The Talking Machine Forum — For All Antique Phonographs & Recordings

One of my favorite parts of the forum is seeing pictures of prized machines and learning their back stories. Unfortunately, most of the featured machines have lost their pictures. I was hoping that we might be able to archive the archives and start a new collection of featured phonographs. Any interest? Opposition?

Thanks

Featured Phonographs was one of my favorite parts of the forum when I was a kid & was just discovering the Internet. There were some fascinating machines on there. Let's definitely do this one again, but bigger & better than ever.

Charles

Some kind of Wikipedia style Database site would be best I think.

Django wrote: Fri Jan 06, 2023 10:58 pm One of my favorite parts of the forum is seeing pictures of prized machines and learning their back stories. Unfortunately, most of the featured machines have lost their pictures. I was hoping that we might be able to archive the archives and start a new collection of featured phonographs. Any interest? Opposition?

Thanks

I too highly valued the featured phonographs section of the forum. There has to be a way to bring back all those images. Starting from scratch is disappointing. Why did they go away to being with?

I've contributed to the series in the past, but until the owners/moderators show any interest in getting the forum back onto a solid footing (and restoring the lost photos, and preventing that happening in future) I don't feel like doing so again. Sorry to appear negative; it's just where I am with this!

If by some miracle that happens - I'd suggest a whole separate section. The one I contributed appeared in the British & European section, but the same sequential number was later used by the next member to post one in the US section.

audiophile102 wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 9:45 amWhy did they go away to being with?

Threads about it are here viewtopic.php?f=10&t=52726 and here viewtopic.php?f=10&t=54291

Orchorsol wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:04 am I've contributed to the series in the past, but until the owners/moderators show any interest in getting the forum back onto a solid footing (and restoring the lost photos, and preventing that happening in future) I don't feel like doing so again. Sorry to appear negative; it's just where I am with this!

I'm afraid I feel exactly the same.
Unless what was previously there is restored, I see little point in wasting time and effort to contribute to the featured phonograph archives further if in a year or two, the pictures all disappear again.

gramophoneshane wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:17 am

Orchorsol wrote: Sat Jan 07, 2023 10:04 am I've contributed to the series in the past, but until the owners/moderators show any interest in getting the forum back onto a solid footing (and restoring the lost photos, and preventing that happening in future) I don't feel like doing so again. Sorry to appear negative; it's just where I am with this!

I'm afraid I feel exactly the same.
Unless what was previously there is restored, I see little point in wasting time and effort to contribute to the featured phonograph archives further if in a year or two, the pictures all disappear again.

I get it, but it was nice and useful while it lasted. I just posted my Circassian Walnut VV-230 as No.501. We’ll see what happens. I had a number of machines in the old section. If this takes off in any way, I will copy and paste my old text and add new pictures, provided that I still have the machines.

Although I have been an active member for some years I have never posted a machine as a Featured Phonograph.
I am ready to do so now, but should the post be a reply to No.501 or a new topic No.502?
I agree that if a number of machines are posted they need to be grouped under their own section.
If they appear in isolation under "Machines" they may be overlooked and in time become difficult to find.

A new topic for each machine/number.

Originally the idea was that once a week, someone would post a featured phonograph, then after a couple weeks a link was placed in the archives under the appropriate subheading Edison, Victor, HMV, Columbia, miscellaneous etc, so the machine and comments for each thread was easy to find for future reference.
Sort of like a virtual collection with all the relevant information for that particular machine.

In the archives you'll find "How to post a featured phonograph FAQ", which explains everything about posting a featured phonograph, and includes a template for the information you should use regarding each machines specifications (when know)..

viewtopic.php?f=4&t=16253