Champ213

That's the case with almost all genres, I would say. For every good band in each given genre, there are 10 mediocre bands that only have 2 or 3 good songs, and 20 more bands that are just plain bad. Also, and this may be a bit of an unpopular opinion, I think that originality is overrated. There isn't really that much in music that hasn't been done before. You can mix things up, change a bit here and there, but in essence there is very little stuff that is truly original (and much of that is just plain weird in their attempts to create something new). But I don't think music always has to be original. There is a good amount of bands I enjoy that are completely unoriginal - but they just do it damn well. And sometimes that's just enough.

Sadly, no. The ideal system would be an auto-complete system, where you start typing and the system automatically gives you suggestions of approved tags. Our current system can't do that and I'm not sure if there is another/better tagging system that works with the forum software. I should also note, if we decide to go for a closed system, we would most likely stick with genre-related tags, to keep the list short. Any expansion of the tags to release year/bitrate/file format/ moods etc. would only be possible if we keep the system open. If we do keep the system open, I might compile a list of proper tags that goes beyond the ones shown the tag cloud. Sure, those people that don't even read the current tagging rules and still continue to use release names etc as tags, won't look at that list either. But maybe it is helpful to at least SOME people. XD The list could even include clickable links to show all releases tagged with it. It would basically be an extended tag cloud. After all, it's also in the best interest of the uploaders to use proper tags, to make your threads more easily found. If everyone uses the tag "post-rock", and one person uses "post rock", then that thread won't be found by the post-rock-lover clicking on the "post-rock" tag. Anyway, thanks for all the feedback so far!

Nope, that's one of the things I constantly have to fix. (Sadly, the admin interface for the tagging system is rather clumsy - I can only fix one tag at a time and then it always jumps back to the first page - and we now have over 80 pages of tags. XD So at this point, I really only delete/fix wrong tags if they start to appear in bigger numbers). A closed system would fix that, but it would also limit the number of possible tags.

As you know, with the change to the new forum software earlier this year, we also introduced the new tagging system. We started with a few basic rules, but otherweise we wanted to let the system grow organically and see how it works out. Obviously A LOT of people don't read the rules though. So I have to do a very tedious clean-up on a regular basis. XD Anyway, after having the system around for several months now, I would like to get some feedback. Do you use the tagging system (either by adding tags yourself or by searching for releases via tags)? Do you find it useful? If not, what could be changed to make it more useful? Here are some issues that I would like to raise myself: 1. At the moment, tags are voluntarily (except for the topic prefixes indicating the release type). Should we make it obligatory to add at least 1-2 tags to a release? 2. We are currently working with an open system - that means anyone can tag whatever they want. The system allows to change to a closed tag system, where only predefined tags are allowed (just like the topic prefixes). The advantage: tags would be more coherent, no wrong tags, no variants of similar tags etc. The disadvantage: less flexible. Since the predefined tags appear as a drop-down menu, we can't just expand them ad infinitum. 3. The fine tuning: are there any tags you think should be disallowed? Changed? Merged? (For example, we have the tags "kote kei" and "old school" - while that technically could describe different things, they are now being used for the same sort sort of music). Also, do you like to see release years added as tags? Bitrates? 5. Broadening: at the moment, most tags decribe a loose genre. Should we encourage to use other kind of tags? For example, decribing a mood. A release tagged just as "visual kei" is pretty non-descript. But imagine you had tag combinations like this: visual kei | rock | happy visual kei | metal | aggressive rock | ambient | relaxing Or whatever you can think of. I think these give a better idea of what a release sounds like. Anyway, let me know your thoughts and suggestions!

As one of the first customers of your honorable establishment, let me propose these two things: 1. Would it be possible to add a release date or just the year to the items - as long as you know them. I know with some reeally obscure stuff it's hard to find out. 2. Since your stock per item is quite limited (usually to 1, lol) I suspect that your artist list will soon be filled with a lot of "Zombie artists" that are out of stock. Are you going to remove artists once they are sold-out (and you not planning on adding more stuff by them)? If not, how about using strikethrough or something to indicate that an artist is currently not in stock. People might get overly exited to see some obscure band in your list, only to find out that you are not actually seeling anything by them (anymore) once they click on the releases. Other than that - good work and I can't wait for my delivery.

A friendly reminder to everyone: please keep this on topic and don't let it descend into personal bickerings and bitchfights, or else we will have to intervene.

I never heard of any of those bands, but I do like me some Portishead! So... maybe worth checking out!

Cologne, eh? How convenient. I have seen Versailles here 3 years ago, which also was my last J-Rock concert up to date. I don't really remember when I bought the tickets, but I think it was reasonably early and I'm pretty sure the place was sold out too. I haven't really listened to much Jupiter yet... I probably will and then decide if I want to go.

Ooooooh yeah, that is an amazing DVD too.

Anything by Psycho le Cemu, because they were hilarious. And I really, really like Buck-Tick's "13th floor with Diana" - among the mass of really good BT live DVDs, this is definetely my favourite.

Not participating because it doesn't rhyme like "Impress Zess " does! It should have been "Mystify Sai" or something! Seriously though, not sure if I can up with something, but if I do, you will hear from me.

I admit, I only checked it out because of the name. XD It's not bad. The chorus is a bit too stereotypical vk-ish, but the instrumental work is nice, and the vocalist's growls are decent.

Since the tagging system was brought up a few times in this thread, I am going to make a seperate topic for it in the next day or two (it's really a seperate issue anyway). The tagging system is a bit of a pet project for me and now that we had it for a few months I would like to get some feedback on it. I'll just have to think through some of my own thoughts on it, then I will post a thread in the Suggestions forum.

No people from Greenland? I am disappoint.

Yup. We are aware of the problem and narrowed down the probable cause (though we are not exactly sure why it happened yet), but it should be fixed soon.

The thing about many western vk fans is that they are rather opinionated about not only "western vk", but western music in general. Yes, many western vk bands also happen to be very mediocre and unorginal at best, but there are many equally mediocre and unorginal japanese vk bands that get a lot more praise and hype. But if you cater to a fandom that often enough very specifically turned their backs on "western music" then obviously you are fighing an uphill battle, even if you try to "disguise" your music as japanese (and probably badly so). It's like trying to sell vegetable-shaped steaks to a bunch of vegetarians. A western vk band, with decent talent and equipment would probably be more succesful if they just target the "normal" western underground goth scene.

I'll work my way through. I recently finished Dishonored and the main story arcs of Skyrim. Also, Papers Please (not all 20 endings, but the major ones, and all archievements) - brilliant game btw, that I can warmly recommend. (And it just so happens to be on sale on Steam atm.) Picking a new game and working myself into the controls, story etc. is usually the problem, but once that it is done, I can spend more time on them that I probably should, lol.

I have a Steam library of 150+ games aquired over several years of Steam sales and Humble Bundles, and I don't know which one of it to play next. So I just end up playing Civ 5 again an again.

It probably should. But it would be an interesting discussion though. We outlawed a few tags from the beginning, like broad stuff like "jrock" (which doesn't stop people from using it anyway, because they don't read the rules, which is why I have to clean out "bad tags" every couple of weeks). But we haven't really tweaked the rules since we added the tagging system, because we wanted to let the tag cloud grow first and see how people use it. But it has been around for a while now, so we can have another look at it.