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Post by lugnut on Sept 19, 2014 3:35:41 GMT -5
So I was thinking, why not open the place back up to guest browsers again? I don't mind not allowing posting by Guests, but I feel like requiring signup to even look around doesn't do us that many favors. My main reasoning is that it makes the forum un-searchable by Google, and I think that alone could bring in new people. As it stands, nobody knows what the fuck The Freewheeler is except old FAQers, new FAQers who've heard talk of it, and whoever happens to click on the link in my sig at Hoffman, which seems to be nobody since Grant (Playback) quit posting (and honestly, a Google search would probably be more useful even for our existing membership than Proboards' crappy excuse for one is). If Google pulled up all the posts though, someone randomly searching for, say, "Lars tiny cock" might find us and join up. And of course, even if someone from FAQland or Hoffmanville does decide to investigate, they won't be able to see anything except a sign-up page. I dunno about you, but unless I'm extremely interested in what I might find inside, I'm not ever going to bother creating an account and I'll just forget about it. At least if you can look around, you might see something that makes you want to throw in your two cents.
So what does everybody think? If we get overrun with weird lurkers or idiots we can always shut it down again, but it seems like it's been stagnant long enough that we might as well go fishing again.
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Post by R&ROVER on Sept 19, 2014 6:29:05 GMT -5
Hey Man seems content to tell the group of members here how wrong they are on any given subject, but I'm sure he'd be happy as a pig in shit to tell others how inferior they are too. I dunno. We've had it opened up several times before and it never really did anything except attract dickheads (at least for the most part) who didn't really stick around. The fact is that many people know of the place and it's been spruiked extensively by HM on just about every forum he can find on the net, but people still don't want to come and join. What that reason is is open to debate. The only bonus to opening the forum up is finally being able to search the forum...even if it's only on Google. Personally, I'd leave it as it is. Exactly....all of this, from sentence one. |
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Post by lugnut on Sept 19, 2014 8:17:39 GMT -5
Yeah, it probably wouldn't cause some large increase in members, but I'm not sure I see the harm either (and if dickholes and morons do invade, it's easy enough to get rid of 'em).
I dunno, myself I've always wanted it to be sort of an "all music" site, and to a tiny degree it is, but I'm sure HM has spammed it on every metal/classic-rock site in the known world - which is fine, and I know it's a predominating interest for most current members and a lot of potential ones too, but I think it just gives us a rep as being a site that only has interest in those styles, when obviously lots of us are fans of all sorts of genres that would be diametrically opposed. I dunno, I miss Blackwell's looks at modern pop for example, even if I've got no use for most of it. It'd just be interesting to talk about some other stuff besides the 37th Winger album, y'know? Maybe somebody finds a post about Kanye or Depeche Mode or, fuck, I don't know, Ray Stevens, via a Google search and brings in something a little different. Or not. I dunno.
