Threads Keep Disappearing - Suggestions - Forums : Best Ever Albums

albummaster

Janitor

Gender: Male

Location: Spain

Site Admin

CA Dreamin wrote:

Now that the dust has [hopefully] settled, I just want to reiterate the only threads that should disappear are every single 'what are listening to/watching' threads. They are nothing but a waste of cyberspace. I say delete all of them, and abolish them from ever returning. Hopefully then, BEA can return to...um....a place to discuss music?

P.S. Thanks Repo for starting the Beach Boys listening project. Glad someone is trying!

Agree with sentiment, but don't want to upset too many people by removing all of them (need to get the balance right). The 'album listening' thread is pretty harmless and many people enjoy posting in it. I think we can all agree that too many of these threads are not good for the forums, but happy to see there are still quite a few people here that are regularly contributing high quality and engaging content (where people are discussing music Shocked

).

CA Dreamin

Gender: Male

Location: LA

albummaster wrote:

Agree with sentiment, but don't want to upset too many people by removing all of them (need to get the balance right). The 'album listening' thread is pretty harmless and many people enjoy posting in it. I think we can all agree that too many of these threads are not good for the forums, but happy to see there are still quite a few people here that are regularly contributing high quality and engaging content (where people are discussing music Shocked

).

Nobody would be upset for any significant length of time. They'd be butt-hurt at first, but would quickly get over it. I don't think users actually 'enjoy' posting in it; I think it's more of a habit/addiction. Taking that away would be beneficial for them, and for the forums. It would clear the clutter around here, and persuade those users to either take their habit elsewhere, or better yet...actually post something substantial.

cestuneblague

Eyebrow of the Hurricane

Location: Chi-Town

Have one big, beautiful (derp) thread for what are you listening to now, regardless if it's an album, song, clip whatever. Otherwise if you take it away you're just going to see it pop up again, so just try to centralize it and direct users who post a similar thread to the main one and close any of the duplicate threads.

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 66

Location: London Town

melisandre wrote:

albummaster wrote:

BEA is intended to be agnostic in terms of religious and political content. However, too much content in one direction can give the false impression that it isn't.

90% of the site is buried behind the forums, but it's also a very important and visible part of the site. I'm sure there's a way for everyone to coexist without the forums looking like they're being taken over.

There's a dedicated thread LTS created in her Music Diaries where religious music can be posted, so perhaps this type of content could just be posted there (plus her 2025 diary) if other users don't want to see it amongst other threads (just floating an idea). Other religions would then need to be treated the same if this was to happen in the future.

Yes, I think this makes sense to limit posts related to religious music in someway. Otherwise, its possible to use the forums as a means of promoting a religion rather than discussing music, or whatever else. FWIW I have no real issue with LTS’ posting and, like others, wish her well on the site. But yeah, it is totally reasonable to set limits so posting religious themed content doesn’t overwhelm or misuse the forums.

Just catching up on this one. What Melisandre has said seems eminently sensible. I would describe myself as an agnostic atheist (I suppose we are all agnostic so maybe a little Redundant) but I have to say I don’t have a problem with pts about religious music. Promoting a specific religion, possibly, but the music of said religion, not really

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 66

Location: London Town

CA Dreamin wrote:

albummaster wrote:

Agree with sentiment, but don't want to upset too many people by removing all of them (need to get the balance right). The 'album listening' thread is pretty harmless and many people enjoy posting in it. I think we can all agree that too many of these threads are not good for the forums, but happy to see there are still quite a few people here that are regularly contributing high quality and engaging content (where people are discussing music Shocked

).

Nobody would be upset for any significant length of time. They'd be butt-hurt at first, but would quickly get over it. I don't think users actually 'enjoy' posting in it; I think it's more of a habit/addiction. Taking that away would be beneficial for them, and for the forums. It would clear the clutter around here, and persuade those users to either take their habit elsewhere, or better yet...actually post something substantial.

I post in said thread a lot and try to engage in conversations around what people are listening to, especially if I don’t know the album. Found some gems through the tread.

I wouldn’t be devastated if it was deleted but I think that I would be a shame as discovering new music is such a joy. Not going to be “butt-hurt” (what a great phrase) if it disappeared but would be a little sad.

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 66

Location: London Town

cestuneblague wrote:

Have one big, beautiful (derp) thread for what are you listening to now, regardless if it's an album, song, clip whatever. Otherwise if you take it away you're just going to see it pop up again, so just try to centralize it and direct users who post a similar thread to the main one and close any of the duplicate threads.

That might actually work quite well. You’d get far more diversity that way although the thread might get very long, very quickly. Worth discussing though.

MadhattanJack

Just to end the list...

Gender: Male

Johnnyo wrote:

I post in said thread a lot and try to engage in conversations around what people are listening to, especially if I don’t know the album. Found some gems through the tread.

