Stoffeltoo
I have noticed a sharp decline in posts lately.
I am also a FB user and have noticed increased activity on some of the musical instrument trade and sale pages.
Am I wrong or has the following of this forum moved to other e-areas following their heroes?
Just a wandering crazy sleep deprived rant
V8
Yip.
Been thinking the same for a while now (since Alan officially ended his active role). A good few regulars went around the same time - Viccy, X-Rated, Deef, Conrad - for a variety of reasons. And since there's been less banter, less chat.
The exposure for a classified ad or question is just that much greater on FB - everyone , whether member or not is now part of your conversation (unless it's a secret group).
Is facebook killing public forums such as this? To a degree, I'd say so. Would it better to relocate GFSA to FB? I'm not against it (sorry Norio!!!)
Hasie
I have not been a member here for long, so I don't know how it used to be.
I like reading posts on here and contributing when I have something meaningful/worthwhile to say.
It has been very informative so far and I am learning a lot of things here.
I believe the forum would lose its flavour a bit if moved to FB.
warrenpridgeon
I have gone through a very stressful period at work where I was burnt out and tired all the time. During that time I got head hunted by another company so I've just changed jobs.
Previously there were quite a few threads that I would weigh in on...
I think possibly there have been a few members who had disagreements with other members and led to some of them leaving also.
It kinda sucks ja. Getting settled in at the new job now so I can hopefully put a little time into the forum and my music.
daveo1977
Hello!
Like Hasie, I am also new to GFSA. What I like about the forum, as opposed to a Fb group, is that I'm not getting updated every few seconds in a newsfeed. This gets quite tiresome, in my opinion. What I like is when I log on to GFSA, I can click on unread posts, and quickly scan the threads. I can then choose to weigh in, or not. This, for me, is a great freedom. I have also seen GFSA threads pop up in Google searches, and this I like - getting a South African perspective on guitar playing. I acknowledge that I don't know how the forum was a couple of years ago, but I think you've got a great thing going here.
guidothepimmp
Good question.. and perhaps it has
Im not on facebook, neverhave been and likely never will be. It simply doesnt appeal to me. I havemade some good friends over this forum too..
Is it quieter.. sure.. have the personalities changed, sure.. however, the odd old face more often than not sticks his/ head in to say howsit.
I also think the cape town folks have used this forum better than saythe jhb folks. I say this based onthe get togethers and such.. i recall 2 in jhb.. that i attended anyways..
I still thinktheknowledge and know how is here.. i also like that this forum is not like ultimate guitar..
So yah.. still a good place to be..
Thatand some of theheated debates have died down cos roomysman no longer punts van halen like he once did..
That and i havent seen an eye gouger pic in months..
Squonk
The seasons change.
I found that the Forum got a bit politically correct a while back but that was probably only me!
Still when I joined the forum in 2008 I had one guitar, now there are 8 of the things, 3 amps, foot pedals, multifx etc etc.
The info and help I got off this forum is monumental. Made lots of friends!
The main reason why I have stepped back a bit is that I found myself spending more time here than playing guitar. To work out a good balance is a good thing.
NorioDS
Interesting thread. I'm listening guys.
I just about hate the classifieds in their current form. Only benefit is having pictures for the sidebar and for the weekly emails.
Other than that, they are a damn nightmare. Never work right.
We've also definitely lost some hero members.
Keep chatting. Keep it open and constructive. Maybe there's a thing or 2 I can do to remedy the situation.
This thread might help me figure that out.
warrenpridgeon
Norio wrote:
Interesting thread. I'm listening guys.
I just about hate the classifieds in their current form. Only benefit is having pictures for the sidebar and for the weekly emails.
Other than that, they are a damn nightmare. Never work right.
We've also definitely lost some hero members.
Keep chatting. Keep it open and constructive. Maybe there's a thing or 2 I can do to remedy the situation.
This thread might help me figure that out.
I think this might be one of the major contributing factors... as your stalwarts keep things ticking over and the people with less time or who are less dedicated/interested/invested/whatever just pop in and out and join conversations as they want.
