to address the other end of the spectrum of the so-called "noobs and/or netidiots". What I mean are the "High and Mighty. Holier than Thou" users.

I have come across some as being just too plain egoistic and arrogant for my liking. When these HaMHtT users post their comments, all I read and understand is that in what they are trying to say, that they are the only one in the right or in the know.

Do not try to deny that most of these so called "intelligent comments" just exhudes the feeling of "I am better so my Judgement is the only one you should bother to listen to. The proof my of all-intelligent and only right advise is the use of my perfect english and its grammar"

Bah...I just say let both of these types of forumers be. But who am I to say? I'm just an unitelligent forum troll who lives under a coconut.

*puts on a "I <3 Soft.com.sg even with all the shiet flying around" tee and waves a "I wanna have your babies" banner.....



~meh~
 
You know, I wonder how a thread started talking about people having no identity and simply copying everyone else with no sense of originality, buying stuff only others recommend ended up as a discussion about lazy noobs and stupid questions...:confused:

I'm still trying to figure out why buying common stuff or boutique stuff shows a lack of identity when it's not what you play but how you play that defines you?
 
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This forum is fine the way it is, though not perfect. It takes all kinds of people and posts -- serious, humorous, mature, childish, intelligent, silly, bias, controversial, rants, raves, etc. etc. -- that make SOFT forum fun and interesting, and hence its membership swelling. Another words, that's so much more things to talk about than just music and musicianship.

But if elitism creeps in and "only-intelligent-comments-are-allowed" policy takes over, this forum will eventually wilt and die away. Really.
 
I miss those days when everyone was helpful and informative and we all learned new things from each other and moved on.

I didn't mind taking the trouble then to type out my posts out trying to be as informative as I can and sincerely trying to get the message across without sounding arrogant or cocky.I only replied to threads that I thought that were relevant to my albeit-limited experience in the music scene but hey, to me to contribute in some way was good enough for me.

However, after many banal replies I felt that it was pointless for me to continue.Sometimes I don't blame the noobs, I can understand where they are coming from. Lazy? Well, not everyone here is instilled with a culture to follow any forums closely and some may have very limited time on the internet to get the facts they need and can only log in as and when.

There are some who are just plain internet heroes, who enjoy the attention and respect they can get here compared to in real life.

Some are very opiniated and tend to ride on the worship from naive-impressionable kids and will occasionally post a shredding video of themselves to make us remember who we are trying to argue with.

There are some who are mature and some who are not ,as the age spectrum as a budding or veteran musician in its totality is rather vast. Hence the different quality of posts.

There are also the few who think that they are enlightened and hence look unfavourably down at lesser mortals. These "aristocrats" do not understand the reason for the stupidity prevalent and will never accept that sometimes we have to co-exist with idiots in real life.

Jokers, crazy-loco, careless, lame, intelligent, dumb, lazy, hard-working, they are basically just social attributes that will exist in any virtual or real society.

What I am saying is that there is no way for us to control the character of the individual, we just have to accept that no one is created equal. Some may not be eloquent enough in this language and may not know how to express their views or queries clearly. Some are just idiots who like me, have nothing better to do in the office, and relieve stress by laughing at the occasional funny posts.(Read- WTT my foam peanuts for real peanuts)

Oh well, If i need to know something nowadays regarding gears or guitars, i msn or call the few friends that i have here from soft, and thats why I still think SOft is a great place to congregate, and align yourself with likeminded individuals and thus taking it to a different personal level from thereon.
 
*KNEELS AND BOWS*

I'm not worrthyyyy...........
I'm not worrthyyyy...........
I'm not worrthyyyy...........
 
James: I did notice that we have moderators recently. However the moderators aren't exactly, moderating? Of course, there are some forums with abusive moderators who throw bans around as they like it. However, moderation is helpful towards promoting a certain culture.

the3rdlogic brought up the point: "So to all the noobs reading this, do your homework. As the right questions, which simply means, include the details of your current problem. Don't ask for opinions. Ask for facts. Instead of asking, "which is better? A crunchbox or a ds-1", tell people the genre of music you’re playing, your budget, and your current playing proficiency and then ask, which pedal do people think would be most suited for you and WHY. But before you even do that, search on soft, at least, if there's any such question already asked."

The question is, how do we promote this? It is a difficult question, one which I do not know for certain the answer. However, as it is, I do know that doing nothing promotes more of such threads. I do not propose an outright ban on anyone that posts such a thread, but measures can be taken. I have noticed about a year back, James begun posting on threads where people posted unhelpful titles like "HELP ME PLS" and kindly asked them to change the title, or not to type in all caps. If we had a handful of moderators who keeps watch and remind new users to the guidelines in the forum, we discourage such threads from appearing. I do not know how helpful it will be, but I believe it to be a step forward. Maybe someone will come up with a better idea, or take reference or advice from other well run forums.

Blodstyre: "Every forum will always have their fair share of netidiots and whatnots. Trying to change this forum to nothing but "intelligent" arguments and debates is like asking Singapore to abolish the NS system."

If you accept the culture as unchangeable, then it will remain so. On other forums, I have experienced other forms of cultures and I believe them to be a result of guidelines and moderation. Perhaps I am mistaken, but not trying means no change.

"I also noticed that this thread failed to address the other end of the spectrum of the so-called "noobs and/or netidiots". What I mean are the "High and Mighty. Holier than Thou" users."

Let us address it now then shall we. I did not read any post which gave me this feeling, hence I shall dissect my own post, assuming that I am one such person.

