Korgscrew
Group: Super Admins
Posts: 3511
Joined: Dec. 1999 |
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Posted: Jan. 13 2015, 12:10 |
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I think there's definitely a future for forums, and some of them are still very active - just not this one so much! It seems to me that the issue with Facebook is that things become hard to find very quickly, that it's geared more towards making quick comments and moving on than it is to having (and archiving) long discussions. There are some topics here which people are still adding to after a decade or so! That's also, actually, why I don't totally see eye to eye with forums where, on the one hand people always yell "Use the search facility!" when anyone asks a question, but on the other hand get annoyed when someone digs up an old thread (because they've used the search facility and found something on the topic they want to discuss...) and add to it. Sure, there's a balance, it can be pretty strange and/or annoying when someone goes through and digs up loads and loads of old threads mostly because they were bored, but if someone's got something important to add to an old topic, I think that's where forums become really ideal.
Of course, if there aren't people around to keep the momentum going, things do just die off. I remember how I used to be constantly tending to the forum like a gardner with plants, and I know it was the same for the other admins...but these days I tend towards just dropping by to say hi every now and then. I did have a bit of a flurry of activity last year, when we finally got the database-driven version of the discography out there (which did lead to me beginning to hatch some other Oldfield-related plans along similar lines...), but a lot of the time, I find myself getting pulled in other directions...
Still, there are some anniversaries coming up this year, and a couple of us have been bouncing some ideas around, so perhaps we can get something going which reflects where all of us are right now. Frankly, though I'm sure the people over at Mike Oldfield Personal have fun there, it's quite a long way removed from what I really consider important these days when it comes to music...I feel like there's been an educational aspect to what I've done at tubular.net, or working out what Mike did, how he did it and using that to help myself and others create things ourselves. I'd like it if we can do some things this year which are along those lines, which can maybe have a broader reach and go beyond being just fan worship...
Happy new year to everyone (if I can even still say that in the middle of January ), may it bring many fantastic things for all of you!
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