Who’s Tired Of These Game Polls?

[Mirror Image]

I don't know about you guys but I just can't vote in any of these game polls any longer. There's just too many of them and, at the end of the day, are they fun or prove anything? I know members like Sammy likes to do them, but what's unfortunate is that this is this member's only contribution to GMG since returning. I miss the days when there's more dialogue and talking about the actual music and the reasons as to why it excites us.

I know I'm probably just venting here and no one else shares my frustration with this current trend, but it is what it is.

[Gurn Blanston]

Well, I like them 1000X more than the One (or Two, Three, Four, Five or Several) Word (or Letter or Paragraph) threads. I also like them better than the totally subjective 'who are your Top 17 Kazoo Composers?' threads. I have resolved those issues for myself by not going to any of those threads once I am sure they haven't caused a fight or are talking about me behind my back. Sometimes you just have to let it go...

[Karl Henning]

Well, I like them 1000X more than the One (or Two, Three, Four, Five or Several) Word (or Letter or Paragraph) threads.

They aren't everybody's money, that's certain 

[Florestan]

Well, I like them 1000X more than the One (or Two, Three, Four, Five or Several) Word (or Letter or Paragraph) threads. I also like them better than the totally subjective 'who are your Top 17 Kazoo Composers?' threads.

Ditto. I also dearly miss the "Identify the composer's picture" thread --- the detectivistic work implied was very rewarding, at least for me (and no, I'm not talking about googling the picture).

Are they fun? For me, yes.

Do they prove anything? Nothing at all, nor are they supposed to.

I'll give you the same piece of advice I gave another poster (he badly misinterpreted it but I know you won't): more nonchalance and detachment could only be beneficial. 

[Mirror Image]

Well, I like them 1000X more than the One (or Two, Three, Four, Five or Several) Word (or Letter or Paragraph) threads. I also like them better than the totally subjective 'who are your Top 17 Kazoo Composers?' threads. I have resolved those issues for myself by not going to any of those threads once I am sure they haven't caused a fight or are talking about me behind my back. Sometimes you just have to let it go...

Letting it go would've been a good idea, but it's too late I already started this poll. I suppose the real frustration I have is that Sammy isn't active on any of the discussion threads like he used to be and that's the real shame of it all.

[Mirror Image]

Ditto. I also dearly miss the "Identify the composer's picture" thread --- the detectivistic work implied was very rewarding, at least for me (and no, I'm not talking about googling the picture).

Are they fun? For me, yes.

Do they prove anything? Nothing at all, nor are they supposed to.

I'll give you the same piece of advice I gave another poster (he badly misinterpreted it but I know you won't): more nonchalance and detachment could only be beneficial. 

The 'Identify Composer' thread was something that caused quite a bit of ambivalence for me. I never knew who was cheating and who wasn't on that thread and there never was a way to find out if one was cheating unless they openly admitted to it. So, no, I don't miss that thread at all.

[Florestan]

Letting it go would've been a good idea, but it's too late I already started this poll. I suppose the real frustration I have is that Sammy isn't active on any of the discussion threads like he used to be and that's the real shame of it all.

Possibly, but then again my own experience shows conspicuously that precisely those posts of mine which I wrote specifically for being discussed were ignored big time (unless they were overtly provocative). Why bother anymore, then, except for the pleasure of reading my own posts? 

[Karl Henning]

Part of the beauty of GMG, I think, is precisely that my fellow posters enjoy the liberty to post as they wish, when they wish, for whatever reason please them.

[Florestan]

Part of the beauty of GMG, I think, is precisely that my fellow posters enjoy the liberty to post as they wish, when they wish, for whatever reason please them.

Why, of course! But if taken to the extreme, that would mean that instead of an ongoing conversation we would have parallel monologues --- and sometimes it can be frustrating. 

[Mirror Image]

Possibly, but then again my own experience shows conspicuously that precisely those posts of mine which I wrote specifically for being discussed were ignored big time (unless they were overtly provocative). Why bother anymore, then, except for the pleasure of reading my own posts? 

