TB bass guitarists... what is it with you?

Paul Warburton · #1 11-12-2008, 05:28 AM

I WILL get some flack on this, I know. This isn't the first time this has been addressed on the board, but Like my friend, Marcus, i'm just tired and exasperated with it, to the point of curtailing my activities here.
What, exactly, drives you guys over here? I've, personally, have taken the time and effort to welcome many of you here, as a musical gesture, and tried to be open and positive to those of you who come here for advice about making the big switch from bass guitar to DB. No problem there....BUT i've been seeing many threads going down in flames when you come over here and literally take a sensible thread idea and totally trash it.
I take the time and care to go into Profiles to get a bit of background on who i'm talking to and anymore the amount of BGists over here is astounding. Of course your pictures of your instruments in your Avatars is a give away anyway, BUT, I don't like looking at pictures of bass guitars! I spend a whole lot of time here because my life is built around my love for the double bass and my friends here who feel the same, or at least those who have an undying love for the instrument.
Many of your posts are insensitive and sometimes downright rude to the OP and the rest of us. I understand some of this comes from 16 year old kids just playing around, but why do they have to come over here to do it?
I have an idea....If there might be a grown up over there with enough intelligence to post a thread about this subject, we might have a meeting of the minds and come up with something fair to all of us. I thought of going over to present this idea on a more intimate and personal level, but alas, I did venture over there a few weeks ago to chime in about an alcohol and drug addiction thread and was met with stupidity and idiosity. More than that, just totally ignored. I got my ass out quick and learned my lesson.
I'm trying very hard to be mature and respectful, which, as my friends here may tell you, isn't ALWAYS my nature.
I hope you can understand where i'm coming from here.
Thank you....PW

Mark Latimour · #2 11-12-2008, 05:33 AM

The signal to noise ratio is higher on the BG side. It takes time to learn who to listen to (and who not to). As a rule of thumb, if they regularly post in Off Topic or the Lobby. Don't listen to them.

If BG'ers are coming into DB threads and causing problems, I would have thought the mods would come down like a ton of bricks on them. They certainly do on the BG side.

Paul Warburton · #3 11-12-2008, 05:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

The signal to noise ratio is higher on the BG side. It takes time to learn who to listen to (and who not to). As a rule of thumb, if they regularly post in Off Topic or the Lobby. Don't listen to them.

If BG'ers are coming into DB threads and causing problems, I would have thought the mods would come down like a ton of bricks on them. They certainly do on the BG side.

Mark, thank you. This isn't about the Mods. This is about all of US. We can't put this on our Mod's shoulders. It can only be solved on a one on one basis. I would think our Mod's would be more than happy about this kind of exchange.

Uncletoad · #4 11-12-2008, 06:02 AM

I'll trash any porkchop interloper you set yer sights on paully. Lemme at em!

Steve Clark · #5 11-12-2008, 06:33 AM

Disclaimer: I'm new to this side of the board.

I suspect part of the issue is when folks click on "new posts" at the home page for the site and click on a topic title that looks interesting and find themselves on the DB side and even post without realizing it. I think I've seen that a few times. Although I agree that a couple of threads seem to have gone off the rails.

I agree with Mark about the signal to noise ratio on the EB side. Now that I have a DB I have come to realization that I have no need to visit the EB side. For the most part being there just fed my craving for the latest and greatest EB gear. My visits now amount to checking classifieds to see if its worthwhile selling my EB gear off.

So one solution might be to have a "New DB posts" and "New EB posts link" at the top of the page.

Paul, I certainly hope that you would not leave TB. My impression is that you were not posting for a while. I particularly enjoy your posts when you critique a recording. It helps me hear it differently.

Paul Warburton · #6 11-12-2008, 06:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

It takes time to learn who to listen to (and who not to).

Unfortunately Mark, some DB Newbies are young and impressionable, as are some of your own Newbies. Some haven't a clue as to what to do about their new obsession with the instrument. They come looking for enlightenment and knowledge from us. Many times, bass guiarists jump in talking about " fretboards and Headstocks " Barring chords, etc., etc. These terms do not apply to our instrument. In our language, they just do not exist.

