Talk about topics on the loops forums

Hey folks, thanks for checking this out :)

I am quite happy to see the slightly increased activity level on the forum lately, and I am especially happy to notice the intelligent and respectful way people are interacting around here.

While there were phases during which activity on the forum lead to a lot of moderation efforts in the past, this has somehow changed for the better lately,
and that somehow increases my motivation to expose some topics I'd really like to read your opinions on here in the forum.

What I am after today is some feedback from your side, so I can eventually present some topics without feeling completely outside of interest, or seek for some other more suitable platform to take my thoughts to,
so, feel free to let me know if you'd be interested to exchange thoughts on any of the topics mentioned below.

To make it clear: I have no intention to loosen the "no politics, no religion" rules we have established for the forum, we know what happens when those topics come up, and no, let's not go there.

I rather wonder if there would be interest to exchange thoughts on things like
- the evolving internet (twitter gone X now, AI is there, google search changes & effects ...) and your opinions on where this might be heading (these topics are on my mind a lot, they may be boring or of little interest toy you - you tell me)
- the changing way people consume media and music these days
- finding a good position for the wikiloops project amidst the rapidly changing environment called "internet"
- talk about meetings, face-to-face & travelings with or to other wikiloops people

I could add some more points, but I'll leave it at this for now to get some feedback first.
I might as well have started a thread or two and see where that goes, but I guess it might be even more interesting to engage in the "what do we want to talk about here?" meta level first, to then move into such topics knowing this is some sort of agreed experiment and not some individuals attempt to push some topic.

I do not think anyone can really understand how odd it is to be the owner of this place called wikiloops, I mean, technically, I can get away with writing whatever I want - whatever you can imagine people would get banned for, I could do it, from posting inappropriate images to bad language and personal political views, you name it. I'm still tempted every now and then, that somehow does not seem to go away completely.
On the other hand I know that whatever I write will be interpreted as "so this is the wikiloops bosses opinion... aha!", so it's not easy to distinguish an appropriate level of personal opinion. It's a bit like not daring to speak your opinion on your own couch in your own living room. I guess everyone knows the feeling, but whilst the inlaws will leave your living room eventually, that doesn't apply here :)

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Lets do. Free opinion without barriers for any topic is value for this great community.

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On 'The Evolving Internet': an intriguing place, enjoyable for a time, but for me, a growing place of 'too much fun' for people of a certain scientifically linguistic bent. I avoid mass consumption sites mostly, not completely, but use duckduckgo instead of google, and if 'it' was together, mastodon instead of facebook. Ruling corporate entities place a good deal of interest in ‘all or nothing’ mind scrambling routines.

On 'The changing way people consume media and music these days': Someone who is somewhat computer saavy can create listening and viewing routines based on many streaming options. For myself, I’ve weaned myself off of big business’s offering and use film site indieflix if i want to watch a film, or some free documentary on roku. My listening habits have changed greatly, and I mostly peruse ad free premium youtube to listen to basically whatever I find interesting, while doing my best to avoid poppy consumerism.

On 'The Wikiloops Project': this site has consumed a great deal of my focus the last couple years. I’ve retired early as its often said and spend time contemplating sites like wikiloops. I've posted some suggested improvements recently and these improvements keep me from thinking of wikiloops as a cloud area where I can put mixes that might go somewhere else. Why? Missing Search, filter, and download mp3 collections. Code like that could provide easy mix perusing with portable devices. I've also recently discovered highnote.fm, a stems and mix repository for musicians. I created a user login, a free option exists (4gb) and it looks very useful and mostly intuitive. Tools like that could be used in conjunction with wikiloops and other collab sites to create greater than one day productions (like a handful of producers do here.)

On 'Meetings': talks and jams on the internet have the distance to latency dilemma, and some free products out-there (sonobus). Also a paid solution (ELK audio) that looks very interesting. They present a sound module with an ethernet jack built in.
I would like to see open ‘walk on and jam your fill and leave’ events on the internet, but present solutions like jamtaba and jamkazam are very buggy. With sonobus and a web app in front of it, someone could host a couple hours of ‘beats and atmospheres’ looping on a server and let others login, overdub bits, and then a piece is put together after the event. Fun other events could be attempted (see the Composers Network group on discord) that aren't strictly musical, but more like community center night.

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I'm afraid you misunderstood me, "without barriers for any topic" clearly is not what I support or am longing to establish.

You can come visit me in person and we can talk without barriers for any topic,
but I am never going back to moderating an online place where narrow minded people are acting as if they owned the truth on some topic,
telling me it was their right to do so and accusing me of censorship whenever I tried to remind them there was a lot of people from different cultures on wikiloops, who may not be interested in being lectured to, and who may rightfully feel offended by some opinion-delivered-as-truth.

Check out the https://www.wikiloops.com/docs/code_of_conduct.php in case you are not familiar with it, that document states the barriers on topics on wikiloops, and I really have no interest to change them.

@MikeB - thanks for sharing your thoughts and jumping right in the suggested topics. What you write raises a lot of interested follow-up questions to me, but I'm holding back. If more people signal some interest, let's have separate threads on such topics, I'm really looking forward to your opinion!

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Just as an instinctive reaction (which I might change after thinking this through), the topics Dick suggested have an impact on us all so there are sure to be some lively and interesting discussions. Personally, I can always steer away from or ignore threads where the topics hit too close to home (as is the case with the evolving internet), as WL has become a sort of safe space and sanctuary for me.
The meeting topic, Wikiloop positioning and development and the more general music consumption thread...yes, that would be interesting to follow.
One further suggestion - not necessarily for Dick but the community here - I know that some of the "seniors" here always provide helpful advice on playing and recording issues and I know that some are also video buffs. Anybody ever thought of making Wikiloop hints and tricks videos and putting them (or a link) up in the forum?

Thomas

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I have thought about making and sharing videos about techniques and patterns for playing outside notes, long line shapes and arpeggios. But youtube already has thousands of videos with guitarist much better than myself and most follow their favorite players because they want to sound like that person. I did the same thing early on when learning guitar. But that changed after years of doing cover songs. It became very important to me to take what I learned and find my own approach to technique and tone. One of the weakest skills I've found with most guitarist is the inability to performed with little or no preparation in an impromptu setting or live jam. I get the most enjoyment out of just making it up as I go alone. That's where you really learn the most about what direction you want to go with your music.:W

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I think those are great topics, Dick :W I also haven't looked at it from your position as well, what to say, what not to say, eggshells so to speak so as not to be misinterpreted or misconstrued. Personally, I like learning about people :)

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The internet was great when it started but now it seems to be a shop front.
Wikiloops is a haven away from commercialisation.

And politics, there's a zillion places to rant and I'm old enough to know that nobody will change their opinions anyway so it's pointless.
Wikiloops is a haven free from politics.

I am interested in learning about people too but conversely I think I like wikiloops most of all because of the general LACK of discussion of anything but music. Knowing almost nothing about anyone here other than their musical output and approximately which part of the world they post them from is a pure and lovely thing to me.

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