How about this idea...

[Michael Quayle]

Hi guys. Just dropping a note to remind everyone how great I think these forums are, and to thank all those who constantly sacrifice their time and energy to impart priceless knowledge and experience onto the rest of us. I myself do what I can within my limits, but more than anything else I gleam huge amounts of insight from many on these forums, and for that I am eternally grateful. One thing however has been bothering me lately, and that is the casual solicitation of false or misguided knowledge by those who profess to be experts yet have no means of backing up what they say, or, worse still, will give a newbie 1 line of bad advice with no insight at all. I am not referring to any post in particular here, but just a casual 5 minute skim through the various topics reveals a shocking amount of carelessly solicited half truths, fallacies and opinions delivered as facts. Now, I do not find this a problem myself, because I would like to think I have enough of a working knowledge to let the BS filters kick in when necessary, but this is potentially a huge problem for novices and newbies, who rely on these threads for anything from PC configuration advice through to heavy duty purchasing decisions or production techniques, and they simply do not have the required experience to be able to tell a bad post from a good one.
It is with this in mind that I am proposing some sort of member rating system, where users can score other members on what they judge to be the quality of their input, with the resultant scores displayed alongside their net handle. This would give users new to these boards a rough way of being able to establish the validity of advice from an individual, and will hopefully go some way to seperating the wheat from the chaff. In a small way it would also act as 'frequent flyer miles' for those who expend the most effort helping others, and who I feel deserve acknowledgment for their trouble. I don't know if it would be possible to script such a thing into these forums so late on in the day, but if it was feasable may I be the first to raise my hand in a vote of 'aye' to get the procedure underway as soon as possible. Whilst I appreciate it might indeed require a lot of work on the part of Sonic Valley or another dedicated party, I think it would increase the value of these boards tremendously. Does anyone else agree?

Thanks for your patience in reading this, and I'll see you all soon.

Cheers,

Michael.

[XenosoniK]

I don't think the rating system would be such a good idea. I've seen it on other boards and it seems nice but it might lead to people only taking advice from those that are "higher ranked" instead of taking everybody's advice by what they know of that person. Also, there are some smart, yet rude people that can help despite the mean things they might say. They might be lower ranked, but it is quite possible that they are only ranked low by their peers because of the attitude they boast, not the advice that they give.

not that i'm scared of rankings or anything, i just feel that they will not be very helpful on this board. i'm quite happy with it the way it is. it has been my community away from home (and being a navy brat, i really have no home).

Just my opinion.

-X

[Sonic Valley]

"carelessly solicited half truths, fallacies and opinions delivered as facts."

Welcome to the net my freind. I too see this in this forum and many others and it's hard to deal with fer sure. It's funny where people get ideas from. Notice I stopped getting technical about a year ago...I had a run in with too many kids trying to tell me that 12 years of recording across North America didn't mean I knew jack...lol. So I contently sit here...running my little overbooked studio and watch the kids record kyfe.lol

I have no solution...there were some real good guys here a long time ago who've left...still lots of great guys kick'n around and if I see them split I'll ask them to join me in my new site (see other thread around here somewhere)

The only way to rate people is too hang out and listen. You'll see who know's their shyte soon enough...you'll also see who the people are that are too lazy to work hard and expect it all given to them in a silver plated post...lol

[bombastique]

werd to that, sonic.

what's this new site you're talking about? i've been feeling lax about coming to audioforums - it DOES seem like all too many people want the 'quick fix' and don't appreciate solid advice. then they wonder they their mixes sound like crap-ola.

i'd like to find a board where there's more people on the same level - so *I* can ask a question that might actually get a decent answer! (trust me, i have PLENTY of them, too...)

[This message has been edited by bombastique (edited 08-29-2002).]

[Sonic Valley]

Bombastique, I'm starting a site called Music Mixing Online.com. the temp page is at http://www.sonicvalley.com/mmo/index.htm till I get the domain name pointing to the dns. I've got the domain name already. It's a place where people can hang out and practice mixing. Live chat...forum all that. More interactive.

[bombastique]

ah. hmm. interesting idea. i might pop in now and again. unfortunately i'm already mentoring too many others to take on much more.

still searching for that perfect forum - anybody got ideas? i'm looking for somewhere that people who actually are playing out alot, working on at least mid level indie releases and the like gather.

[Sonic Valley]

"i'm already mentoring too many others to take on much more."

I don't need "mentors", just looking for folx who want to hang out without all the shyte attached.

[imitation-music]

hey sonic why not give some props to the guy that came up with the idea for your site? or does that violate the copyright of sonic valley productions?

[Sonic Valley]

lol...Heck no. It says so right on that site that it was concieved by the users on this site.

[Havdreamz]

I've been a member for a couple of months now, and I am so glad to have found AudioForums.com. I have checked other forums, and have been let down on several occasions. The ease of use, organization, and especially the friendly support you can expect from these forums is definately unsurpassed. My point is this... If you knew it all, then you probably wouldn't be here. I think that everyone here can feel and appreciate a sense of community. Only thing that I bothers me is when "New Members" post links to their mp3 sites to boost plays. But oh well. The fact is, we as members are in control of what goes on here. We create the "feel" of the environment, and if we remain a solid community, then it will remain that way as long as we make it so. So, thank you all for all your advise in the past and in the future. 1 nub.

[Enlightend]

"The ease of use, organization, and especially the friendly support you can expect from these forums is definately unsurpassed."

I second that.

"Only thing that I bothers me is when "New Members" post links to their mp3 sites to boost plays."

The internet is an excellent way for folk to spread their music around, and personally I don't see any harm in, for example, putting your site at the end of your message, like a signature..........can you attach websites etc to your profile here? I haven't even looked lol..

[Sonic Valley]

The signature feature is off but you can always make one in UBB and paste it into your message.