Missing Members

[Gurn Blanston]

Not sure of all the details,  but I know that it doesn't count them as 'new member' until they make a post and a mod approves it. Traditionally,  those bunches of new 'accounts' are bots. For a couple of years they were programmed to make a post for our approval.  It was interesting to see what their primitive AI came up with.  Sort of like reading CMG... 

🤠🥸

[Karl Henning]

(* chortle *)

[Spotted Horses]

Not sure of all the details,  but I know that it doesn't count them as 'new member' until they make a post and a mod approves it. Traditionally,  those bunches of new 'accounts' are bots. For a couple of years they were programmed to make a post for our approval.  It was interesting to see what their primitive AI came up with.  Sort of like reading CMG... 

🤠🥸

Not sure to what to make of that. There are lots of members in the member list with zero posts. So it must be possible to get into the member list even without having an initial post approved by a moderator.

I suppose there could be registration attempts that are automatically identified as bots by the forum software and rejected, but still somehow get counted as new members by whatever algorithm keeps track of new members.

[aligreto]

Welcome back, John.

The tragedy of this site is that there are people here with vast amounts of knowledge but many of those also have HUGE egos and present themselves as being self appointed arbiters of good taste on this forum. Anything that runs in the face of what they believe as dogma immediately becomes the cause for potential conflict. This causes many people not to want to engage. My own absences from this site are becoming more frequent and prolonged due to the deteriorating tone overall.

I find recent posts regarding your departure to be distasteful. You are not a perfect person by your own admission but who here is? People who wrote such stuff about you should be ashamed of themselves.

More humility would seem to be required here on this site even though I accept that ego and humility are an oxymoron.

Having been around here for some time now and having engaged with you over the years, my friendly advice to you if you decide to continue to post here is to word your comments more carefully. You should also be more careful with whom you engage. That should be self evident to you at this stage and by that I mean ignoring them completely and not just adding them to your ignore list. Do not be baited. That requires restraint.

It should also be apparent to you that there are some here who value you, who have missed you and your contributions and who also wish you well.

[aligreto]

I think it is a timely reminder to all of us to think carefully about our tone and words before we hit 'send'. Sometimes I wonder whether a snarky or angry comment might be better considered after a few minutes fetching a cup of coffee, re-reading, and then sending something. I really enjoy this space, but I agree that some of the ad hominems and personally critical comments have affected my enjoyment and willingness to participate. I think if you look at the site stats below from August and September since the departure of certain members, and what I have perceived as an increase in less measured comments, there is a real dip in engagement day to day; certainly significantly fewer new posts. People are still reading, because we still have as many lurking and casual views from folk who tend not to comment. I suspect that the vast number of already existing valuable and knowledgeable comments and posts will keep that casual surfing and reading as high as it ever is. Whether new engagement will pick up again, may depend on how the spirit of the site continues going forward, and whether we increase our personal contributions to make up for those departing.

Everyone has always been very kind to me, and I think most of us usually are, but how we speak to others and how we speak about others, matters. We all bring our sensitivities and need for kindness to the forum, I think. I would like to think it could be a safer space because of our carefulness.

Apologies for the wonky formatting!

Yearly Summary   New Topics   New Posts   New Members   Most Online   Page views

+ September 2022   54                   5219           2230                   330                   2433157
+ August 2022           49                   5798           34                   140                   1839518
+ July 2022           73                   6906           34                   585                   2639757
+ June 2022           59                   6706           113                   156                   2360932
+ May 2022           56                   6382           31                   145                   3629870
+ April 2022           48                   6317           33                   140                   3169233
+ March 2022           56                   6199           31                   145                   2754773
+ February 2022   56                   6689           35                   159                   2272844

An interesting statistic for me here is that the average number of new members per month [excluding two spikes] seems to be around the thirty mark. How many of those new members then go on to post more than, say, even ten posts? Why the lack of engagement after making the decision to become a member after, presumably, being a reader only?

[Pohjolas Daughter]

*Welcome back, John.

The tragedy of this site is that there are people here with vast amounts of knowledge but many of those also have HUGE egos and present themselves as being self appointed arbiters of good taste on this forum. Anything that runs in the face of what they believe as dogma immediately becomes the cause for potential conflict. This causes many people not to want to engage. My own absences from this site are becoming more frequent and prolonged due to the deteriorating tone overall.

I find recent posts regarding your departure to be distasteful. You are not a perfect person by your own admission but who here is? People who wrote such stuff about you should be ashamed of themselves.

More humility would seem to be required here on this site even though I accept that ego and humility are an oxymoron.

Having been around here for some time now and having engaged with you over the years, my friendly advice to you if you decide to continue to post here is to word your comments more carefully. You should also be more careful with whom you engage. That should be self evident to you at this stage and by that I mean ignoring them completely and not just adding them to your ignore list. Do not be baited. That requires restraint.

It should also be apparent to you that there are some here who value you, who have missed you and your contributions and who also wish you well.

I understand how you feel  And all good advice....for all of us.

*+1

Best,

PD

[Mirror Image]

Welcome back, John.