Paul Warburton · #7 11-12-2008, 06:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Disclaimer: I'm new to this side of the board.

I suspect part of the issue is when folks click on "new posts" at the home page for the site and click on a topic title that looks interesting and find themselves on the DB side and even post without realizing it. I think I've seen that a few times. Although I agree that a couple of threads seem to have gone off the rails.

I agree with Mark about the signal to noise ratio on the EB side. Now that I have a DB I have come to realization that I have no need to visit the EB side. For the most part being there just fed my craving for the latest and greatest EB gear. My visits now amount to checking classifieds to see if its worthwhile selling my EB gear off.

So one solution might be to have a "New DB posts" and "New EB posts link" at the top of the page.

Paul, I certainly hope that you would not leave TB. My impression is that you were not posting for a while. I particularly enjoy your posts when you critique a recording. It helps me hear it differently.

Thanks Steve..I didn't mean that statement to sound like a threat...I should have said Curtail my activities here. (See Edit.) Sorry. I just don't want to get into that bag of trying to ignore or not take part in a thread that has been overloaded with ideas about about the bass guitar. I've never played one and don't intend to.
I've mentioned before my love for Brazilian music, even going as far as saying something to the effect that I believed that this musc wouldn't exist, as it does today, WITHOUT the involvement of the bass guitar.

Mark Latimour · #8 11-12-2008, 07:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Unfortunately Mark, some DB Newbies are young and impressionable, as are some of your own Newbies. Some haven't a clue as to what to do about their new obsession with the instrument. They come looking for enlightenment and knowledge from us. Many times, bass guiarists jump in talking about " fretboards and Headstocks " Barring chords, etc., etc. These terms do not apply to our instrument. In our language, they just do not exist.

I'm not sure, short of "vetting" membership / posting rights of the DB side of TB, what you could do to combat this problem. Obviously if the mods thought it enough of a problem to classify as "trolling", the EB posters who did this could be given infractions / bans if they continually post on the DB side in a "trollish" fashion. However, without that sort of, IMO, drastic action, I think that people posting / reading on the internet need to just keep in mind that the internet is full of opinions and not all of them are from sources who have any clue what they are talking about. I guess warnings could be posted at the top of each forum to "check the source" of your information, but again, its probably unnecessary. With a world as full of douches as the one we live in, its inevitable that some of them will find their way into every facet of life, including bass playing. IMO.

That said, if you think the problem is just that its not always obvious if you are posting on the DB or the EB side (ie users are getting confused), then this is something the admins could fix - maybe making the distinction in the forum titles more clear than the little BG / DB. I've not really noticed it as a problem on the EB side (ie DB'ers accidently posting about rosin in the strings forum

) so maybe EB'ers are a little more ADD affected than you DBers!

Paul Warburton · #9 11-12-2008, 07:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

I'll trash any porkchop interloper you set yer sights on paully. Lemme at em!

My dear pig.

Paul Warburton · #10 11-12-2008, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

I'm not sure, short of "vetting" membership / posting rights of the DB side of TB, what you could do to combat this problem.

My apologies for editing you post, Mark. What we are doing now, right here, is in my opinion, the answer.
We seem to get along just fine, you and I.....why not stretch it a bit. Prsonally, i've gone a bit over the edge at times, spanking some butt over here, thinking: Uh Oh, i'll hear about this one from our Mod's. They seem to just turn me lose, hoping for the best. They may just think i'm a old fart who has a bit of background in the biz, and may respect my work enough to just let me let it all hang out. Please remember these are not just mods, but people, as well as musicians.

Steve Clark · #11 11-12-2008, 07:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

Thanks Steve..I didn't mean that statement to sound like a threat...I should have said Curtail my activities here. (See Edit.)

I guess I can live with that.

The great thing about the DB side is there are far fewer posts to wade through to get to good information at this stage of my learning curve so I hope all the seasoned DB TBers keep posting.

In my day to day life of running a business, having a family, playing music there are always a few fires to put out. More often than not I remind myself 'that' if that issue is all I have to worry about then life is good.

Paul, if you write a book I'd buy it.

Marley's Ghost · #12 11-12-2008, 07:33 AM

meh, there's a few bored troublemakers. Please don't generalize to the entire group here.

