Scheduling A Virtual Meeting Concerning Problems Of This Site

We are facing serious problems on this website. Not technical problems, but ones concerning the composers and the way this site is working.

We had only one entry last competition (March-April), and many people (including me) are feeling this forum a bit dead recently.

So, my suggestion is that we could schedule a virtual meeting (real time) to discuss these issues, propose solutions and definitely APPLY it.

I know I'm not a moderator, an administrator, not even a reviewer, but I do like this site very much and I care about it.

My suggestion is for this meeting to happen on this sunday, May 4th. I know we have many different times, but we can organize our lives for it, right?

I'm waiting for replies about it.

Thanks in advance,

Christian Perrotta

I'm up for it

Sure. But it won't matter much without some admins on board. Without them any meeting might as well not happen.

Sure. But it won't matter much without some admins on board. Without them any meeting might as well not happen.

Any idea on how to get them on board?

@danishali903: You could ask them. You could start a poll-thread asking members whether they believe admins and moderators are doing enough to keep the site active. If they don't want to do anything they've got to be given the incentive to do it anyway. And there's always the possibility of starting a new site, by active members of this one.

Perhaps it has a few things to do with a lack of incentives for active members. For instance, I got a bit weary completely exhausted after a couple years of churning out reviews for most kinds of music - but it doesn't mean I have ceased to be interested or, much less, unwilling to help the site. Alas, debates are rarely going on here lately - although the perennial style / categorizing topic is perhaps viewed as pointless in our current musical landscape. But I'm up for any ideas.

I'll stop in if I'm around, but my Sunday is pretty packed with concert stuff this week.  Way to get it done, Perrotta!  (:

I was active on here for a few years-- but as I was one of the few females on the forum I got rather sick of all the nasty jokes and such. The site seems ok (a bit strange format since I've been here), but for me honestly I just got sick of the sex jokes.

We should officially anoint Elizabeth as our queen, and have her rule over this site!

I second the proclamation. Long live our Queen!

BTW, everyone got pretty much as sick as you, Liz - but I must point out that most of the usual offenders have left the site, likely sick of themselves.

HRH Queen Elizabeth (minus the glasses)!

BTW, perhaps our new monarch could decree any emergency measures for the site - or at least schedule a meeting as requested by Lord Perrotta.

Lol. I'm no longer admin, unfortunately. So any "decrees" will have to actually go to chopin or someone of that level.

*cough* coup d'etat *cough*

In all seriousness, though, I'm not sure if there's a whole lot we can do. The site always worked best when we had a large, active community. As goofy as the "Off Topic" forum was, it really promoted community here...which in turn brought more music and reviews and new members...etc.

Once again, I agree with our Queen. When I came into YC, we had about 20-30 very active members and a few good-natured, silly threads running - and feeding the spirit of a "community". I made my best to fit in and get involved by reviewing a lot of music, posting frequently, and putting up my own compositions (which fortunately gathered quite a few reviews on their own). I also made a few great friends in the way (Elizabeth, CJ, DinaHeartX, Sonataform, Sojar Voglar, Gretchen, SYS65, JrCramer, Sarastro, to throw some names). But at times I felt that very few people were as committed - and I must admit I got a bit worn out.

Now we have about 10-12 moderately active members (most of which have already posted something in this thread), but no active leadership (the moderators and administrators themselves aren't even heard of - except for Stirling Radliff and maybe SYS65 who at least shows up with some frequency) and the "community spirit" has all but vanished. To worsen matters, I seem to be the only member of the reviewing staff that at least checks up daily - not that I'm reviewing works as I used to. Most of the remaining active members appear to think very lowly of their own musical knowledge, thus becoming afraid of sharing it, let alone write a scathing review of anything. And there is also this member who, while remaining technically "active", does nothing else than upload his own stuff every few days, completely oblivious to any feedback he receives or (even worse) to the fact that other composers might also want feedback for their stuff.

Is there anything we might do to change this?

Is there anything we might do to change this?

Move to a more active site and integrate into the community there?

Internet boards have a finite lifespan, as everything does. Once they're dead, there's no going back. At the same time, "life" is ambiguous. There is no point at which one can clearly draw a line with "dead" on one side and "alive" on the other. There are still living cells in a dead body, and there are still active posters on a dead site. The question is do you want to commit to your body for better or for worse, even when it starts rotting and being eaten by maggots; or are you willing to jump ship to another body that's in better health?

When I joined it seemed like there was a constant stream of real newbies (like me!) asking basic questions that kept the more active members active.  Someone would ask what seemed like a very naive question, and get an answer, often laced with sarcasm that they would even dare to ask something so basic.  Someone else would disagree with the response.  Lots of quoting of various texts ensued as everyone discovered the multiple views on even the most fundamental points of theory.  

It feels like our stream of very new composers has dried up and the discussion they inspired among the more active older members has dried up with them.  Did we lose a link to the site somewhere vital, that had been steering people here?  Or has a new site gained popularity that is getting all our old traffic?  

How's this happening?
I'd love to do my bit to keep this site running :)

It is wonderful that many people are interesed in reviving this site. And chopin's idea is great, but we should have another moderator with us in this crucial moment, while he is a bit "out".

I must tell you guys that I miss Morivou a lot here... I don't know if it's coincidence, but I feel this apathy here since he has "quit" YC. I'm sure he would have many great ideas for this probem^^

Is there a specific time for this virtual meeting (if its happening that is)?

Well, we should first have a list of people that will really take part in this meeting;

Then, we should schedule a time for this, which can be a bit troubling, since we live in different parts of the world;

Lastly, we'd have to have some way to communicate in real time with many people. I don't know if skype does it, but I do know that RaidCall would be a perfect software for that.

Is everybody up to do all of this?

Since we're already on Sunday, we could schedule it for the next weekend, so that we would come up with a "perfect" time for everybody. Also, people would need time to get organized to it, including getting the proper software to it.

It is wonderful that many people are interesed in reviving this site. And chopin's idea is great, but we should have another moderator with us in this crucial moment, while he is a bit "out".

 

I must tell you guys that I miss Morivou a lot here... I don't know if it's coincidence, but I feel this apathy here since he has "quit" YC. I'm sure he would have many great ideas for this probem^^

Morivou was in and out of the website even back when I was around. (At the time) He was a student and so it was hard to balance school with YC. Obviously school comes first. 

Not sure if a "live" meeting is the way to go, seeing as how we're all over the place and we may not have as nice of a turn out. Having ideas running through this thread is a good idea in my opinion.

Back when I was on staff, when we had "staff meetings" we would all meet up on skype and just have a huge IM meeting. Kind of like the shoutbox-- but with a purpose.

We had the last one about a few months ago, and it was some sort of a melee. We ended up with actually fewer admins and mods than before :p ! And it seems the shortage on staff has translated into a shortage on activity, since there are less people actually committed to the site.