Forum thoughts
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 4:30PM
Hello all. I wanted to canvass your opinions about whether the current forum headings are working well. I was considering adding another Forum called 'Composers' as it strikes me that a discussion about, say, Wagner doesn't fit perfectly into either recordings or live events, as it embraces both (and more). General discussion of a composer's output could therefore fall in here. But that's just my opinion - and I'd rather hear yours. Martin.
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 6:01PM
#2
RE: Forum thoughts
Hello Martin, agree with your thoughts of creating a "Composer" thread here. I suspect as time passes, more of the old G Forum format will follow. Many thanks for all the hard work both creating and managing this forum in addition to everyone's magazine duties. Best regards, Hal Owen.
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 6:09PM
#3
RE: Forum thoughts
More choice is not always a good solution. If you have some time, look at this presentation:
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
Maybe a good idea to stay in the "general", "recordings", "live" and "about the forum" threads...
Rolf
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 6:50PM
#4
RE: Forum thoughts
More choice is not always a good solution. If you have some time, look at this presentation:
http://www.ted.com/talks/barry_schwartz_on_the_paradox_of_choice.html
It's an interesting talk - there's a lot of interesting stuff on TED* - but I don't think Barry Schwartz is talking about the same thing here.
It's rather like the difference between choosing one way of organizing books in a library (cf. how to organize a forum), and whether having, eg, 50 different celebrity cookbooks is an "illusion of choice" or not (cf. the choice, perhaps, between reading Gramophone forums vs talkclassical vs music-web vs ... etc).
If only there were a philosophy/psychology forum here, we could discuss it further... ;-)
* eg, Benjamin Zander on music and passion -
http://www.ted.com/talks/benjamin_zander_on_music_and_passion.html
Mon, Apr 12 2010, 9:33PM
#5
RE: Forum thoughts
I thought the categories listed on your old Forum site worked quite well. We seemed to know more accurately where to bring up a new item. Otherwise I think your new title page etc works far better than the old.
Thu, Apr 15 2010, 9:33AM
#6
RE: Forum thoughts
Martin,
I would be inclined to leave headings as general as possible to allow members to float ideas/new threads. I've been a member of a forum that decided to lay down a carefully-designed sequence of Composer threads and encourage some focussed discussion on just two or three at a time. It inspired some animated comment, then died the death with participants having nothing more to say or simply lacking the time necessary to study a work/performance of a work and make informed remarks about it. Best to be as unprescriptive as is feasible and see what happens.
Thu, Apr 15 2010, 2:56PM
#7
RE: Forum thoughts
Martin, I am surprised a forum where posters can comment on current issues from the magazine has not been included. I see from my own messageboard that readers do have much to say about the magazine's content (especially now that it has a "new look"!).
Thu, Apr 15 2010, 3:28PM
#8
RE: Forum thoughts
Yes, I'm surprised no-one has started such a thread under the general discussion heading...
Fri, Apr 16 2010, 5:09AM
#9
RE: Home
[EDITED BY MODS - new thread started]
http://www.gramophone.co.uk/forum/general-discussion/new-look-gramophone...
Yes, I think forums for the more 'obvious' categories, like Composers, Conductors, and, perhaps, 'genres' (at a pretty broad level, like early music, opera) might work well.
Also, one thing that might help is not having "General Discussion" as the first forum people see. Pretty much anything will, by definition, fit in General Discussion, so some people may not look further for a more specific, more suitable category for their message. Really, you want the most specific things first, and the 'catch-all-else' forum at the end.
"Louder! Louder! I can still hear the singers!"
- Richard Strauss to the orchestra, at a rehearsal.