the many many phonograph forums

[brianu]

I was listening to NPR last night and there was talk about a philadelphia restauranteur who's been on, or will be on, the next iron chef - the guy owns more than a few trendy - and excellent - places in philadelphia, and was talking about opening a couple more, but he also made a comment about all the great restaurants in the city, how the place has become this sort of culinary destination, but that the number of restaurants was fast reaching the saturation point there... which is what got me thinking about the forums on the subject of vintage phonographs and records.

I know that one or two, like phono-L, which I've never been on, has/have been around forever. and then there was the "old" sonoraman board on proboards that was taken down for various reasons not worth getting into. but from that, it seemed that several others started... although I think matt started his edison board before the "old" board disappeared... but aside from that, this one was the first, right? then steve's UK proboards forum? which offered some pretty interesting discussions on machines that don't appear all that often in the US... has that been taken down as well? or has he put up a new one? then there is the other US forum on proboards (another offshoot from the "old" sonoraman board that started after this one), where postings seem to disappear due to unexplained editorial processes. am I missing any? I guess I was just wondering why so many - aside from the different personalities involved who maybe just want to control their own forums? I was just wondering as well whether that detracted at all from the potential of some of these sites to become great repositories of information on a subject that has - relatively speaking - pretty few experts and informational sources.

[phonophan79]

Well, personal differences aside and issues of the past aside... when it's all said and done it sucks that the information and resources and threads that were at these former boards is all gone because of Proboards.

Not that Proboards all to blame, no doubt they are just covering their ass and taking down sites that cause drama.

But when the large OTVMMB board went down, I followed the crowds here to the Proboards predecessor version of TMF... only to be disapointed again when we lost the small start again on proboards.

I assume the reason there are so many boards for a generally small hobby are all for personal differences.

I've stuck here with TMF because, aside from the generally friendly atmosphere, John and David have done a good job with self-hosting this phpBB (NON-proboards) formatted forum.

As I recall there was a thread about UK Steve talking about proboard shutting down his board... and another one being put in place... but I can't seem to find the thread anymore.

I have no problem with Moo and the board he made after OTVMMB... I just don't want to use another Proboards forum.

Although Phonoland was technically the first board I ever used... it's just not active enough... although I try to visit every now and then.

[JohnM]

When the old Mark Best/sonoraman board fell apart because of political ideologies incessantly spilling over into phonograph discussion due in no small part to the moderator not moderating (with emphasis on the root word 'moderate'), it seems that the discussion boards that formed in the aftermath were divided roughly into two camps -- those that supported or at least tolerated the comments of the moderator in question and the cult of personality that surrounded him, and those that could not or did not. Matt's board was formed as the Mark Best/sonoraman board was collapsing as a safety valve and at the time it was a welcome refuge for me, indeed. I don't post on that board anymore because of the cults of personality that have become evident there (and through no fault of Matt). I find that this board is the most neutral from the cult of personality standpoint, while remaining focused on the subject at hand -- phonographs and early recorded sound.

Do I wish we could all be united under just one well-administered board so that all of our collective knowledge is in one place? Yes. Will I see it in my lifetime? Probably not. The fall-out from the collapse of the Mark Best/sonoraman board has a long half-life I'm afraid.

[Steve]

There is a new UK board at www.gramophones.myfreeforum.org

[larryh]

I too wonder where all the people have gone. I like John and David and the help given here plus the reasonably relaxed atmosphere. I think that catty comments and nit picking and grandstanding all eventually ruin any serious discussion board. Personally I belong to or own three Yahoo groups. None of them being huge or overly active about other topics of interest to me. We do not find the kind of combative personalities in those for the most part, an if some have them they do a good job of hiding it. I never liked the old popular board where nearly every thread was disrupted by people attempting to cause problems and worse yet the moderators bias and politics playing against every thing else. I am glad it went, but not glad to loose the people or information.
I think this board has done exceptionally well at providing help and well toned comments about the hobby, just about the right mix I think. But it is noticeably to me that the amount of traffic seems to have dwindled over time, making me think that many have gone else where again for yet their own reasons?
Phonoland is very limited for sure and Matt's Edison Board is pretty dead as well. Oddly it seems a lot of people who are new seem to find it even if only briefly. He has let me ramble on about my Diaphragm projects with no problem and I noticed just yesterday that at this point it makes up half the total hits of everything on the board. Well it proves not much else is going on I guess?