The tragedy of this site is that there are people here with vast amounts of knowledge but many of those also have HUGE egos and present themselves as being self appointed arbiters of good taste on this forum. Anything that runs in the face of what they believe as dogma immediately becomes the cause for potential conflict. This causes many people not to want to engage. My own absences from this site are becoming more frequent and prolonged due to the deteriorating tone overall.

I find recent posts regarding your departure to be distasteful. You are not a perfect person by your own admission but who here is? People who wrote such stuff about you should be ashamed of themselves.

More humility would seem to be required here on this site even though I accept that ego and humility are an oxymoron.

Having been around here for some time now and having engaged with you over the years, my friendly advice to you if you decide to continue to post here is to word your comments more carefully. You should also be more careful with whom you engage. That should be self evident to you at this stage and by that I mean ignoring them completely and not just adding them to your ignore list. Do not be baited. That requires restraint.

It should also be apparent to you that there are some here who value you, who have missed you and your contributions and who also wish you well.

Thanks a lot, Fergus. Sound advice for us all. I'm trying my best to post comments that are positive and not to get wrapped up in the negativity. After all, if I succumbed to this type of attitude, I would be stooping down to the level of many members here who I wish to not engage with again.

[Florestan]

ignoring them completely and not just adding them to your ignore list. Do not be baited. That requires restraint.

I too am working on that. It's hard but it's really the only way.

[Karl Henning]

I too am working on that. It's hard but it's really the only way.

Wisdom.

[aligreto]

Thanks a lot, Fergus. Sound advice for us all. I'm trying my best to post comments that are positive and not to get wrapped up in the negativity. After all, if I succumbed to this type of attitude, I would be stooping down to the level of many members here who I wish to not engage with again.

That was indeed my inferred message, John.

[vandermolen]

An interesting statistic for me here is that the average number of new members per month [excluding two spikes] seems to be around the thirty mark. How many of those new members then go on to post more than, say, even ten posts? Why the lack of engagement after making the decision to become a member after, presumably, being a reader only?

Interesting Fergus. It puzzles me when a new member joins, receives a host of welcoming messages...and then, you never hear from them again!

[Pizzicato-Polka]

Welcome back, Mirror Image! It's good to hear from you!

Why the lack of engagement after making the decision to become a member after, presumably, being a reader only?

I can speak for myself, as I barely post since joining. I quickly noticed that there's really no one else here without great musical knowledge (at least it feels this way), and so I feel too embarrassed to post. Because while I enjoy classical intensely enough to have wanted to join a forum, I still do it in a rather casual manner compared to the majority here. It's great to read the very informative posts of everyone else, and it's also great to have an option to chime in, but it's just that I rarely find in my head anything interesting enough to actually use that option.

[aligreto]

I can speak for myself, as I barely post since joining. I quickly noticed that there's really no one else here without great musical knowledge (at least it feels this way), and so I feel too embarrassed to post. Because while I enjoy classical intensely enough to have wanted to join a forum, I still do it in a rather casual manner compared to the majority here. It's great to read the very informative posts of everyone else, and it's also great to have an option to chime in, but it's just that I rarely find in my head anything interesting enough to actually use that option.

Everyone always has something to contribute. By posting what you are listening to you may well spark a conversation with, or an interest for, another member. You should never feel embarrassed or intimidated. There are plenty of pleasant people here to help you through. 

[pjme]

Welcome back, Mirror Image! It's good to hear from you!

I can speak for myself, as I barely post since joining. I quickly noticed that there's really no one else here without great musical knowledge (at least it feels this way), and so I feel too embarrassed to post. Because while I enjoy classical intensely enough to have wanted to join a forum, I still do it in a rather casual manner compared to the majority here. It's great to read the very informative posts of everyone else, and it's also great to have an option to chime in, but it's just that I rarely find in my head anything interesting enough to actually use that option.

And you are from Poland!  A very interesting music country!
Welcome!

[vandermolen]

Everyone always has something to contribute. By posting what you are listening to you may well spark a conversation with, or an interest for, another member. You should never feel embarrassed or intimidated. There are plenty of pleasant people here to help you through. 

Totally agree with this.

[foxandpeng]

Everyone always has something to contribute. By posting what you are listening to you may well spark a conversation with, or an interest for, another member. You should never feel embarrassed or intimidated. There are plenty of pleasant people here to help you through. 

I agree with this 

There are some profoundly knowledgeable people here, and many enthusiastic amateurs. I benefit from posts by both; I enjoy the fascinating analyses but also posts from people like me who simply want to share that they have found a cool thing. Those are the posts that have often led me to my own enjoyable things.

[Roasted Swan]

Totally agree with this.

+2!

[Pohjolas Daughter]

Totally agree with this.

+3 

PD

[Lisztianwagner]

I agree with this 

There are some profoundly knowledgeable people here, and many enthusiastic amateurs. I benefit from posts by both; I enjoy the fascinating analyses but also posts from people like me who simply want to share that they have found a cool thing. Those are the posts that have often led me to my own enjoyable things.

Totally agree with this.

+2!

+3 

PD

+4

I absolutely agree too; there's not an importance ranking about comments, and, unless offensive, every post sharing love for music can give a great contribution.

[Karl Henning]

Totally agree with this.

+ 5