As a newbie I would just say that if the old hands show a bit of patience and the new folk a bit of humility then everyone should run along just fine.
Like any community forums evolve over time according to their inherent culture.
Like any community forums evolve over time according to their inherent culture.
Tags may help find buried high-value content, but I'm not convinced that they will help address what I think is the larger problem, which is that this forum needs to find ways to address modern trends in audio. If the tags don't address the new trends in audio such as active speakers, line arrays, WiFi audio, portable audio systems, DSP software, etc, they won't do much to facilitate a better exchange of ideas in these areas, and diyAudio isn't going to attract new contributors the way it could.
Here are two examples where the threads have fairly high signal to noise and where the existing forum categories as tags are inadequate. The first is the line array analysis thread started by werewolf. This thread offered a lot of opportunity for learning, and overall it would be regarded as "high quality". But look at where it took place: in the Multi-way forum, even though it had nothing to do with multi-way speakers. So a "Multi-way" tag wouldn't help people find this, and right now there isn't a line array forum, so I presume that means there won't be a line array tag (??).
Another example of a thread with high signal to noise is the Boominator thread. There were a lot of good ideas and engineering in that thread, which was started in the ClassD forum. Obviously, you need class D amps for portable audio, but you also need batteries, charging circuits, Bluetooth adapters, active filters, high efficiency speakers, light-weight construction techniques, etc. But we don't have a forum for portable audio or Bluetooth speakers, and unless we include tags that allow us to search for these new types of speakers and associated technologies, this thread won't be easy to find.
I've argued in several previous posts that we need to encourage innovative DIY projects by adding forums that address the new directions and technologies in audio. I believe that providing places for like-minded innovators to address the new audio approaches will improve the quality of new threads--and I think that the two examples I gave bear that out. But unless there are "high-level" tags that point to these new areas of discussion, adding tags won't help much, IMO.
Then again, maybe there are ways the tags could help. I tend to think of tags as an Index and the forums as a Table of Contents, and maybe that isn't how the tags would work...
But they will address those trends Neil, they will. I think all or most of those are on the list of tags, and new ones will be added.
As mods we see a fair number of threads started in the wrong section, I move at least one a day. But it's often difficult to know just where the thread should go. We need some better classifications. If one thread can have multiple categories that might help. Tags should be able to do that.
A new menu structure is also possible on the new software, meaning you can drill down farther into categories. Don't know if a single thread could end up under more than one section, but tags will help define content.
Active speakers and line arrays are NOT modern trends. Been around decades. But those and other topics are discussed and can be found with the right search terms.
Maybe what we need are volunteer curators? People who can pull together useful links and at them to the stickies at the top of each subforum? No mod powers just giving their time.
Hmmmnnn, I seemed to have recently gotten myself rather caught right up in the middle of that one. Never mind.
I had a look at the statistics that were put forward, and I notice that there was only one popular thread from the entire music listening section. At any time of the day or week it always seems to have the lowest number of visitors, and its a bit dull. Yet there is more music available out there than ever before. I think the difficulties lie in the change in demographics. The young now have neither music or books as a physical collections, they live in smaller houses with smaller rooms and thinner walls, with very little space for larger musical playback devices. if you can get people talking about music, then having something worthwhile to playback music with, goes hand in hand. Only the music has to come first instead of last. I agree, this is a cultural matter.
The internet is awash with music reviews and music fora. I don't see the posting level in the music forum here being a problem personally as there is not a huge need to introduce people to music. Plus if I wanted to debate Piatigorsky vs Dupre I'd probably head over to the gramaphone forum. I have got a lot of good music tips on here, but just not from the music section here.
That logically suggests doing away with the music section altogether.
Mind you, the nature of music reproduction is changing, as the methods of producing music are changing, therefore the conceptual thinking of music creation is changing, and changing all the time.
Nah, let's keep the music section.
Mind you, the nature of music reproduction is changing, as the methods of producing music are changing, therefore the conceptual thinking of music creation is changing, and changing all the time.
Nah, let's keep the music section.
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Just to put things in perspective: On average we have 40 new threads a day on diyAudio.
Anyone who has time to read, and judge compare the quality of 40 new threads a day is either a superman or spending too much time here. 🙂 (I am guilty of only one of those things)
Anyone who has time to read, and judge compare the quality of 40 new threads a day is either a superman or spending too much time here. 🙂 (I am guilty of only one of those things)
No it doesn't. It's a useful additional resource. Taking that to extremes the whole lounge should go. I am just saying that it doesn't have to be the most visited sub forum for people to be interested in music and solder fumes.
The music section is just a bit of fun, I like the 15 song album and have played along intermittently for a while, occasionally being turned on to stuff. I like that the regulars post all kinds of things and there are no derogatory comments. There used to be a couple of members who did comment negatively but thankfully they don't play anymore.
Aside: as a techno luddite (I'll create the tech but damned if I am going to let it take over my life) does anyone use that strange social media stuff where you can monitor what all your friends are listening to? Don't get it personally but also don't get the 5000 pictures of themselves my teenage daughters seem to take each day either.
The top thread is probably a good example of "quality going down". From post 1 it is obvious it deals with a beaten to death Lin topology amplifier, which is also (in my opinion) rather poorly designed (MJE340 for VAS, one can certainly do better than that, plus some obvious errors in the schematic). After fixing the errors (which I'm sure it was done along the 1000 pages of the thread), it can certainly work, but why would an "old hand" jump in for? Set aside the thread seems to be originally driven by some commercial goal, this is indeed a beginners project, that could be covered by a Wiki page rather than 1000 pages of endless discussions and PCB bragging, spanning 8 years. A waste of disk space, if you ask me.
Bottom line: there is a weak or no connection between the quality and the length/popularity of a thread.
Bill, apart from diyAudio (which I find darned hard at the best of times!) I don't do social media at all. I live in a different world, and just don't get it. Don't watch TV, and rather listen to music - the pictures are better.
Interesting. Apparently I have looked at ONE of those threads--- it shows grey on my log-in, all the others are blue.
But maybe I have always been an anti-populist.
I spent a good chunk of my life at Motorola designing cell phones, so mine spends most of it's life sitting on the shelf, unused. I look at the cell phone bill.....I may have 20 or 30 text messages a month, mostly people trying to sell me crap I don't want, and maybe 30 phone minutes a month. I do have 4 magazine subscriptions that I read on my phone when I'm stuck somewhere waiting for grandkids. 3 of them are from the UK so real paper is prohibitively expensive.
My wife and daughter however can't be separated from the plastic leash.....2 to 3 THOUSAND texts and phone minutes a month are norm. That's the equivalent of 4 DAYS of each month spent on the phone not to mention Facebook and whatever else they use.
Another plastic distraction.....I have one, it's connected to my computer, not to the cable company. I can usually find something useful to watch on Youtube if I feel like wasting time.
I played along for a while, and did actually buy a couple CD's based on something I learned about there. After having a few posts stricken because someone other than the person who chose the particular album title decided that my selection didn't fit their interpretation of the title. I found that to be frustrating, and I never went back.
Pano, can you show the list of most read threads for a particular individual? That could be interesting.
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