I shall try become a stalwart ?
briang-telkomsa-net
The forum does seem to have become a bit quieter.
Still a friendly place to be for things guitar/music related though.
I say keep it where it is.
NorioDS
By the way, there's practically zero chance of me moving this to Facebook. I've seen multiple cases where Facebook groups, pages and accounts are shut down on a whim and take weeks or months to get back up again. WAY too risky for something I consider to be "my baby".
singemonkey
Squonk wrote:
The seasons change.
I found that the Forum got a bit politically correct a while back but that was probably only me!
Actually it was the fact that many old hands were dismayed at the members who wanted this to be a boys' club like all the other forums that led them to leave - and activity dried up almost overnight.
Politically correct = actually giving a crap about making everyone feel welcome.
Still. I stayed. Cos then I get to keep bringing stuff like this up ?
PeteM
I agree with singemonkey. While the forum was vibrant with heated discussions and differing opinions on subjects, it is when it became distinctly sexist with certain female members being targeted that things went sour. This targeting occurred without any disciplinary action from the moderators other than deleting offending remarks. This kinda turned me off from being a regular participant as I saw the personalty of the forum changing to something I wasn't enjoying. At the same time I saw a drop-off of some of the regular participants and this even before Alan left.
I still do visit the site to glean what info I can out of it, which at the moment is a bit thin, but I'm sorry to say that I have refrained from participating in any banter or offering any input.
Squonk
singemonkey wrote:
Politically correct = actually giving a crap about making everyone feel welcome.
Still. I stayed. Cos then I get to keep bringing stuff like this up ?
Not really meaning that Singe, It was more personal things I had with some members
NorioDS
I think I missed this whole debacle.
Is that why Viccy is missing?
Definitely not happy about this situation. Would love for someone to edify me regarding what happened.
Personally I prefer *publicly* banning assholes. It kinda acts as a deterrent.
Again, please let me know what happened. I suspect I was absent on the moderating side of things when this happened so I missed it.
Hasie
What I did not mention in my previous post is that in the past few weeks, the number of posts seem to have increased from when I joined at the end of last year.
V8
Norio wrote:
I think I missed this whole debacle.
Is that why Viccy is missing?
I was *kinda* following it at the time - my honest opinion was "storm in a teacup". One person having a bad/emotional day and a another being a wee bit insensitive - it happens. Though I thought the reactions of the those who felt it was a personal attack or sexist in nature or a long term indicator of misogyny advocated by forum members were way out of proportion.
Perhaps others recall the details better?
As far as I recall -Two opinions were expressed and one felt morally right, the other disagreed. The exchanges on both sides were a bit childish (at least I thought so at the time) somehow those who supported the morally right opinion felt this indicated a overall negative attitude towards females and exercised their right not to participate any longer in the forum.
Case closed, imho.
However, if the member that allegedly caused the offense had been banned ouright, I'd no longer be a member of GFSA (No great loss, I know ?) I have a thing about over-sanitized, politically correct BS and much as I wouldn't tolerate idiots -spouting -any form- of discriminatory BS.
NorioDS
I don't tend to ban folks completely. Prefer to try a week or a month. If they apologise and promise not to do it again, that sometimes lessens the sentence.
It's when people go berserk and vloek me in private and/or just act like complete arseholes in the forum that a permanent ban happens but honestly that's usually reserved for spammers.
guidothepimmp
I saw the aftermath of that particular episode.. i did not however see any of the offensive bits.
Tend to agree with V8, what i saw roundabout the time was a few folks that were passionate about their point, and got sensitive when folk didnt agree, and the banter got a bit more passionate resulting in both parties getting defensive and further offended.. this was my perception anyways...
And then poof.. viccy, jackflash et al were gone, followed by others.. Mikem etc..
Disclaimer.. not saying they left cos of the same issue.. timing was just round the same time
singemonkey
Yeah. For those in the boys club, unaffected by this stuff as it went on and on, it no doubt seemed like someone getting upset over a single incident.
See this on the internet so often. When the person finally snaps, those completely unaffected go, "Huh? Wut? Y u so sensitive?"
