Review: The Audiogon Discussion Forum itself 😉

fertguy

172 posts

07-23-2022 at 11:22pm 

I miss MC

Do you also enjoy tight shoes and cold toilet seats?

Daily visitor and seldom post anything, but enjoy following threads that either educate or that contribute equipment experience and opinions. I have followed Audiogon daily since inception (about 25 yrs). 
 

A couple things bother me: 

1.When revisiting a thread, Audiogon does not remember where I left off and always defaults to page one.  
2.When scrolled to middle or bottom of thread category, when I choose a thread to read after finished and returning back one page, the site does not return to the middle or bottom of thread category but returns to the top. 
3.Display format when reading on smart phone is quirky and have not experienced this on any other forums. 
 

this is my rant,

tm
 

Pot meet kettle. 

@mapman Yes, so much better these days! Also starting to notice more new posters with valuable input, perhaps a kinder, gentler Audiogon will entice more to contribute. The round and round endless political crap belongs elsewhere, as well as the constant provocations! This is an audio forum, plenty of forums for political and psychologically affected individuals.

I also see lot more manufacturers input on Audiophilesyle forum, even white papers included over there. I get the sense people don't like long form posts here as this forum more of a generalist bent. Getting too far into the 'weeds' with the technical isn't much appreciated here.

+1 @mapman 

@sbank 

Have you looked at audiocircle? Probably as much interaction w/manufs as anything else. 

Yes, AC has the various Mfg's circles which are dedicated to the Mfg and the [posters are mostly owners of such equipment or interested in owning. I believe the mfg is also the moderator of his/her circle. IOW AC system and layout is nothing like  Audiogon

@gladmo 

6. Perhaps adding a new topic where only verified manufacturers can start new discussion would increase manufacturer engagement and give them a place to do marketing as well. New product coming this quarter? Want another way to increase brand awareness and jump-start word of mouth marketing?

I'm not sure but they may be able to do that now. But then too,  advertising a for sale product is against Agon rules. Besides that, they can offer it for sale on the Agon sales pages. This is the way that Agon makes their $$$. That is the business model. The forums are a freebie thrown out as a gathering place for potential buyers.

Then too, many of the new posters may not really be potential buyers of the gear that Agon was originally set up to sell for the profit margin needed.That being  high end audiophile grade audio gear. They work on a percentage of the sales that go through Agon. IOW the commission on a $500 sale is much lower than on a $5000 sale. I have been here over 20 yrs and can see how there are many more $500 sales now than $5k. This was not always the case.

The last paragraph is based on my lifelong experience running a business and is only an observation. IOW a guess based on observation...Science. Before you jump on me for being a snob, I Don't have $5k to spend on a single piece either. But I learned to be a good shopper and climb the ladder a step at a time. it was my priority due to my love affair with music

Still see political tripe creep in here in some of these strings. Seen it several times today, the stuff is injected for shock value and degrades the subject matter. 
 

Do not see that at all on a couple of other forums I read. Must be indicative of the culture fostered here?

The forums seem the cleanest of late that they have been in a long time, maybe ever, and I find that refreshing. I get the impression the owners finally came to their senses and finally decided to crack down on abusers thereby  making this a better place for more. Hopefully not too late and I also hope this becomes more of a trend in the world in general and not just here. Lots of abusers out there working hard at all levels these days. Some merely make excuses for others they relate to in some way but overall people expect law and order and those who violate that must be held accountable.

I do NOT miss MC.  People that behave poorly (like MC) and have to be the center of attention make the forum significantly less enjoyable in my experience.  

Turkey bacon I hope.

Any poll must have a bacon option.

@jgueron - I've also got a favorite musician like that, named Kristeen Young. She records and produces and writes and sings her own material, but also distributes it as she won't compromise her art and won't deal with record label B.S. While not 'audiophile' quality, her records do sound really good, and she's just released her 11th album since 1997..... Very unique music and lyrics...

They just don’t want to do it here with OG that hang here. Snark, bark, opinion. 

