fitear1590 2414 Posted November 30, 2012 I've been pretty busy over the past two weeks, but I've noticed the download section has been EXTREMELY active lately. I'm usually pretty slow to download new stuff (unless it's bands I already know and love), but nowadays I'm totally lost with where I should even start, haha. I was thinking, perhaps a "sticky" topic in the Download Section might be helpful, where people could recommend notable releases of the week. People should probably try to limit it to their top 1 or 2 releases of the week, I think. (Obviously, the recommendations would be quite subjective, but I think a lot of us already know, more or less, which member's our personal music tastes correspond with.) A simple recommendation post in this thread would be an additional way to help advertise and ultimately "bump" releases in the download thread, making sure they reach as many listeners (especially those listeners that you KNOW would love a particular release) as possible. Anyone else support a "Recommended Downloads of the Week" thread? (or something along those lines?) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 7997 Posted November 30, 2012 This doesn't sound like a half-bad idea but it needs some fleshing out. A list of questions that I have in my mind right now: - Who are people? Certain appointed people? All members? Exclusively mod staff (please say no)? If we appoint people (dear god say no), should it be on a regular basis or just "whenever"? - Other than the 1 or 2 releases a member would recommend (which is a great number IMO), what should go in the post? Should there be a minimum number of things that a user must include on top of other things? Should just the release name and link be allowed? Personally, I think a reason why along with maybe a sample is a great thing to add, but that's just my opinion. I ask this particular question because I can see this quickly turning into uploaders spamming the topic saying "hey hey, check out my upload I recommend it!" which leads me into my next question... - Should people be allowed to recommend their own uploads? On one hand, releases that wouldn't get a lot of attention otherwise have a second shot at redemption. OTOH, I can once again see people recommending things simply because they uploaded it and they want Internet Points. - Let's say I have a topic X that I uploaded this week. The release in the topic isn't particularly new or unknown. Should I still be allowed to recommend it or should this topic be exclusively for new releases? On one hand, not all great new releases that people like are found the minute they're released. Then again, having too many old releases that are recommended simply because "it's a classic" can clog up the topic. With a little fleshing out I think this could potentially be an alright thing. However, I don't want to jump right into it without working out the finer details. Anyone can feel free to jump in and comment if they wish. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fitear1590 2414 Posted November 30, 2012 Thanks for the reply, Zess. Here's some answers! - Who are people? Certain appointed people? All members? Exclusively mod staff (please say no)? If we appoint people (dear god say no), should it be on a regular basis or just "whenever"? I say ANY member should be able to post. No offense to our sexy and hawt mods, but I don't want ONLY mod opinions. With everyone being able to contribute, then we can have a nice "survey" of all the releases that week that MH-ers find worthy of downloading. And no, I don't think anyone should feel obligated to post every single week. In fact, please don't! If you hear something great one week, please recommend it! But if it was just a "meh" week for music, then there's no need to post anything. - Other than the 1 or 2 releases a member would recommend (which is a great number IMO), what should go in the post? Should there be a minimum number of things that a user must include on top of other things? Should just the release name and link be allowed? Personally, I think a reason why along with maybe a sample is a great thing to add, but that's just my opinion. I ask this particular question because I can see this quickly turning into uploaders spamming the topic saying "hey hey, check out my upload I recommend it!" which leads me into my next question... Well hey, I'd LOVE it if people provided at least a mini-blurb about WHY the release is good. I know I will, at least. You probably will too, Zess, haha. But obviously not all people are gonna do that. We should probably at least ENCOURAGE people to put a little bit of effort into their posts (and of course, not to mindlessly spam), but I'm not totally opposed to simply posting the name of the release. That's at least a starting point of some kind, albeit a lazy one. - Should people be allowed to recommend their own uploads? On one hand, releases that wouldn't get a lot of attention otherwise have a second shot at redemption. OTOH, I can once again see people recommending things simply because they uploaded it and they want Internet Points. People should be allowed to recommend their own releases (because I'd probably recommend some of my own, now and then), but please just keep it REASONABLE. Obviously not EVERY single release you upload is the greatest CD since sliced bread, so don't be a doucher. Just be honest with yourself, lol. - Let's say I have a topic X that I uploaded this week. The release in the topic isn't particularly new or unknown. Should I still be allowed to recommend it or should this topic be exclusively for new releases? On one hand, not all great new releases that people like are found the minute they're released. Then again, having too many old releases that are recommended simply because "it's a classic" can clog up the topic. Maybe "of the Week" is a bit misleading. I'd say it should at least be recent enough. Maybe in the last month? Because if it's something that's already from last year, the person can just bump the actual download thread, right? Or make a review or artist thread. In any case, I think there's enough avenues already out there on the forum to say "hey, this older release is also awesome!" This particular recommendation thread idea is mainly for providing a little bit of help to those who are overwhelmed with "current" downloads. EDIT: I realize I misunderstood this question! In that case, I'd say if you truly feel that an older release needs recommending, then go for it! Some of my uploads are old/overlooked releases and I probably would post about them here, if the thread existed, haha. You probably know better than me, but (with the exception of the recent "re-uploading" of older releases in 320 and lossless) most things that are uploaded on MH are fairly "new" or at least not widely uploaded on the netz, right? If so, then I don't see the occasional recommendation of older releases being too much of a problem. Those uploads are usually for a few "niche" listeners anyway (right?), so I don't think they will hijack the recommendation thread. Hope those answers help give you more of what I had in mind! