Is the Forum on Life Support??? (1 Viewer)

[Adam Gregorich]

I would agree with Michael, don't be sorry Rick. There has been a lot of good discussion between moderators and members here. Its been interesting seeing some of the thoughts and sometimes misconceptions about the way things are moderated and the forum rules. I'm actually enjoying the questions and explanations.

 

[RickER]

Where was Edwin when i needed him!


Here is my big gripe about the MOD programs, they are over priced, under produced, and possibly have a short shelf life.


I have seen many of the threads Crawdaddy linked. I have not read most of them. Seems like many have posts from the same guys who always say things like, it is this or nothing, if you cannot keep up with the times, change your hobby, or any number of slams to people who do not think MOD is the future. Then of course they tell you to leave the thread if all you are there to do is thread crap. I for one do not think it is thread crapping if you can also give a (hopefully educated) opinion on a matter. So the posters in said thread get mad, your post is moved to the pro/con thread that no one looks at, then, after a while you stop posting in those threads, and finally you stop reading them.


I would love to own Pretty Maids All in a Row, Futureworld, The Green Slime, The Man From Atlantis, and a couple of the Hanna/Barbara MOD TV shows. But i do not even waste my time looking at those threads now. Heck, i would rather download (providing i can re-download if needed) than have a DVD-R that could randomly fail.


Dunno, maybe we have hit mainstream when "it's good enough", is good enough for the members? For me it isn't just about the movie, or TV show, it is seeing it in the best possible quality. I know you cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Geez, even some Blu-ray releases are crap, and people still love them (Predator).

 

[Greg_S_H]

I don't own any burn on demand, and barely even buy discs of any kind any more, but I would assume it's not so much settling as it is resignation. If Uni put out Jack Webb's Sierra MOD-only and I refused to buy it, it wouldn't make them say, "Well, we better redo it and redo it right!" Rather, they'd say, "See, nobody wants this show! This time, bury it for good!" I assume I'm reiterating points made in those threads. I'm not trying to argue with you, but that's just my quick take on it. If you're thinking of taking some time off from the HTF, I hope I'm not adding to your decision. I don't think anyone wants to see you disappear.

 

[Cees Alons]

Originally Posted by RickER


I would love to own Pretty Maids All in a Row, Futureworld, The Green Slime, The Man From Atlantis, and a couple of the Hanna/Barbara MOD TV shows. But i do not even waste my time looking at those threads now. Heck, i would rather download (providing i can re-download if needed) than have a DVD-R that could randomly fail.

After years, I finally got Futureworld on Amazon/UK, three years ago, or so. Never saw it anywhere else.

I'm even not sure it's not a CD-R version after all, but I'm happy owning it.



Cees

 

[Robert Crawford]

Originally Posted by RickER

Where was Edwin when i needed him!


Here is my big gripe about the MOD programs, they are over priced, under produced, and possibly have a short shelf life.


I have seen many of the threads Crawdaddy linked. I have not read most of them. Seems like many have posts from the same guys who always say things like, it is this or nothing, if you cannot keep up with the times, change your hobby, or any number of slams to people who do not think MOD is the future. Then of course they tell you to leave the thread if all you are there to do is thread crap. I for one do not think it is thread crapping if you can also give a (hopefully educated) opinion on a matter. So the posters in said thread get mad, your post is moved to the pro/con thread that no one looks at, then, after a while you stop posting in those threads, and finally you stop reading them.


I would love to own Pretty Maids All in a Row, Futureworld, The Green Slime, The Man From Atlantis, and a couple of the Hanna/Barbara MOD TV shows. But i do not even waste my time looking at those threads now. Heck, i would rather download (providing i can re-download if needed) than have a DVD-R that could randomly fail.


Dunno, maybe we have hit mainstream when "it's good enough", is good enough for the members? For me it isn't just about the movie, or TV show, it is seeing it in the best possible quality. I know you cannot make a silk purse from a sow's ear. Geez, even some Blu-ray releases are crap, and people still love them (Predator).

It's not their place to tell another member to leave the thread. If that happens then report to the moderating staff. I use to post in a couple of those threads a lot, but haven't done so lately, but I do know that some members that have bought several MOD titles have complained about them when they're unsatisfied with the product. There has been plenty of negative opinions expressed in those threads regarding quality issues just like any other software thread on this forum whether it's DVD, Blu-ray or DVD-R.







Crawdaddy

 

[Michael Reuben]

Originally Posted by RickER (Both have their critics and their fans.)

