Why we need a Guitar Forum

[guitar george]

Most people can find all the information they ever want to know by searching the internet. You don’t need a forum for that.

A Forum is not intended to compete with Wikipedia. Part of the fun, with a forum, is the social interaction amongst members and the sharing of knowledge and opinions. There are new people joining all the time who have not seen any of the previous posts and don’t want to read a long thread with numerous posts from years ago just to see what others have said in the past. When someone says, “here we go again”, or “this has been covered numerous times before” or “here are the links to everything you want to know about a particular subject”, that pretty much defeats the purpose of a forum. A forum is not expected to give you detailed information on every subject, but, most importantly it is to share the knowledge and experiences of other members of the Forum. This is often far better than reading one article on a subject written by one person.

It’s nice to see a thread that is the same or similar to ones in the past because you will have missed a lot of the posts in the past, forgot what you read in the past and you can contribute to the current threads. You can also search the Acoustic Guitar Forum, by topic, if you want to hunt for historical information.

[SongwriterFan]

Info from guys like Wade Hampton Miller doesn't seem to be on Wikipedia.

[Long Jon]

I have "Googled" a guitar question only for it to lead straight to the AGF

and sometimes find an answer from 3 years ago.... that I wrote.

[SongwriterFan]

Originally Posted by Long Jon

I have "Googled" a guitar question only for it to lead straight to the AGF and sometimes find an answer from 3 years ago.... that I wrote.

Me, too . . . and how long did it take you to realize that you were reading your own reply?

[Hurricane Bob]

'cause its an unbelievable resource of knowledge from professionals musicians, that's why!

[rick-slo]

I suggest people who want to learn more about one of the more common topics first do a forum search. There will be a variety of prior threads from many different people - much more than you will get from starting a new thread and just going off of the replies to it.

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by SongwriterFan

Me, too . . . and how long did it take you to realize that you were reading your own reply?

Right after thinking "who's this ignorant bloody idiot ?"

[ghostnote]

I go to guitar forums for the snarkiness and sarcasm, and bloated sense of superiority from members. This place is very disappointing...

[Long Jon]

Originally Posted by rick-slo

I suggest people who want to learn more about one of the more common topics first do a forum search. There will be a variety of prior threads from many different people - much more than you will get from starting a new thread and just going off of the replies to it.

I see what you did there, took me a moment,,, the outrage was just kicking in when the penny dropped.

[Rudals]

Originally Posted by guitar george

Most people can find all the information they ever want to know by searching the internet. You don’t need a forum for that.

A Forum is not intended to compete with Wikipedia. Part of the fun, with a forum, is the social interaction amongst members and the sharing of knowledge and opinions. There are new people joining all the time who have not seen any of the previous posts and don’t want to read a long thread with numerous posts from years ago just to see what others have said in the past. When someone says, “here we go again”, or “this has been covered numerous times before” or “here are the links to everything you want to know about a particular subject”, that pretty much defeats the purpose of a forum. A forum is not expected to give you detailed information on every subject, but, most importantly it is to share the knowledge and experiences of other members of the Forum. This is often far better than reading one article on a subject written by one person.

It’s nice to see a thread that is the same or similar to ones in the past because you will have missed a lot of the posts in the past, forgot what you read in the past and you can contribute to the current threads. You can also search the Acoustic Guitar Forum, by topic, if you want to hunt for historical information.

I am one of the few who is guilty of starting the "NOT AGAIN" threads. I try to do a AGF specific search before creating a thread but sometimes a question would pop up in my head and I just create a thread and ask a question that's been asked a thousand times and more.

[cotten]

Certain information's relatively easy to find. Camaraderie, not so much. Free, enjoyable entertainment largely centered around a common interest, even less so. The AGF fills a void for many of us that no library can match. I think that's reason enough to have lasted this long, to have grown to over a hundred thousand members from all over the world, and to have garnered the support of such a broad range of Sponsors related to the world of acoustic guitars.

Seems pretty obvious to me.

cotten

[jhmulkey]

Originally Posted by guitar george

A Forum is not intended to compete with Wikipedia. Part of the fun, with a forum, is the social interaction amongst members and the sharing of knowledge and opinions. There are new people joining all the time who have not seen any of the previous posts and don’t want to read a long thread with numerous posts from years ago just to see what others have said in the past. When someone says, “here we go again”, or “this has been covered numerous times before” or “here are the links to everything you want to know about a particular subject”, that pretty much defeats the purpose of a forum. A forum is not expected to give you detailed information on every subject, but, most importantly it is to share the knowledge and experiences of other members of the Forum. This is often far better than reading one article on a subject written by one person.

Exactly. I don't mind if someone suggests doing a search but also joins in the current discussion. But if that's all they reply with, then it comes across as if they think this is indeed an encyclopedia rather than a discussion forum. Very impersonal and off-putting, imo.

And the irony is if someone takes their advice and picks up a year-old thread, people rush to their keyboards to be sure everyone knows that it's a "Zombie thread" as if it's some horrible thing to continue a discussion after a certain date.

[reeve21]

I've only been here less than a year. Not long enough to get bored with the repeat threads...which I just ignore if I have no interest.

AGF has been the best thing to happen to my guitar playing. I'm a couch player-- no band, no teacher and I only occasionally get to play with others. Where else could I find such a source of information, encouragement and advice?

It keeps me motivated to hear about the paths taken by other players and gives me hope for my own improvement, which has been substantial since becoming a forum member.

So thanks everybody

[fatt-dad]

fellowship and geekdom.

f-d

[Earl49]

I've been a little guilty of "not again" and "zombie thread" responses too. In my engineering work, I tend to answer the same questions over and over, sometimes multiple times per day. When that happens here, I am not always as patient and understanding as I could be. I also have the same issues with my ukulele group (beginner heavy) and some of my uke and guitar students. In those situations, it is face to face, so easier to be tactful and patient.

There is a definite pattern of a thread dropping to page two or page three, then getting restarted once the topic is off the visible front page. Rather than saying "go search for it" a better response might be to scan the most recent 3-4 pages looking for a similar topic that has already been fleshed out.

I agree that searching can find the answers most of the time, but the sense of camaraderie is hard to replace. For example, I have stopped taking AG magazine, because I can get more immediate and interactive - and focused - information than poring randomly through a magazine. It is more about the dialogue than the data.