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 7997 Posted November 30, 2012 I say ANY member should be able to post. No offense to our sexy and hawt mods, but I don't want ONLY mod opinions. With everyone being able to contribute, then we can have a nice "survey" of all the releases that week that MH-ers find worthy of downloading. And no, I don't think anyone should feel obligated to post every single week. In fact, please don't! If you hear something great one week, please recommend it! But if it was just a "meh" week for music, then there's no need to post anything. The only thing I would also be wary of is the possibility that everyone in the topic is going to recommend a vast majority of the topics in the download section. While that would constitute a "great week" in uploads, it doesn't really help someone that was overwhelmed looking at the section coming for help. Just imagine having 20 new releases in the section only to come to a topic that tells you to listen to 17 of them. How to get around that I don't know (might not even be possible with this model) but it's worth keeping in the back of our minds as we discuss this. Finding a way to cut it down to maybe 5 or 6 topics on average per week would be nice, but maybe not doable. Also, as a squad the moderation team has enough to deal with, which is why I said we don't want it to be exclusively us. : ) Well hey, I'd LOVE it if people provided at least a mini-blurb about WHY the release is good. I know I will, at least. You probably will too, Zess, haha. But obviously not all people are gonna do that. We should probably at least ENCOURAGE people to put a little bit of effort into their posts (and of course, not to mindlessly spam), but I'm not totally opposed to simply posting the name of the release. That's at least a starting point of some kind, albeit a lazy one. I suppose that if I'm looking for something new to listen to, one person with a post that says "Dir en grey - NEW ALBUM" wouldn't be as influential as someone who went into a brief explanation for why they thought "The GazettE - NOT AS NEW ALBUM" was worth listening to. So maybe this problem will solve itself. People should be allowed to recommend their own releases (because I'd probably recommend some of my own, now and then), but please just keep it REASONABLE. Obviously not EVERY single release you upload is the greatest CD since sliced bread, so don't be a doucher. Just be honest with yourself, lol. I could be honest with myself and think a CD I upload is great and worth listening to but you may not necessarily agree with me. In my case, this happens quite often, especially since I upload things I think are pretty interesting that some people would want to listen to. I do think that perhaps using the like feature as a voting system can help with this (I'm thinking more likes = more people that agree). In this way, you get an idea of how many people on MH concur with the original post as well as cutting down on multiple people recommending the same topic. Maybe "of the Week" is a bit misleading. I'd say it should at least be recent enough. Maybe in the last month? Because if it's something that's already from last year, the person can just bump the actual download thread, right? Or make a review or artist thread. In any case, I think there's enough avenues already out there on the forum to say "hey, this older release is also awesome!" This particular recommendation thread idea is mainly for providing a little bit of help to those who are overwhelmed with "current" downloads. Instead of a time frame, what would you think of instead calling it "Recommended Front Page DL's" or something? As long as a topic is on the front two pages (plus one or two onto the third page) it's OK to recommend? That would make things more flexible, because quantifying things in terms of time gets sticky and hard to enforce. At least topics close to the front page have a better shot of being "new" and it's much easier to spot someone trying to game the system by bumping old uploads. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fitear1590 2414 Posted December 1, 2012 1. Just imagine having 20 new releases in the section only to come to a topic that tells you to listen to 17 of them. How to get around that I don't know (might not even be possible with this model) but it's worth keeping in the back of our minds as we discuss this. Finding a way to cut it down to maybe 5 or 6 topics on average per week would be nice, but maybe not doable. 2. Instead of a time frame, what would you think of instead calling it "Recommended Front Page DL's" or something? As long as a topic is on the front two pages (plus one or two onto the third page) it's OK to recommend? That would make things more flexible, because quantifying things in terms of time gets sticky and hard to enforce. At least topics close to the front page have a better shot of being "new" and it's much easier to spot someone trying to game the system by bumping old uploads. Addressing the first point, I can see the topic possibly being a little busy at first, but it would probably calm down after a few weeks, right? Then, hopefully, just peoples honest recommendations of their recent absolute favorites would remain. And I like your second point. I don't care about the name, but I like the concept of recommending things from the front few pages of downloads. That'll probably be a more intuitive way to go about it, rather than "hm, is this release already too old to go in this thread?" Hopefully some other members chime in with their opinions about this thread idea too! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zeus 7997 Posted December 3, 2012 Well since no one's jumped in on this, I say that it sounds like an idea that's worth a shot so start it up whenever you have the time to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Original Saku 1593 Posted December 3, 2012 Would have jumped in on this, but it seems zess has already asked the obvious/important questions, really though I feel like this is something that needs to be tested before it can be refined, so go ahead and start this up and we'll see how it works and if there are any problems and then we'll move on from there... btw did I mention this is a pretty nice idea, good job fitear Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
fitear1590 2414 Posted December 3, 2012 Cool, I'll make the thread when I get home from work today! Thanks guyz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