 

[Steve Christou]

Originally Posted by RickER
Geez, even some Blu-ray releases are crap, and people still love them (Predator).

[Slowly raises hand] One of my top 10 Blu-rays of last year. RAH and I had a minor difference of opinion. It does happen.

 

[dmiller68]

I find this thread very interesting as I'm going through a lot of the same things with my forum. We are focused on video games and we are an adult only forum. About 6-9 months ago we had a couple moderators that lost their brain. So we had to ban moderators and several others which caused several others to leave. We have a nice calm board now but it is way too quite and we lost the fun we used to have. We are trying to bring us back. Our visitor traffic is way up though so the ads are doing well for us. I joined your board a while ago but recently became active. I read a lot but post just some. I find most of the post very professional but I wish there was a little more interactive comments when people post there theaters. When I posted my upgrade I got one comment telling me to buy a projector and that was it.

Overall I'm enjoying the site and look forward to a Seattle meet-up.

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by dmiller68

I find this thread very interesting as I'm going through a lot of the same things with my forum. We are focused on video games and we are an adult only forum. About 6-9 months ago we had a couple moderators that lost their brain. So we had to ban moderators and several others which caused several others to leave. We have a nice calm board now but it is way too quite and we lost the fun we used to have. We are trying to bring us back. Our visitor traffic is way up though so the ads are doing well for us. I joined your board a while ago but recently became active. I read a lot but post just some. I find most of the post very professional but I wish there was a little more interactive comments when people post there theaters. When I posted my upgrade I got one comment telling me to buy a projector and that was it.

Overall I'm enjoying the site and look forward to a Seattle meet-up.

That's an area where I think we can make a lot of improvements. We are HOME THEATER forum after all. I think we (at least me!) sometimes ignore those areas and focus on the SW areas. I have been spending more time in that area this week. Posting drives more posting so there are some active threads. With the last newsletter I have started "featuring" a new member theater in each newsletter, and that link got a very positive response so I will continue to do it. Next week I want to start linking to a lot of the picture rich theater construction posts in the sticky box at the top of the page to increase traffic. If anyone has any other ideas I am very open to them!

 

[Adam Gregorich]

Originally Posted by Point-Blank

Walker, After you get the go-ahead from the moderator PM me and I'll see what we can do. There are some technical challenges in that that old account still probably exists but I'll see if we can make it work if the moderator approves.

Thanks Adam. I wrote to the Moderator in question and will see how he responds, but I should have been more clear in my post and state that all I really want is to use my original Username again. Reviving the account isn't a necessity if a process exists for me to resurrect my original ID. I use the same ID all over the web and was sorry I had lost it when I was banned here. So I don't know if that makes it any easier to do than bringing back the whole account, but in any case, let's wait to hear from the moderator.[/QUOTE]


I have heard from the moderator in question and have sent you a PM

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by dmiller68 And that's probably one aspect that HTF needs to work on vs being so busy overtly marketing products and such. If site operators/owners only learn one thing from The Social Network, it should be that you want to promote the seriously cool factor (in whatever field of interest) to drive up active membership big time *BEFORE* you ever worry about trying to exploit... ahem... leverage... that active membership to reel in the big dough (if there is actually any to reel in). And having a few extra near term eyeballs casually visit the site from Google searches will not cut it if you're losing active membership in the meantime. You need to develop an avid membership, not a casual one (at least not til the avid/active group is substantial enough anyway).


HTF is no longer all that cool of a place for HT folks to hang out anymore (even though some of that cool factor would be considered nerdy and fanatical to the mainstream world, which if harnessed well, could actually be an advantage). You need to either go find something else to do or get back to what really matters here so you can draw more serious interest where it counts most. Either that or just become another blog oriented site that Huddler's format was pointing to from the beginning (that most everyone active was sorta fighting against for what? 2 years now?)...


_Man_

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by Adam Gregorich
That's an area where I think we can make a lot of improvements. We are HOME THEATER forum after all. I think we (at least me!) sometimes ignore those areas and focus on the SW areas. I have been spending more time in that area this week. Posting drives more posting so there are some active threads. With the last newsletter I have started "featuring" a new member theater in each newsletter, and that link got a very positive response so I will continue to do it. Next week I want to start linking to a lot of the picture rich theater construction posts in the sticky box at the top of the page to increase traffic. If anyone has any other ideas I am very open to them!

Newsletter seems like a good idea, except you probably need to be careful not to turn it into the end vs the means to a greater end.