If you wrote elegantly on a composer's music that I also adored, then I would read attentively, Andrei. Our tastes seem to be quite different from each other's. Don't think your posts, however, go unnoticed by me my friend. Even if I don't enjoy the composer you're writing about as much as you, I still enjoy reading other people's opinions.

[Gurn Blanston]

Possibly, but then again my own experience shows conspicuously that precisely those posts of mine which I wrote specifically for being discussed were ignored big time (unless they were overtly provocative). Why bother anymore, then, except for the pleasure of reading my own posts? 

That was why I started my blog. People here who want to read about Haydn can still do so with a click, and meantime, 55K other people read about him too, which is satisfying and validates the efforts it takes to research and write. I posted here for years and although many people may have read them, few wanted to discuss them. Discussion is how you learn stuff! (if you are ever going to learn stuff) 

[Spineur]

I cannot stand these meaningless pools.  They distract from the main purpose of this forum, that is discuss classical music, from all possible sides and genre.  I am loosing interest in this forum as there is less and less relevant topics and more and more irrelevant ones.  I am going to leave for a while.  Not for good as pools arent enough to really upset me, but enough to lose interest in GMG.

[Florestan]

If you wrote elegantly on a composer's music that I also adored, then I would attentively, Andrei.

Oh, but ou put too much pressure on me, John. Elegantly? Gosh, wish I wrote this way.

Our tastes seem to be quite different from each other's.

Do they really? I think there are at least 10 composers we both greatly enjoy....

[Mandryka]

The are two problems with these polls.

1. They're escaping from the The Polling Station and the danger is that they will block up the discussion forum.  The whole thing could be flooded out.  There's a Bruckner one at the moment in the great recordings bit, and a general one that Jens created for nominations. Why he put it there isn't clear but assuming no good reason, maybe someone could shift them back to The Polling Station where they belong.

2. More importantly, they make the search function useless, I don't just mean the search box in this website, I also mean using google site specific search. A lot of harm has already been done to the site specific search in fact, and I'm not sure anything can be done to put it right or to stop it getting worse, other than eradicating  the polls (which may not be a bad idea after they've finished  -- they're hardly worth archiving are they? They're not like a record of chess moves in a game of masters!)

[Ken B]

Part of the beauty of GMG, I think, is precisely that my fellow posters enjoy the liberty to post as they wish, when they wish, for whatever reason please them.

I voted yes with John for a few reasons.

There are too many. One game at a time would be better.
We see factions and herd voting to push a piece for reasons that are not just the merit of the piece.
I seem to be casting the most votes for Debussy and that's just weird. I suspect reason 2 is why.

[Florestan]

I am often amused by the fact that although most people usually claim that music is beyond words and it cannot be properly described, or talked about, in words, they spend a huge amount of time using words to talk about, and describe, music. Not to mention that a lot of musical technicalities are precisely and solely words, as in dynamics, tempo or phrasing indication... 

[amw]

I'll probably stop participating soonish bc the interest for me is fairly fleeting, but I have no problem with other people continuing to do them and enjoy them. Forum search has been fairly meaningless for a long time now, anyway.....

(Plus if they're all in the Polling Station, as they should be, one can just set the advanced search settings to exclude that board)

[Ken B]

Ditto. I also dearly miss the "Identify the composer's picture" thread --- the detectivistic work implied was very rewarding, at least for me (and no, I'm not talking about googling the picture).

Are they fun? For me, yes.

Do they prove anything? Nothing at all, nor are they supposed to.

I'll give you the same piece of advice I gave another poster (he badly misinterpreted it but I know you won't): more nonchalance and detachment could only be beneficial. 

Are you Poe today?

[Mandryka]

(Plus if they're all in the Polling Station, as they should be, one can just set the advanced search settings to exclude that board)

Except the advanced search isn't very good, it's the site specific search from your browser which has been useful and it'll be a shame to lose it, unless advanced search can be improved.

[Florestan]

Are you Poe today?

Huh?

I was a devoted Poe fan in high school but I really don't get this. 

Edit: Oh, do you mean C. Auguste Dupin?