[brianu]

I actually think this forum is incredibly active, all things considered. we're not really discussing current events or any sort of subject matter - for the most part (aside from maybe a few ebay listings) - where changes and updates occur frequently and thereby draw the related commentary. so far as the level of activity is concerned, it just seems to go up and down like everything else, but on average it certainly seems "active" so to speak. I don't read matt's edison board all that often, but was up until recently a(n infrequently posting) member on the other US proboards board... there was actually a thread there not too long ago about how dead it had been there, how no one had been posting (which certainly seemed to be the case, looking at the various threads and the dates of the last posts)... and someone there even indirectly referred to this forum with a comment to the effect of, the TMF would not be nearly as active were it not for all the tedious banter about ebay listings and craigslist (although without that, I can't really see how to regularly find and discuss the various phonographs floating around out there - we can only have so many among ourselves). no matter. I guess it does come down to a personalities thing much the same as any non-virtual club of sorts... the common hobby interest only gets you so far. my only concern for all of it was really just the (apparently, but perhaps not so) needless splintering of the resources, and how that can compromise the more or less sum total of the knowledge base, if that makes any sense... especially if the various groups are all just building a resource base of basically the same subject material.

and thanks for the link steve, I'll have to check out that new UK board now.

[Dave]

I noticed a couple of references to 'Phonland', I think you meant Phonolist, on Yahoo Groups. It used to be very active about 9-10 years ago when I joined. I learned a lot from the members there. I think there were a lot of newbies on the board at that time and we were all helping each other get started. Once we all matured so to speak, the postings started drying up. It's still the only place to my knowledge where you can tap the vast store of Edison facts that Ron Dethlefson has.
Dave

[Steve]

and thanks for the link steve, I'll have to check out that new UK board now.

No problem!

You're welcome!

[Steve]

Oh, and please don't forget gramophoneshane's forum, everybody:

http://www.australiangramophone.proboards.com

[Moooperator]

I actually think this forum is incredibly active, all things considered. we're not really discussing current events or any sort of subject matter - for the most part (aside from maybe a few ebay listings) - where changes and updates occur frequently and thereby draw the related commentary. so far as the level of activity is concerned, it just seems to go up and down like everything else, but on average it certainly seems "active" so to speak. I don't read matt's edison board all that often, but was up until recently a(n infrequently posting) member on the other US proboards board... there was actually a thread there not too long ago about how dead it had been there, how no one had been posting (which certainly seemed to be the case, looking at the various threads and the dates of the last posts)... and someone there even indirectly referred to this forum with a comment to the effect of, the TMF would not be nearly as active were it not for all the tedious banter about ebay listings and craigslist (although without that, I can't really see how to regularly find and discuss the various phonographs floating around out there - we can only have so many among ourselves). no matter. I guess it does come down to a personalities thing much the same as any non-virtual club of sorts... the common hobby interest only gets you so far. my only concern for all of it was really just the (apparently, but perhaps not so) needless splintering of the resources, and how that can compromise the more or less sum total of the knowledge base, if that makes any sense... especially if the various groups are all just building a resource base of basically the same subject material.

and thanks for the link steve, I'll have to check out that new UK board now.

Brian, I went back and read that entire thread you mentioned and I didn't didn't see where any one made a comment about this great board? Maybe I missed it in the reading of it. As for your missing post, we've only deleted two posts from one person in the two years that ATM board has been around and no other member has ever said their post disappeared on them. My other two Admins didn't remove your post. Only you and the three admins can delete your post. Try posting it again because their is not any "mysterious editing processes" going on at ATM. Just don't talk about nobody's mama!

As for lots of phono boards, I enjoy them all and they all have their own personalities. Summer is slow for posts on most boards.

Old Steve has really breathed new life in the rebirth of his board. I always love to catch up on it.