I didn't read the last newsletter, but I think there's the danger that a regular newsletter can end up further killing potential active participation some more.


You want to drive active participation here, not just casual readership. HTF is not a spectator sport or a movie theater -- heck, even spectator sports can garner a good deal of (rowdy) spectator participation of some sort though a movie in a theater should normally not. Don't do anything that's more likely to encourage/develop casual readership than actually drive active participation.


Having said that. Again, I didn't actually read the newsletter, so maybe what you have there makes just the right balance. Just offering a word of caution nonetheless...


_Man_

 

[mattCR]

Agreed to a great extent. I started a (rare) thread several days ago asking for info/advice on something a bit more techie, ie. wrt dead OTA tuner in Sony LCD TV, but the only response I got was my own posted 4 days later -- and it's not even like there's been a lot of views into the thread either. As I noted elsewhere, it's a sad state to see a core HT sub-forum like the Displays section become so very dead now. And like others mentioned -- and I noted in my response there -- I had to go check out... gasp... AVSForum(!!!) -- there... I said it... Lord Voldamort (or is it Sauron?) shall not rule me in *this* safe haven And that's probably one aspect that HTF needs to work on vs being so busy overtly marketing products and such. If site operators/owners only learn one thing from The Social Network, it should be that you want to promote the seriously cool factor (in whatever field of interest) to drive up active membership big time *BEFORE* you ever worry about trying to exploit... ahem... leverage... that active membership to reel in the big dough (if there is actually any to reel in). And having a few extra near term eyeballs casually visit the site from Google searches will not cut it if you're losing active membership in the meantime. You need to develop an avid membership, not a casual one.


HTF is no longer all that cool of a place for HT folks to hang out anymore (even though some of that cool factor would be considered nerdy and fanatical to the mainstream world, which if harnessed well, could actually be an advantage). You need to either go find something else to do or get back to what really matters here so you can draw more serious interest where it counts most. Either that or just become another blog oriented site that Huddler's format was pointing to from the beginning (that everyone was sorta fighting for what? 2 years now?)...


_Man_

Part of this is a simple factor. Look at the most trafficked area of other sites.. their HTPC sections BOOM. In a day you are talking about hundreds and hundreds of posts. At the same time, they get into subject matter we can't really discuss here (per forum rules).


I respect the forum rules, but I'm going to try and make some effort into pointing out some of the cooler things going on in HTPC without getting into them; I know several of us here have Ceton Cablecard adapters.. And there are quite a few of us doing whole house AV/HTPC oriented. I figured I'll try to throw up some threads on how a complex HTPC setup can look and why people do it. I might build a youtube channel.


The problem is, frankly, the features that most interest people are very, very difficult here, I find myself going back and editting and re-editing posts to make sure I don't ever get even close to subject matter that may seem "risky". I understand and appreciate the tight relationship with studios.


I'm hoping that now that a lot of us have figured out Ceton based data archiving and network storage, I can cover all of this without ever breaking the rules. We'll see.

 

[ManW_TheUncool]

Originally Posted by mattCR
Part of this is a simple factor. Look at the most trafficked area of other sites.. their HTPC sections BOOM. In a day you are talking about hundreds and hundreds of posts. At the same time, they get into subject matter we can't really discuss here (per forum rules).


I respect the forum rules, but I'm going to try and make some effort into pointing out some of the cooler things going on in HTPC without getting into them; I know several of us here have Ceton Cablecard adapters.. And there are quite a few of us doing whole house AV/HTPC oriented. I figured I'll try to throw up some threads on how a complex HTPC setup can look and why people do it. I might build a youtube channel.


The problem is, frankly, the features that most interest people are very, very difficult here, I find myself going back and editting and re-editing posts to make sure I don't ever get even close to subject matter that may seem "risky". I understand and appreciate the tight relationship with studios.


I'm hoping that now that a lot of us have figured out Ceton based data archiving and network storage, I can cover all of this without ever breaking the rules. We'll see.

That's a good point -- and it speaks back to what DaveF mentioned earlier.


Another area of interest that's banned here that could help the active participation is the whole music/movie ripping thing w/in "fair use rights". Given the booming popularity of smartphones and tablets (and general at-home streaming of content) now, that could be another potentially big thing that we cannot discuss adequately around here.


I'm not personally all that interested in watching movies on a tiny screen, but we're getting to a point where having content on a portable device does not have to mean it's only restricted to being viewed on a tiny screen. No, I still would rather not watch heavily artifacting, streaming content on my 61" RPTV, but that's just one such case and something that might interest a lot of normally casual visitors.


