CD review Forum?

[Bob]

How about a forum where we post personal reviews of piping related CDs?

People could also start a thread to publicise their new CD (I get requests surprising often from folks wanting to publicise their new CD - this could help too)

My thought is one CD per thread, and any of us could add to the CD's thread when we wanted to contribute our thoughts on the specific CD. Over time it could be a pretty interesting and helpful guide ...

If you're thinking of buying a CD, with luck we'd have a thread where people had given their views.. Of course we would want to 'do no harm', but I don't think that should really be a problem.

[Scott McClellan]

I think this is a great idea!

[Javier]

As the guy who recently posted a thread asking for this very info, I love the idea! I've ordered 3 CDs from Piper's Hut (I let them know I found them through the forum) based on the recommendations in that thread.

[Monique Ros]

Love the idea. We already have an extensive collection, but are still looking to add more. And then it is always good to hear others opinions.

Go for it!

Monique

[Christopher]

That is a great idea!

[Eric M]

Will folks get slapped down for posting negative reviews? In most of the other forums there is strong peer pressure against criticizing specific people/organizations/bands/vendors/products.

I would recommend specifying boundaries and defining a few "best practices" like not giving one-liner judgements, always explaining why you liked or didn't like a particular track or CD, avoiding critiquing someone elses critique... if they must comment, then explain why they disagree instead of just declaring the other person crazy. Music reviews are always subjective, and each person has their own criteria for evaluating what they hear.

Eric

[Bob]

Excellent points Eric,

This (negative comments) is the one area of greatest concern for me on this CD Review idea, and I think your suggestion is excellent:
not giving one-liner judgments, always explaining why you liked or didn't like a particular track or CD, avoiding critiquing someone Else's critique... if they must comment, then explain why they disagree instead of just declaring the other person crazy. Thanks!

[Eric M]

One more thought.... I think folks should be allowed to post negative comments. That's why I worded the suggestion the way I did. If we could only post positive reviews, then it would be hard to build a sense of relative merit between recordings and it would get boring real quick. Wine clubs have similar considerations when they do a wine tasting... they typically prefer to have a range of quality instead of all outstanding wines, in order to broaden the scope of discussion.

Eric

[Javier]

Is there a way for UBBS to do a rating system? We could give 1-5 bagpipes to a CD as a rating, then explain why we felt it deserved this rating. Hey, maybe we can give 1-5 dancing bananas?
I agree that this forum would have to be closely monitored against flaming and "worthless" reviews. I think reviews can still be kept positive while discussing relative merit.

Positive: :banana: :banana: :banana: The audio quality suffered a bit on this live recording, and several missed notes on the first track reduced my enjoyment. The second track, while enjoyable, did not match the sterling rendition given by the 78th frasers in "Live In Ireland."

Negative: 3/5 pipes. This CD sounded like crap and I hated the first track. 78th Frasers are better.

This goes right along with Eric's comments. I'd also like to see relative comparisons between CDs. I felt that the discussion where I asked for "the top three CDs you'd buy" here (http://www.bobdunsire.com/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.php?ubb=get_topic;f=11;t=002065) was very positive, so I know the forum members can handle this.
On a side note, I've convinced my pipe band to start a lending library. I'm planning to get input (and donations) from the members for what to put in it. So this forum would be of particular interest to me.

[Eric M]

Javier,

I'm wondering if we mean different things by the terms "positive" and "negative". I'm using the terms to mean....
positive = "I liked it"
negative = "I didn't like it"

I personally would use the terms "constructive" and "destructive" for your two examples. I agree that the first example would be more useful to me.

Eric

[Javier]

Eric,

Well, I meant the second example to be both negative and destructive. I agree it's possible to give a negative review in a constructive way, and that should be allowed. You had used the words "negative comments" which I did take as "destructive." I agree these are two different things.

[Scott McClellan]

I think as long as we make it clear that the reviews stick to the recording itself (and not other reviewers), and any negative comments are presented in a reasonably mature manner ("I didn't care for this because..." and not "what a load of crap!") - it'll be A-OK. :)

[Bob]

I am planning to try this new forum - FYI.. And I really appreciate the comments here (and by email). I have yet to decide where to place the new Forum (not a big deal), and I need to find the time to set it up (also not a big deal, but time is an issue right now)..

I do not want to do any harm to CD sales of course, but I do want people to be able to say they didn't like something, we will be asking just that they explain why.

I know there is the risk of folks taking offense in reading that their CD (or music book -> yes, I think we should have this included too) - was not liked for some reason by some person.. But experience here on the Forums has shown that our community is very supportive, and even when a person doesn't like / appreciate something, it seems many others are willing to support / be positive too.. (a bit like the real world I think)


So, this new forum will be appearing in the not-too-distant future..

