A suggestion for improving the discussions on the AGF

[FrankHudson]

For myself, I believe there's a systematic issue that contributes. When I press the reply button there's no way to see the original post while you're replying. Particularly if you're replying to a long thread, the process may be:

OP asks "I've been thinking about a guitar good for xx and I've considered guitars a, b, c and d. I don't want to spend over $1000 and it must have a 1.75" nut". You then read two to three dozen replies, some of which may include suggestions for guitar e and f, some of which are for models that sell above $1000, and some of which suggest that guitars d and e aren't good for xx playing.

By the time I've read those previous replies and hit the reply button myself, I've forgotten the $1000 limit, what the OP original four choices were, and I may have overlooked the 1.75 nut thing altogether. All I see as I reply is the title the OP gave to the OP, which may be something entirely generic like "I've been wondering"

I suppose I might improve my on-topic performance if I just dropped back, and did the reply inside the original post, resulting in a quote of the OP that I can see as I reply--but if everyone did that, the threads would grown in length as that quote might appear in each reply.

I also have to admit that I often enjoy tangential connections that are revealed as posts drift away from the first one, but that's just me.

I also struggle with the personal example as answer. There's a dichotomy here between the Olympian pronouncement "all blues players should use heavy strings and 00 or smaller instruments" and the personal anecdote that has a three figure word count, but can be abstracted to something like: "I switched away from dreads, and then my buddy had a 00-18 he let me play, and I was sold on small bodies, and well I lately tried a set of .014 to .058 strings and it sounded so good in open G." I prefer to refrain from talking about myself, and that method can take more words to get the point--but though the flat-out pronouncement may be only intended as In My Humble Opinion--like this rambling paragraph, I tend to prefer the personal anecdote including more information in it's length.

[Pitar]

I like the unsolicited, prefaced, round-about non-response replies that describe how Jupiter's red spot affects watch making before evidencing total ignorance of the answer.

The forum assumes all in attendance actually need to ask questions, and further assumes all in attendance have legitimate answers to them.

Most of the questions eliciting simple factual answers that cannot be messed with subjectively can be answered off-forum. Otherwise, subjective inquiries will gather moss like a wet stone and who's to weigh that collective validity or worth?

Asking an absolutely crazy (subjective) question about the qualitative sound distinctions between targeted guitars on a forum where ear training is claimed, but hardly in convincing evidence, is one of the forum absurdities people actually think they can respond to. It's like a forum inside joke ("Hey, ask this question and see how many members actually respond.") and if I respond at all I will always give my answer as 42. Evasive? No. It's the invalid answer to an invalid question.

It isn't the answers, Toby. It's the questions. Make them smart.

[HarryQ]

I also enjoy The Gear Page. As a rule of thumb, when I see long strings of short one sentence replies in a thread, it usually means there is nothing worth reading from that point on. I wind up with low post counts on forums because usually someone who knows more than me has already commented.

[crikey]

Originally Posted by Denny B

Jeez, I'm old...

I actually know that's a picture of Judith Martin, AKA Miss Manners...

Hey, I'm old too! I'm so old I remember when we actually had a modicum of ettiquette on internet forums. No, wait - that was somewhere else.

[JeffreyAK]

Most forums have rules and moderators, so stay within the rules and it's all good. If you don't like a post, you can just move on to reading the next one, or lead by example and post something you think is better.

[PiousDevil]

Originally Posted by JeffreyAK

Most forums have rules and moderators, so stay within the rules and it's all good. If you don't like a post, you can just move on to reading the next one, or lead by example and post something you think is better.

I like where your head is at.

[mickthemiller]

Originally Posted by fazool

Well, Toby...I was cutting the lawn and got to thinking how the quiet time is a perfect time to reflect on my practice schedule so I go through my routines in my head while mowing with headphones on - it really improves my concentration.

Do you mean head phones or ear protectors? Head phones would need to be very loud to compete with the noise of a mower, surely. What was this thread about? No matter. I think I made my point.

[crikey]

Originally Posted by 00-28

Sorry my comment is about me.

Fer crikey's sake, can we PLEEEEEZE get back to making this about ME??

[rlouie]

I agree Toby and also think this is a reason we see a lot of older members post less and or move on to other things outside of this forum.

[BoneDigger]

There is a finite number of questions that can be asked about an acoustic guitar, and almost all of them have been addressed at one time or another on here. Even the X vs Y questions have often been addressed if you do a search.

I think personal anecdotes and opinions make the site interesting. Without these, we might as well just all use the search function and never post anything new.

Posts that are off the mark are usually well intentioned and based on our own experiences.

[Tico]

Common request: "Describe the tone of mahogany vs. IRW."

These common replies imply the thread should not have even been started:
-Design, other specs, and build quality affects tone.
-Every piece of IRW will not sound the same.
-The bracing is really important to the tone.
-Have you played an ovangkol guitar?

etc.

How bout just answering the question? ... even if it's been asked a million times.

Yeah yeah yeah, we all know other things affect tone, so why even mention that? The OP is asking about the general, average, typical, characteristic tone of hog vs. IRW.

It's like these posts are saying, "IRW and hog are the same so just flip a coin."

[Dwight]

Meat has chaff? When did that happen? You should definitely try the wheat man.

[Dirk Hofman]

Originally Posted by 00-28

I'm always for more rules and regulations. Maybe we could elect a review board to check every post to make sure they conform.

......Mike

Rules and regulations were not mentioned. Just a rant.

Irony?

[Silurian]

I like pizza.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Toby Walker

Just a thought. This doesn't happen a lot, but when it does boy howdy, is it every annoying.

In a number of threads, I've noticed that rather than answering the OP's question, many of us simply start talking about ourselves before getting around to the fact that we have no clue as to how to answer the OP's question. Our contribution to the topic may or may be about the topic at all, but rather we turn it towards ourselves when we have no experience or knowledge about the topic. I'm sure that the OP, as well as those of us who would also want to learn something would love to get to the meat without having to wade through the chaff.

While I can understand that our intentions are well-meaning and that we love to help each other, actually answering the question perhaps is the best type of advice we can give. As many of us have different viewpoints and experiences, I'm sure that we'll come up with quite a few different answers which will promote some interesting discussion.

Ok, rant over. Back to our regular and hopefully improved programming.

I think that the answer is both yes and no, Toby, in my humble opinion. I agree that often a question is either not answered directly or immediately or at all. Someone might ask about the properties of material X, and the first response is about the environmental, political or moral issues that there may be surrounding material X, and the thread goes right off in that direction without actually answering the original query. Or someone may notice the question was not answered and answer it, but that answer is buried 3 pages deep. So the OP may or may not see it.

That, my friend, is one of the flaws of this bulletin-board forum system, which mimic the old BBS forums of places like CompuServe, and Usenet or email listservs before that. Or heck, it could be a feature, for all that I know.

The way that I look at forum threads is that this is not purely a question and answer forum. Rather they are conversations. And conversations, be it in your neighborhood bar, sittin' on the back porch or at the watercooler, tend to wander.

So, can it be frustrating when everyone is talking but no one is answering your question? Sure. So ask it again in the thread. Bring the conversation, or at least a part of it, back to the subject. Or maybe no one is answering because no one truly knows.

What I do, when I notice a thread has gone on a couple of pages and no one has answered the question, first of all is to do so if I think that I know, and also to PM the OP that answer as well, so I know that they will see it.

And last of all, I actually do like meandering threads, as frustrating as they can be some times. I've learned an awful lot from some pretty knowledgeable people by reading threads that evolved into something very far removed from the original subject.

As always, others mileage may vary...

TW