OTOH, yeah, I may well be interested in going HTPC again at some point (after my move later this year) -- my first DVD player was basically a precursor to the whole HTPC phenomenon, and my first BD player was the PS3.


Anyway, we really need to bring back a lot of the tech (and hardware) discussions here. I enjoy checking software reviews as well, but reviews tend to be more of an end thing rather than a means to the greater end we're looking for, except for certain cases like RAH's "a few words" -- and that's besides the fact that we're sorely lacking on hardware reviews for an HT site...


_Man_

 

[RickER]

Some very good posts Man.


I think i posted pics of my main setup, can not remember. Hell, i do not even go look at them. Feels like 50 steps to get to the place i have/had them.


I have never looks at any-ones profile to see if they have pics of their setup. Same hassle as looking at mine. But i would love an easy link, that i do not have to set up where the Profile/ Avatar drop down is. By the way, not a big fan of that drop down. Out of site, out of mind.


I couldn't even tell you if anyone looks at my link from my DVD Profiler, of the movies i own. That is at least sorta easy to see!

 

[DaveF]

Another aspect, which I've talked about with the owners previously, is HTF / Huddler mis-judged the importance of "mobile": HTF is mobile hostile. Tapatalk helps, but I've discovered it's terrible for these long discussions. Here's a screenshot of a previous post.

If a prospective new user visits on a mobile device, I doubt they'll stick around. It's getting better, but still "beta", not a good first impression.

 

[Bob Graz]

I also think that Home Theater has lost a lot of the mystique, therefore interest, as it's gone mainstream. I view it as similar to the hey day of big stereo systems. Back in the day when you had pre-amps and amps and sophisticated receivers it was a lot more interesting. Tower speakers vs bookshelf, brands, technologies (horns vs tweeters, etc). Once all the equipment started going away and people no longer owned racks of equipment, turntables (belt vs direct drive) tape decks, CD players, etc, all the conversation went away. I do miss that. What was cooler than a rack of stereo equipment. I still refuse to part with my Advent Legacies, even if my foam surrounds are rotted. What can you really say about an mp3 player and headphones or streaming music through Pandora?


The same is happening to Home Theater, as it goes from being interesting new technology to a commodity you can buy at Walmart. You bring home the boxes plug some cables in and turn it on. I spend more time now on Android websites discussing latest phones and apps (other other interesting technical "customizations"). I've also been frustrated by trying to navigate and read HTF on my Smartphone (which is currently my new toy).


What has(d) my interest in 2010-2011. My new golf clubs, my new Nikon DSLR and my Smartphone. I did find the photography forum interesting for awhile, but that's even died down. I do agree that the forum also misses some of the more "colorful" people that used to bring in out of the box thoughts and discussions.


Technologies change, products change and people's interest change. What HTF can do to rekindle interest and participation is a very tough question. To some extent you need to follow trends, be an expert in a niche area or quietly fad away. I'm glad I don't have to figure it out.


In closing, I used to visit HTF every day 2-3 years ago. Maybe a couple times a week now and not nearly for as long. Have a good Sunday all.

 

[DaveF]

Originally Posted by Bob Graz

The same is happening to Home Theater, as it goes from being interesting new technology to a commodity you can buy at Walmart. You bring home the boxes plug some cables in and turn it on. I spend more time now on Android websites discussing latest phones and apps (other other interesting technical "customizations"). I've also been frustrated by trying to navigate and read HTF on my Smartphone (which is currently my new toy).

I don't share this assessment: Home Theater -- that is, consumer electronics -- is not newly a commodity. It's been a commodity for 20 or 30 years. The biggest difference is that screen size and quality have reached the point of "enough" in the past five years.


And yet, these things are every bit as complicated than they were ten years ago, but people aren't coming to forums for tips and tricks and beginner's help like they did a decade ago. Or perhaps the complexity is hidden due to HDMI and improving default settings?

 

[Eric_L]

Originally Posted by RickER

Some very good posts Man.


I think i posted pics of my main setup, can not remember. Hell, i do not even go look at them. Feels like 50 steps to get to the place i have/had them.


I have never looks at any-ones profile to see if they have pics of their setup. Same hassle as looking at mine. But i would love an easy link, that i do not have to set up where the Profile/ Avatar drop down is. By the way, not a big fan of that drop down. Out of site, out of mind.


I couldn't even tell you if anyone looks at my link from my DVD Profiler, of the movies i own. That is at least sorta easy to see!

I have a link to mine as a signature....