Mark Latimour · #13 11-12-2008, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Paul Warburton

My apologies for editing you post, Mark. What we are doing now, right here, is in my opinion, the answer.
We seem to get along just fine, you and I.....why not stretch it a bit. Prsonally, i've gone a bit over the edge at times, spanking some butt over here, thinking: Uh Oh, i'll hear about this one from our Mod's. They seem to just turn me lose, hoping for the best. They may just think i'm a old fart who has a bit of background in the biz, and may respect my work enough to just let me let it all hang out. Please remember these are not just mods, but people, as well as musicians.

I think that, if I were to make an observation against my own interests, generally speaking the users on the DB side are more mature (figuratively and literally) and less voluminous than the posters on the BG side. Given that, its easier on the DB side to self police and "punks" get shouted down rather quickly. OTOH on the BG side, "punks" are the plat du jour in some of the sub-forums. I think what you are seeing is some of them trying their luck on the DB side. I can only wish you best of luck in keeping them out.

FWIW I do think the "fill out your profile" policy on the DB side is preferable.

Paul Warburton · #14 11-12-2008, 07:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Marley's Ghost

meh, there's a few bored troublemakers. Please don't generalize to the entire group here.

Sorry, I don't know what "meh" means, so I would probably have trouble communicating with you.

EDIT: This may be easier than I thought.

relacey · #15 11-12-2008, 08:53 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Steve Clark

Paul, if you write a book I'd buy it.

Put me down for a copy too.

I guess having recently had teenagers at home, my youngest is now 18

, my filter is set pretty high, but I would like a little less chaff to sift through to get to the wheat. The comment about folks checking out the "new" posts and not noticing if they are in the DB or BG side probably happens a lot more than we think. What I've done is subscribe to the sections and threads that interest me and ignore the rest. When there is a new post it shows up under the "My Talkbass" tab in the upper left hand corner. I may miss a few things (the most recent coming and going of KS for example), but overall it works for me.

I do play BG as well as DB but I'm much more interested in the DB and related topics and appreciate the experts over here who are willing to share their knowledge.

**john turner** · #16 11-12-2008, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

The signal to noise ratio is higher on the BG side. It takes time to learn who to listen to (and who not to). As a rule of thumb, if they regularly post in Off Topic or the Lobby. Don't listen to them.

oh the irony.

Mark Latimour · #17 11-12-2008, 09:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

oh the irony.

That's how it was intended.

Its also why I don't listen to you

**john turner** · #18 11-12-2008, 09:08 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mark Latimour

That's how it was intended.

Its also why I don't listen to you

obviously

**john turner** · #19 11-12-2008, 09:15 AM

and to the OP, are you sure you want to do this? you think you've had problems before with the random wandering gypsy that's stumbled down here - you're waving the red flag now.

it's like tossing down the solid chocolate bunny-shaped gauntlet in the middle of the daycare play-yard. the ensuing babypowder-and-poopie-smelling riot is sure to be an impressive strain on the forum infrastructure, no doubt.

Eric Swanson · #20 11-12-2008, 09:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by john turner

i...t's like tossing down the solid chocolate bunny-shaped gauntlet in the middle of the daycare play-yard. the ensuing babypowder-and-poopie-smelling riot is sure to be an impressive strain on the forum infrastructure, no doubt.

Nice metaphor. Respect for your verbal chops.

Paul, I feel you. While I do happen to double on EB, I don't play it unless essentially forced to. I certainly don't come here to talk about it, or hear about it. As far as power tools go, I'd rather talk and hear about cordless drills.

DB, at any level, is a whole different thing, as we all know. It requires a whole additional level of commitment, just to get started on making a sound, never mind getting a bass...

I like the one-on-one approach; specific rebuttals to individual comments. I also like the idea of "new DB posts" and "new EB posts" as a way to solve the accidentals (sometimes it feels like some threads start in F and end up in Ab). Practical, elegant, fitting.

If the person is clearly a sociopath, we can report the posts to the mods, one by one, per instructions.

If that fails, we can just dog them with our own inimitable sweetness. The death of a thousand cuts. Like that