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StevenSurprenant
12-08-2013, 01:24 PM
I was looking around and when I clicked on one thread I noticed that there was only one posting. Then I noticed that there is a Thread Display Options box lower down which removes outdated postings.

The other thing is that I don't stop by as often as I used to and when I do, I notice that many times my last postings are the last postings.

What gives here? At this rate, and with that Thread Display Option thing going on, I figure that one day I'll stop by and everything will be blank.

The people that do post (the regulars) can't carry the ball for everyone, so why aren't people posting here?

With all respect to the regulars, if it weren't for you people, this place would vanish. This has been a great site and I would hate to see that happen.

9552

JohnMichael
12-08-2013, 04:08 PM
The format has been changed a few times. In the past when you would click on New Posts all posts from the past 24 hours would appear. I think it both made the site seem more active and when it appeared busier members would check in more frequently. Of course this did increase participation.

We had a few members that complained so much about spam even though it was being deleted. They felt the site should have none. The admin began to make it tougher to sign up which did not reduce that much spam but slowed down new members from joining. Mods have a lot less ability to fix problems but we can delete and ban.

This group of sites is more about reviews than forums. There is a lot of advertising, reviews but not much support for the forums. More than anything it is the quality of social intercourse that makes people want to visit, contribute and become regulars.

StevenSurprenant
12-09-2013, 08:04 AM
This group of sites is more about reviews than forums. There is a lot of advertising, reviews but not much support for the forums. More than anything it is the quality of social intercourse that makes people want to visit, contribute and become regulars.


I understand. The reviews are very important to people that are considering a new purchase. In many cases, these reviews by equipment owners have more value than reviews by professionals. Both types have their merit.


I do notice that there are a great deal more guests than members.


I've been spending my time on DIY and tube sites, both which are more active. I assume it's because these people are more of the hobbyists type. I think it's also because the mods they make are more inline with affordability.


Personally, I think that is where the dialog falls short here, though through no fault of anyone. I think most people are looking for a great system for little money. Like reynolds532 said in another post, "I have greater appreciation for the art and engineering in a $1000 system that sounds really good than for systems trying to define the state of the art.". You can see where I am going with this.

This argument has been going on for a very long time. I quit buying Stereophile magazine because they got stupid about the equipment they reviewed. I was hooked for a while, but who can afford that stuff? Besides, I've listened to (and owned) some of their A rated stuff, but you know what, it's gone now and I don't miss it. I'm not saying that it wasn't any good, maybe it was a matter of synergy.


Besides, when I look at the guts of some of this expensive equipment I see maybe a few hundred dollars in parts selling for (10's of) thousands of dollars. For instance, one fellow just built a phono preamp kit for $700 and tested it against one that cost $7,000. The final result was pretty much a tie. I just rebuilt my phono preamp for about $30 + the cost of the stock preamp $200, total $230 and it sounds fantastic. I realize that most people don't want to DIY, they want their equipment already finished and to just be able to plug it in.


I know you have no control over any of this. All I'm saying is that the masses might be more interested if we spoke of equipment that blows our socks off without having to refinance our homes.


The other thing is that stereo equipment manufacturers are doing their best to get our money by selling equipment to fit everyone's disposable cash rather than selling good equipment at a decent price. I've been out of the loop for a while, but companies like B&W, Paradigm, Polk, and others come out with a new product lines every so often. Why? It's just to make people believe that new is better, but it's mostly the same old stuff (sound quality wise) in a new package. It wasn't that long ago that I listened to a pair of speakers in the thousands of dollars range (about $5,000) that I knew what the drivers cost. They had about $800 in parts not counting the cabinet. That's $800 normal retail value. I built a similar cabinet for about $100. It wasn’t as nice looking as theirs but was of the same quality.


I am getting way off track, but maybe what we need to do is as a forum help group is to steer people away from over priced gear and towards gear that provides similar performance at a fraction of the cost.


I just don't know...

P.S. I still like to read about the expensive stuff too, so don't think I am against that. I just think that at some price point you don't get much for your money.