[Dave R]

Bob,

I think this is a great idea. :eek:

Give it a go,

Dave R

[Scott McClellan]

Originally posted by Bob:
...(or music book -> yes, I think we should have this included too) That same thought crossed my mind today, and came in here to suggest it. But, I see I don't need to. :thumb:

Sometimes it seems like there are more tune books released than CDs these days. Reading through the list of tune titles is alright, but I'd guess that the average potential purchaser of a book won't recognize more than a few of the tunes in any modern collection... prior to purchase, anyway. Some discussion as to the quality of the tunes, and, of equal importance, skill level required to play the tunes, would be very beneficial.

[Randy McIntosh]

Bob,

I believe that you are about to give your moderator a major headache. :wow:

I have been on news groups/Internet forums for about 13 years now, and I have found that a huge number people tend to jump on the negative. Not only on the net but also in "real" life we have the tendency to strike down what we don't like, and are very stingy with our praise.

In a forum that you are suggesting with the wonderful intentions of my fellow forum members, the information will be totally subjective to ones likes and dislikes, not based on fact. Therefor leading to possible "heated" or even "testy" discussions.

It all boils down to human nature. Don't mess with ones opinion as they are fighting words. Things like "IMHO", etc will be just as effective here as in a political discussion, and we all know where they end up.

Just food for thought, IMHO. :D

[Javier]

Randy,

You're wrong and obviously evil, how could you post something like that? :) KIDDING, of course.

I agree that this will have to be closely watched, but I really think that it can be handled well by this group. After all, how many "What's the best bagpipe out there" threads have you seen? They don't seem to start flame wars (mostly) just end up with an "everyone's different" approach. I've been impressed with this forum. Yeah, politics turns into a storm, always. But stick to bagpipes and it seem the discussions are professional and oftentimes even brilliant.

[Scott McClellan]

Reviews are just a person's opinion, nothing more or less. If I state I don't like sushi, and someone else responds that they do, neither of us is right or wrong. What is wrong is if I said "Ewwww, sushi's nasty, how could anyone eat that garbage, people who do must be a sick so-and-so!" Better would be "I don't like sushi because I don't like the taste of it."

That's what will have to be watched in the new forum... not that people will state their opinions, because that's what a review is... but rather HOW they state them.

It's already happening to a certain extent within the other forums; this would just provide a better place for it to happen.

[Bob]

It is indeed food for thought Randy, and I don't want to give anyone the impression this is not a big concern of mine. But - we have a great community, and it has grown into something pretty amazingly supportive - even more remarkable if we consider where it came from :D ..

As with the Trading Post, and all the concerns that come with having that forum, our community helps keep things more 'under control' than one usually might expect.. Posting histories, member number / date of joining, all contribute to giving 'weight' to a member's post - I mean, new member, no other posts, will not have the same sort of 'impact' as a low number, tons of posts member's comments would - and if negative, we probably know a bit about the person making the comments (if we care to look), and we can consider that as well.. We have seen, so many times, great discussion and disagreement, without things going bad.. But, having written that, I know the forum may not work out.. and .. it won't be the last time we try something new (works or not - with this continuing growth comes lots of chance to do new things)..

I guess I'd better get to adding the new Forum.. :D And we'll see how it goes..

:hatoff:

[Bob]

All rightee - looks like it takes about 30 minutes to do this.. we have a new "Reviews" forum:

http://www.bobdunsire.com/CGI-BIN/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=forum;f=35

[Randy McIntosh]

As posted by Scott

That's what will have to be watched in the new forum... not that people will state their opinions, because that's what a review is... but rather HOW they state them. You are 100% correct. You said it better than myself.

[frank M.]

i agree with randy... because u don't want people to downsize others, u just want opinion... constructive opinion, not one that will totally destroy the other person. maybe if u could make 2 section... one that ask comments and one that u can only listen. if u want feedback, well u put it where anybody can reply(at your own risk, bad or good reply's). but if not well u can just listen to it.

well its just an idea.

[frank M.]

sorry I'm totally off the subject, i thought u guys were talking about posting your own recording and people could give their opinion.

sorry

[frank M.]

i think the idea of choosing between 1 being not that good and 5 being very very good.

[Andrew Lenz]

Ummm, Frank, you are partaking in a discussion that ended almost three years ago (resulting in the "Reviews" forum). Plus two of the participants in the above discussion have moved onto that big massed bands in the sky.

Andrew

[frank M.]

wow i guess im blind :) well in the future, ill look up for the date. thanks for telling