Yay, I enjoy an intelligent discussion, it's something rarely experienced here.
This sentence, I agree may seem somewhat high and mighty. I do enjoy an intelligent discussion though.

Kym:
"What I feel is that Soft has grown in numbers exponentially since it first started. As more netizens join, there will be more ads, more questions and posts. It is about probability: if there is more posts, chances of encountering a stupid of unintelligent post will also be higher, no?"

Correct. And this is a problem faced by many, many forums all over the world. There have been solutions implemented, some not so successful, and yet others which have been very successful. Soft tends to rest on it's laurels and hope things turn out ok.

"Personally, you cannot expect everyone on Soft to ask intelligent questions. Soft is an open forum, not exclusively for veteran players only. Some members are less experienced hence they need more guidance and answers. Once in a while, they asked some stupid or rhetoric questions, but should we discourage others to ask questions because of this?"

I never diss "stupid" questions. Understandably, everyone is a beginner once. However, when I mention unintelligence, I am referring to the discussion. Consider the following:

Questioner: "wHat is the best amp?!?!? Help me plsssssssss!!!!"
Nice guy: "Maybe you could state what kind of amp you're looking for? Practice? Budget? What kind of music?"
Retard 1: "Get a Marshall MG15 dude, trust me it's the best amp"
Retard 2: "Hi we have stock of MG15, thanks"
Retard 3: "Get a DS1, my 2 cents"
Nice guy: "Erm, the DS1 is a pedal, why would you recommend that as an amp?"
Retard 2: "Hi we have stock of DS1, thanks"
Retard 3: "It works for me"
Questioner: "Hiii dudes tanks for your helpz, i bot the DS1, how come deres' no sound when i plug my guitar in??????"

Nice guy to himself: "Why do I bother."

Think this is an exaggeration? Look back, it happens a lot more than you might think.


"Anyway, just out of curiosity. Why is it that you claim the way that Soft forum runs dissuades intelligent questions and rewards stupidity and spam?"

Intelligent discussions actually. Soft does not run on moderators. Any society's culture is largely influenced by people who control the power. In a forum, they are the moderators. Be they good or bad moderators, these are the guys who will influence the culture, be in a conducive or lackluster one. However, in the absence of moderation, all we have is chaos. In chaos, it is always the loudest, most obnoxious and the majority that dedicates the culture. Any intelligent post, written after a well thought process taking maybe 15 mins, is quickly covered by 2 pages of posts with insults and banter from people not having even read the posts properly.

Here's an example right from this thread itself (nothing personal eugene):
"To be honest I don't understand much of the TS's rant. I can only gather that he's upset about young guitarists having good gear, and more obviously, young guitarists posting here asking for advise and/or help."

As pointed out by shredcow later on, Eugene has obviously not read the posts thoroughly and decided to post his 2 cents on a completely separate issue. Not that I blame Eugene. This has been the culture of Soft for a while, and any new user will immediately incorporate that attitude into his own posts. The thread starter may have opened 2 subjects in his first post, but quickly corrected in his 2nd post what the main point he is actually bringing up for discussion.

Our dear thread starter now looks at all the posts in his thread. Less than half of them are addressing his point. Should he spend another 15mins typing out a cleanly written post? Or should he just shrug his shoulders and have some kopi.
Here I am trying to address the questions raised by Kym. I am sharing my knowledge from my experience. I'm not sure if there is a way to share a lot of knowledge in a way that does not show that I am confident of my knowledge.

Maybe I should clarify what I mean by an intelligent discussion. To me, an intelligent discussion is one where every poster, before posting, reads every post before himself thoroughly and takes the words spoken into account. Then posts his views whilst addressing the words spoken before himself.

Most of the threads resemble the "whats the best amp" example I provided earlier. Where the poster asks a question, then everyone throws in his 2 cents. Meanwhile the poster skims through and ignores half the posts and makes his own decision.

The solution? Moderation. This is a giant subject with debates over banning rules, empowerment and such, but moderation is a step forward. However to my observation, James prefers to have no moderators, hoping everyone "just gets along".
I ended the post with a suggestion on what I feel is a step forward. Again, I am fairly confident of this suggestion and thus worded it as such.

In reverse, I actually feel that the holier than thou people are those who refuse to expand on their claims that MARSHALL IS THE BEST AMP EVER when asked for further details, replying with ITS MY OPINION, MY 2 CENTS, IT WORKS FOR ME.



"Do not try to deny that most of these so called "intelligent comments" just exhudes the feeling of "I am better so my Judgement is the only one you should bother to listen to. The proof my of all-intelligent and only right advise is the use of my perfect english and its grammar""

I don't believe I have used a tone of voice where I show that my judgment is the best. I share my experience and provide suggestions as a form of giving back to the community (cue flamers "WE NEVER ASK FOR YOUR HELP, F*CK OFF PLS"). What is detrimental to a forum is not the state of the english. There are forums with mexican and french members who cannot post in good english, but they [bold]try[/bold]. The problem is posts where people do not bother to try at all. They type VERYF FAASKST AND DUDN LOOK AT WHATSP BEI NG TYEPED THEN THE Y QUIDREKCLY HIT SBIUBMIT. Or stuff like that, I believed I have already covered earlier.

When people start reading posts thoroughly and post thoughtfully, I believe the level of discussions will be raised. Whether that is the goal, or the goal is to have this semi chat room, semi discussion forum, I don't know, and thus have not said anything in the past. This is brought up as an address to the thread starter's question as to why things have changed, not because I am showing off that I can type long posts. If I didn't care, I could be spending this 20 minutes playing dota instead.
 
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