Most dealers & Mfgs don't want to waste their time debating with the DIYers and other faux internet experts on most Bulletin Boards & forums. Thats mostly why you see so few in the forums IMO

Have you looked at audiocircle? Probably as much interaction w/manufs as anything else. 

Cheers,

Spencer

@fertguy  ... +1 MC!!

MC has his own site. You can get your fix there.

I think the 'community feedback' is an excellent idea. 

@gladmo Thanks for taking the time to make suggestions for this forum. There are enough people engaged here to justify improvements, for sure.

Tagging is an incredibly powerful tool which would help, here. I've suggested it at my university to help students searching for the right courses. Often, a course might be full, but simply following relevant tags could lead them to other classes which might interest and benefit them. Same would apply here on A'gon.

Most dealers & Mfgs don't want to waste their time debating with the DIYers and other faux internet experts on most Bulletin Boards & forums. Thats mostly why you see so few in the forums IMO

One exception is the Roon discussion forum, where a few company reps do regularly participate. They're generally not coming in to "debate", but to offer solutions or insights into specific issues.  

One area which I would love to find an elegant solution is sharing info on great music . like I am most grateful for the mention about the singer Dominique Fils-Aime, who I did not know, on a recent discussion about speakers positioning.

Talking about discovering singers, one of my latest ones is the Canadian born singer/ songwriter Michelle Gurevic. She records her own material, refusing to deal with any stable she’d record label, hence her songs have great lyrics and musicality but are not audiophile material.

I miss MC

@fertguy Same here, I enjoyed his snark and absence of BS in the face of adversity

It’s a HTML breadcrumb trail of the content in the editor.

Also, what does "body p" mean

@fertguy agreed.

Mine is more personal I would like to know why I have been cut off from posting a topic for discussion? This happened today after last night when I answered the OP's request to give the best and worst company's customer support? 

Also, what does "body p" mean which appears whenever I type a response before it is posted, but not when it is posted, just curious. 

I miss MC

So all of it is something you don't want.  Got it

You made 6 points, go visit whatsbestforum.com and see.

This is not that place and that's what they do for the most part.

@juanmanuelfangioii I made about 10 different points and described each of them in detail. What's your point?

This is not whatsbestforum.com

I think you are right when considering my points #4 and #6, and also that it’s a simplistic conclusion and a restrictive viewpoint of what’s possible.

There’s endless numbers of businesses that lean on or rely on Twitter communications for a large portion of their marketing and community outreach efforts. To me, it’s not about any absolute stance on what most people favor within the context of the current state of affairs, it’s about what’s possible with the right vision, proper design and engineering, balanced economic incentives, and recognizing the market needs. Some mfgs don’t need anything more. What about those who are actively looking to expand and market? What about new ones? How about established ones that have developed new tech and want to reach out to like-minded people who aren’t limited to the blathering "faux internet experts", but actually includes their clientele?

Most dealers & Mfgs don't want to waste their time debating with the DIYers and other faux internet experts on most Bulletin Boards & forums. Thats mostly why you see so few in the forums IMO

I realize there must be some difficulty in getting dealers and manufacturers to identify themselves, along with the extra work of Audiogon staff verifying such things.  But perhaps by adding additional functionality which requires having those icons by their usernames, such as the idea in #6 above, incentive for them to come forward about it would be offered.

@fuzztone Huh? Is that a statement about what you see as a problematic pattern with forum contributors?  Or perhaps a passive-aggressive judgment about how you perceive my posts? Or am I misreading your intention with that comment? It seems pretty tangential nonetheless

Hi @tammyholt, I hope you find some value here.

Some good ideas. If you want admins to read it, you're better off sending it directly through the support/contact link on the home page.

Many of these ideas have been proposed multiple times by other members and we haven't gotten much or any reply from management. Tammy is the only one I know by name, and that overloaded, wonderful lady, seems to have her hands full dealing with spam, vitriol etc and just trying to keep things a bit less like the wild west. Cheers,

Spencer

What's that got to do with recommending stuff you own?