There's definitely a different vibe to the banter we get today versus what we got almost 10 years ago now. The gang back then was smaller and appeared to have more "cohesion". I remember being a bit nervous trying to get in as a newbie and how good it felt to be more-or-less accepted. (For me that was when ED POUR-QUOI gave me a name.)
For various reasons, that gang couldn't hang for the long term. Stuff came along -- most of it to be expected, I would say -- that challenged the group to stay cozy and close. We had some spats -- some of 'em pretty major. Those are always challenging. But mostly, I think, we just grew...
Seriously, I don't know how we can expect an internet forum, open to all at no cost, dedicated to a very specific topic, to be engaging and fascinating to all posters, all the time. How many years of this does it take before we've said 95% of everything there is to say about the DB? 99%?? How long before we should expect to start repeating ourselves? Before we start boring folks who maybe have gone beyond their TalkBass best-before date?
It's an internet forum, folks. Even though it might feel at times like a club, like an association of specialists, a secret society of really cool folk, at the end of the day we write each other notes about a rather limited topic and we're always mixing the old with the new. There are things that grate on the old-timers and things that grate on the newbies. Point is, there's a structure to it that guarantees eventual boredom. Sooner or later, for everybody, I think, it's gonna run almost dry for you. Then what?
Not sure if we can fix that. Not without getting an actual club; you know, with drinks and ....er... amusements. In the meantime, watch your boredom level (practice is a good alternative) and try to remember the Golden Rule. That one works in all social settings, cyber-virtual or real.
Personally, I've just been spending a lot more time doing stuff other than TalkBass. I'm glad as hell it's still here, but now it's more an every-few-days type of thing rather than an every-few-minutes type of thing.
For various reasons, that gang couldn't hang for the long term. Stuff came along -- most of it to be expected, I would say -- that challenged the group to stay cozy and close. We had some spats -- some of 'em pretty major. Those are always challenging. But mostly, I think, we just grew...
Seriously, I don't know how we can expect an internet forum, open to all at no cost, dedicated to a very specific topic, to be engaging and fascinating to all posters, all the time. How many years of this does it take before we've said 95% of everything there is to say about the DB? 99%?? How long before we should expect to start repeating ourselves? Before we start boring folks who maybe have gone beyond their TalkBass best-before date?
It's an internet forum, folks. Even though it might feel at times like a club, like an association of specialists, a secret society of really cool folk, at the end of the day we write each other notes about a rather limited topic and we're always mixing the old with the new. There are things that grate on the old-timers and things that grate on the newbies. Point is, there's a structure to it that guarantees eventual boredom. Sooner or later, for everybody, I think, it's gonna run almost dry for you. Then what?
Not sure if we can fix that. Not without getting an actual club; you know, with drinks and ....er... amusements. In the meantime, watch your boredom level (practice is a good alternative) and try to remember the Golden Rule. That one works in all social settings, cyber-virtual or real.
Personally, I've just been spending a lot more time doing stuff other than TalkBass. I'm glad as hell it's still here, but now it's more an every-few-days type of thing rather than an every-few-minutes type of thing.
