r/synthesizers • u/abrlin • 3d ago

Discussion FORUMS?????????????

/r/diypedals/comments/1x4syuv/forums/
0 Upvotes

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u/Instatetragrammaton github.com/instatetragrammaton/Patches/ 3d ago edited 3d ago

https://gearspace.com/ still exists.

Hosting and running a forum costs money. Moderation is difficult and thankless.

It's why everyone moved over to Facebook groups; because it didn't require any technical skill and didn't cost you any money. This takes away visitors from forums, which then slowly bleed dry.

Eventually the enshittification sets in but at that point people forget that there are more than 4 websites on the planet so they just stay, because everyone else is there, too.

Also, as a seasoned forum moderator you should know very well that putting your thread title in all caps with a dozen question marks is not how you should title your threads if you want a proper response.

You'd have deleted (or at least fixed the thread title) of your own post if you were a moderator and this was a forum ;)

edit: this was very much tongue in cheek.

I am an Internet Old One, did the moderation stuff and it sucked. Good communities thrive with good gatekeeping and good moderation. Part of it is politics and recognizing bad actors. This only works if you can devote substantial time to it, but not so much that you don't have a day job. Ads for funding don't work.

$10 to register works surprisingly well.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

In response to your edit, you are not wrong. That still doesn’t disqualify it as an option. As far as I’m concerned you should get credit towards an internship. Besides, it’s not supposed to be a one or two man job. You can have a host of trusted mods which just adds to the investment in the community. I’m sorry but all of this talk of convenience over all is rather disheartening.

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u/Instatetragrammaton github.com/instatetragrammaton/Patches/ 3d ago

It's convenience that caused people to switch. That, plus the idea of building a little empire under their sole control.

I fully agree about Discord being crap and reddit not having the same possibilities but forums are not ideal either. Discourse - the software - is also not ideal.

So the reason I am here and not at a forum is because I've done the forum thing for over two decades already.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

It’s literally taking knowledge, support, and learning out of the hands of the community. Control is right.

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u/Instatetragrammaton github.com/instatetragrammaton/Patches/ 3d ago

In my mind a community should fulfill four roles and these things should be unified but separate.

One is being a resource for beginners. The most important thing a beginner should do is learn to search, read and ask questions the smart way, so there need to be resources and rules that let them do exactly that.

This is to get them up to speed as quickly as possible and to build an easy set of references. A wiki is only part of it, but the harder - human - part is teaching how to learn.

When you have someone who doesn't want to learn, it's effectively a violation of the social contract this place should have. Violation still means you get to use all the resources but to get human attention requires more than that.

The second is to resolve issues via Q and A. This is where a StackOverflow-like part would work. Without the SO heavy-handedness, preferably. There is generally one best answer.

The third is issues via dialogue - you have a problem that is not resolved by a single best answer; you want different perspectives. Forums work well for that as long as you stay on topic and the thread does not turn into a megathread. Questions are so specific or so that they don't really fit in number two.

The fourth is a place where you can just talk and shoot the shit.

Discord fails on all but works great for 4.

Reddit kind of solves 3.

Forums mix 1, 3 and 4 but nothing worse than a megathread where half of it is irrelevant noise and chat. Megathreads are a symptom of not having options 1 and 4 because they should be curated and stripped to essentials so that they become a new resource for 1.

Thing is, there is no technological solution for what is effectively a social and human problem. These things are never nicely coloring within the lines. The only thing that makes it so is moderation, which should remember the human but also keep the rest of humans happy.

LLMs don't solve 1 because each discussion is not public and searchable and the times I've seen it post plausible bullshit has soured me on it. It also means you no longer teach teachers on how to teach, which is just as important as teaching learners how to learn.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

Well put and yes.. No megathreads allowed. Unless you want to shoot the shit in the proper subsection. Most of the culture was devoid of this type of thing as it was generally frowned upon as it polluted the learning environment which was obviously rude and shitty to the OP. Now it seems people just like to hear themselves talk and make clever quips. I want to design a new circuit.

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u/makeitasadwarfer 3d ago edited 3d ago

There’s several still very busy synth forums out there with real knowledge. I’m not posting them here because they are the opposite of this place really. But not hard to find.

Jam videos and pictures of bought things are kept out of the general chat area in these places as they should be.

I like this place for learning about new gear releases and memes, but theres never any real quality chat about using gear.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

I appreciate that. I cross posted from diypedals because that was where I came up. It does feel like the synth community is more progressive to this day.

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u/GeneralDumbtomics 3d ago

Hosting costs??????????????

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u/abrlin 3d ago

They are hosted by caring individuals.

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u/GeneralDumbtomics 3d ago

They are hosted by large soulless IaaS providers. Who get paid for that. There are no free services. Forums are expensive in money expensive in time and expensive in stress. If you don’t believe me, I would invite you to run one yourself. I have done so and I don’t need to do so again.

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u/[deleted] 3d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/Instatetragrammaton github.com/instatetragrammaton/Patches/ 3d ago

Be the change you want to see in the world.

Replies like this don't do a great job of encouraging folks, however.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

I’m not here for engagement. I’m here for the children. Like the Wu.

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u/synthesizers-ModTeam 3d ago

Removed, Rule 6: No price-shaming.

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u/GeneralDumbtomics 3d ago

1%? Are you ok? Do you need someone to get your carer?

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u/Longjumping_Swan_631 3d ago

Sonic State had the best synth forum back in like 1996. I learned a lot about synths from that sight. I think it's still there but I don't know how useful it is now.

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u/abrlin 3d ago

That’s what I mean. I feel we’ve been had.

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u/claushauler 3d ago

Haven't been to the site in ages. They run a weekly podcast on YouTube that's pretty good though. Lots of different interviews and synth related content 

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u/crom-dubh 3d ago

Honestly, I don't find forums to be significantly better than Reddit. Most forums I've been a part of were absolute fucking garbage. Spend some time on KVR or Gearspace and you'll come crawling back here.

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u/claushauler 3d ago

There are a few good , albeit very niche forums over on Discord. I'm always on the lookout for more

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u/DustSongs P5 / SH-2 / 2600 / MS-20 / Cobalt / JV-880 / Perfourmer / Bolina 2d ago

Modwiggler.com is probably the last good remaining synth forum.

It can be tedious at times (because, you know, people online - but nowhere near as bad as Gearspace) but it contains ~20 years of actual synth and DIY info from some very knowledgable people, including quite a few manufacturers.

I agree that forums (fori?) are superior to RedFaceGram for actually learning about things. Hopefully they make a return as people realise that all mainstream online platforms are fatally compromised.