I wouldn’t be devastated if it was deleted but I think that I would be a shame as discovering new music is such a joy. Not going to be “butt-hurt” (what a great phrase) if it disappeared but would be a little sad.

I, for one, would be butthurt if it were deleted. The rest of those threads can (mostly) go, but for people who have established themselves here, and who also prefer to listen to entire albums rather than just individual tracks, it's just easier to discover new material that you might like via the "currently listening to" thread — if only because another forum member whose musical tastes (or opinions) you like/respect is giving that material some attention.

For me, that's nearly half the point of the whole website. The main point of the site is obviously rankings, but brand-new material takes a while to appear on enough charts to be accurately ranked. So what are you gonna do, read reviews written by professional music critics? Eff that, I'd much rather get recs from you guys, even if the rec only amounts to "it's playing right now."

Repo

BeA Sunflower

Location: Forest Park

MadhattanJack wrote:

Johnnyo wrote:

I post in said thread a lot and try to engage in conversations around what people are listening to, especially if I don’t know the album. Found some gems through the tread.

I wouldn’t be devastated if it was deleted but I think that I would be a shame as discovering new music is such a joy. Not going to be “butt-hurt” (what a great phrase) if it disappeared but would be a little sad.

I, for one, would be butthurt if it were deleted. The rest of those threads can (mostly) go, but for people who have established themselves here, and who also prefer to listen to entire albums rather than just individual tracks, it's just easier to discover new material that you might like via the "currently listening to" thread — if only because another forum member whose musical tastes (or opinions) you like/respect is giving that material some attention.

For me, that's nearly half the point of the whole website. The main point of the site is obviously rankings, but brand-new material takes a while to appear on enough charts to be accurately ranked. So what are you gonna do, read reviews written by professional music critics? Eff that, I'd much rather get recs from you guys, even if the rec only amounts to "it's playing right now."

Totally agree. I've stumbled upon TONS of albums this way.

Johnnyo

Gender: Male

Age: 66

Location: London Town

MadhattanJack wrote:

Johnnyo wrote:

I post in said thread a lot and try to engage in conversations around what people are listening to, especially if I don’t know the album. Found some gems through the tread.

I wouldn’t be devastated if it was deleted but I think that I would be a shame as discovering new music is such a joy. Not going to be “butt-hurt” (what a great phrase) if it disappeared but would be a little sad.

I, for one, would be butthurt if it were deleted. The rest of those threads can (mostly) go, but for people who have established themselves here, and who also prefer to listen to entire albums rather than just individual tracks, it's just easier to discover new material that you might like via the "currently listening to" thread — if only because another forum member whose musical tastes (or opinions) you like/respect is giving that material some attention.

For me, that's nearly half the point of the whole website. The main point of the site is obviously rankings, but brand-new material takes a while to appear on enough charts to be accurately ranked. So what are you gonna do, read reviews written by professional music critics? Eff that, I'd much rather get recs from you guys, even if the rec only amounts to "it's playing right now."

You've actually put it more eloquently than me Madhattanjack. Agree with all that you have written there. Maybe I was being a little too polite about not being butthurt! It would be a great loss to the site if the tread disappeared.

Romanelli

Bone Swah

Gender: Male

Location: Broomfield, Colorado

Moderator

teodor_matz wrote:

I'm listening Construcao by Chico Buarque, really great actually....

That quote is the very beginning of the albums listening thread. It was posted on December 8th, 2008. Going on 17 years ago. Over two threads, it has survived 24,920 pages. More than 240,000 replies. And it has, at this moment, a staggering 8.9 million views. Before the month is over, it will reach 9 million.

That thread has outlasted every thread ever made on the BEA forums, and it has outlasted a great many of the forum users. It's been here longer than almost all of us (including myself). Yes, it is the inspiration for countless "What ___ Are You _____ing Right Now?" threads that are completely void of conversation, but it is also a really big chunk of BEA history. That thread has been the centerpiece of our forums for parts of three different decades.

I am absolutely in favor of ending the empty threads here and not having them back. But I do think that the albums thread (in its current form only...not changed into a catch all that would be impossible to moderate or keep up with for anyone) does deserve to stay. As others (like Johnnyo) have stated, it IS a really great place for album recs. I have used it for that purpose for many years. It IS a centralized place where you can see what ALBUMS others are listening to. And even though it does at times end up being just album covers for a while, there are also many and frequent attempts made to have actual conversations about albums there. There is socializing going on in that thread. And most importantly, it absolutely IS on topic for BEA...it's the most about albums thread we have on the forums.

For those reasons, I make a case to keep the one thread...what album are you listening to?. For the reasons stated above. And because of its historical significance.

Thanks!
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And crashing through the walls
Of dying history