Rethinking the forums structure

[19loveless91]

I promised to take a break from the forums for a while, and I still intend on doing so, but I want to give my opinion on this situation, as it's obviously a pretty big topic atm, and because I think that a whole lot of people are unhappy and leaving - the last of which lethalnezzle.

I think if you want to keep the discussions to only those about music, then there's no point in having forums at all. The site itself doesn't necessarily need a message board to function. There can be a discussion on albums or songs in the comment section for the respective albums/song pages or on users charts. When you open a forum, you create a different kind of community, more chance for users to talk in length, and with this there is simply no way that these discussions will be kept around topics related to music. Eventually people will try and get to know each other more well, and this is something that can't really be done via PMs or comments on other people's charts; and definitely can't be done just in threads relating to music. And then once people do get to know each other a bit more, this in itself opens the floor for a bunch of different topics, a bunch of different, dumb or serious threads.

So yeah.. I think having a forum but limiting it to only music just doesn't make sense. Similarly I don't think that closing every non-music thread right now will do any good. There was nothing but great discussion in that thread, sure it wasn't music related, but none of the posts were aggressive or insulting, and everybody gave their totally valid points about this situation.

[Happymeal]

I'm aware AM is busy as hell. I'm also aware he made it fairly explicit that the "lounge" isn't going to return in the near future. I have no personal vendetta against that, but he's really leaving everyone in the blue right now. Will it return? What does he think of the people leaving and etc.? I don't really mind it if he were to leave the forums as is, but he really should be addressing the situation a bit better than he is. That's not to say he isn't doing the best he can, but I'd rather not be left with a desolate forum.

As far as the whole "better off not having any forums", I'd like to say that the whole comment system really doesn't work the same way. It's not quite the response oriented thing that the forums are. Plus, the aesthetics are less than desirable.

With that being said, I really never saw a problem with the lounge myself, but I can't see what everyone is getting so upset about. The lounge was a fairly uneventful place, it was similar to the music section only with other topics. There's barely a difference between the forums now and then. I think anyone leaving over the destruction of the lounge and any non music related topic is just being stubborn.

[albummaster]

Apologies for the lack of communication on this issue. I appreciate people taking the time to write about this, and I know the Lounge being closed right now is a cause of frustration to some people, but first and foremost this is a music website. Lately, the site has seen too much drama in the Lounge, and as a result people were deleting their accounts & standing back from contributing because the level of conversation that was taking place was offensive to a lot of people (and this isn't something that has just happened in the last two weeks but a general deterioration over a long period of time which culminated in deciding to close it to allow a cooling off period). There are plenty of other websites to have that type of conversation, and BEA doesn't necessarily need it.

[drakonium]

I don't want to act like a fanboy or anything, but lethalnezzle leaving and deleting all his charts isn't acceptable. I don't know what to do atm, but things can't stay that way. They just can't. Closing the lounge for a week was a good idea, and to support it I delayed the BEUT. Things have gone too far though. Please re-open the lounge AM. It's time now.

EDIT : please do not quote my post out of its context. It might have been a bit excessive but throwing it like that in the middle of nowhere is unfair.

EDIT II : haha, nezzle was actually right to blame me then

[Norman Bates]

Dear AM, isn't nezzle's resignation your cue to loosen up a bit on this matter? By wanting to concentrate on the music discussions only (and why not after all) and jumping at a rather inoffensive post (by which I mean drakonium's), you just lost one of your best debater and provider of intelligent music talk. Don't you think you might have overreacted?

Thank you very much in advance for your kind reply.

[Guest]

Yo, don't make me a martyr for anything. I spend too much time here, and I should be focusing my writing on the various blogs that I'm supposed to be a part of (but never contribute to). Most of my decent writing happens here, which I feel is unfair on the people who I'm supposed to be writing for. Also, I just have no interest in a forum where I can't talk about anything outside of music. As I said in that thread, I love discussing music IRL, but I wouldn't stay friends with people who wouldn't let me talk about anything else. I realised that the thread which got closed was actually the funnest thread I'd posted in for a while, since before the Lounge was closed, and when it became apparent that even that sort of thread was against the rules I just decided that it wasn't worth being here. I'll be back when we're allowed to talk about other stuff again. Don't cry for my charts, they'll be back too. Until then, if anybody needs to contact me for anything, you can PM me on this account, and I'll give you my e-mail address. I will be deleting this account within 24 hours, so holla. I just figured that I'd never stop coming here unless I deleted my account.

Peace.

[albummaster]

[Norman Bates]

'k thanks for the swift answer.

[Guest]

Only thing I have to say about this situation is that this sudden shift from minimal moderation to hard moderation doesn't seem rational and cannot be justified and is misguided; that is, it cannot be just put aside by resorting to some "facts" (there were none) about deteriorating atmosphere (only thing you accomplish by calling them "facts" is rebutting any discussion on it and you can do it because it's your site and anyone that doesn't like it can leave). So Imma leave too though that's hardly a blow seeing I'm quite non-existent on the forums but I just wanted to state my reason although that might not be anyone's concern as well. Anyway, maximal moderation is not something I approve of and it decreases more than ever any remaining interest that I had in this forum; also this forum is full of great people and becomes addictive quite soon so I realize I better seize the opportunity to delete my account when I have the will and pretext to and spend the time on more fruitful stuff. Bye. Love you all

[albummaster]