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Post by Hey Man on Sept 19, 2014 11:45:37 GMT -5
You may have noticed that I have actually been deleting members from the forum. We were at 100 and something and now we are down to 80. The reason being is that these people joined and never actually posted or they haven't posted for over a year now. I want people who contribute on a somewhat regular basis - not a post every 4 months. I am happy with the group we have now, because we are all more or less daily posters. We have had many sign ups actually, but I have set up where I have to approve them first. Most of them are spammers when I do a search on Google with their email address - they are on a ton of forums selling shit. The ones who are not spammers - join up and never log in again. I haven't whored out this forum in a very long time, because I am very happy with this place as it is now. Even if 50 people joined tomorrow, the majority of them would just be names added to the members list, who don't contribute. I want people who post - not people who don't log in. I would rather The Freewheeler be a small exclusive club so to speak over a forum with 10,000 members who don't post. Having said that - I have no problem with members here whoring out this forum to their friends, Facebook and every single website and forum you go to, but beyond some exceptions, nobody here seems to want to do that. It's like you love posting here, but don't want anyone to know you belong to such a cesspit.  People know The Freewheeler, I know this forum isn't for everyone and I am not for everyone - I have said that from the beginning and I am fine with that. |
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Post by Playback on Sept 30, 2014 8:03:57 GMT -5
...and whoever happens to click on the link in my sig at Hoffman, which seems to be nobody since Grant (Playback) quit posting For real??? Geez!  Well, I guess they all want to see what my real political views are without the censorship of 25 moderators around. |
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Post by Playback on Sept 30, 2014 8:17:55 GMT -5
Yeah, it probably wouldn't cause some large increase in members, but I'm not sure I see the harm either (and if dickholes and morons do invade, it's easy enough to get rid of 'em). I dunno, myself I've always wanted it to be sort of an "all music" site, and to a tiny degree it is, but I'm sure HM has spammed it on every metal/classic-rock site in the known world - which is fine, and I know it's a predominating interest for most current members and a lot of potential ones too, but I think it just gives us a rep as being a site that only has interest in those styles, when obviously lots of us are fans of all sorts of genres that would be diametrically opposed. I dunno, I miss Blackwell's looks at modern pop for example, even if I've got no use for most of it. It'd just be interesting to talk about some other stuff besides the 37th Winger album, y'know? Maybe somebody finds a post about Kanye or Depeche Mode or, fuck, I don't know, Ray Stevens, via a Google search and brings in something a little different. Or not. I dunno. Whenever I go to the music section, all I see are threads about Kiss. Yesterday afternoon, virtually every single thread on the first page was Kiss-related, and Kiss isn't the most universally loved band. They're like U2: very polarizing. Someone coming in here might get the idea that it's a Kiss fan-site with a heaping of politics on the side. I haven't been to The Velvet Rope in a few years, don't even know if it still exists, but the one thing I liked about that place is that they discussed every kind of music and artist without (much) malice. Granted, the place was largely made up of low-level industry people, but that's the kind of place I like. You go to Hoffman or BSN, you get a lot of vicious attacks from the old guys about anything outside of the same-ol classic rock. IMWAN is pretty good about discussing what's new out there, but they just don't dig into the sound issues like the other two sites do. Whatta ya gonna do? You open this place up, the trolls come in. You keep it exclusive, no diversity. |
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Post by Cducharme on Sept 30, 2014 8:24:33 GMT -5
The kiss stuff is something I skip over unless I'm bored. I should start posting articles about the bands I follow. And then hear crickets from most of the folks here. Usually only the ultra adventurous click my YouTube music links |
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Post by Playback on Sept 30, 2014 9:27:49 GMT -5
That's not true.  I post a ton of non-Kiss related stuff in the music section, they're all those posts with no replies because they're not about Kiss. Perhaps you'd get more replies if you stated in a side note how much Gene or Paul or Kiss suck. I can't. I like Kiss. |
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Post by Playback on Sept 30, 2014 9:29:25 GMT -5
Perhaps you'd get more replies if you stated in a side note how much Gene or Paul or Kiss suck. Topic: New Jethro Tull Reissue: Paul Is A Cunt So is Ian Anderson. |
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Post by Hey Man on Sept 30, 2014 10:04:34 GMT -5
I am fine with having a free preview month like HBO here, but if you want people to join up - members here have to do their part as well and get people to join from the other forums and websites you go to.
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Post by Hey Man on Sept 30, 2014 10:24:00 GMT -5
I know some people from the Jethro Tull forum came and browsed while things were open, none joined up. What do prog nerds care about a forum obsessed with slamming Kiss and (at that time) endlessly promoting The Winery Dogs.  I don't really post much anywhere else, a little bit on Hoffman, those people wouldn't be interested in joining up here because musically it's 90% Kiss slamming or praising the collective works of David Coverdale, Richie Kotzen and Glenn Hughes which is pretty damn limited. I'd think more game nerds would be interested in what Lugnut's got going on, I dunno. Endlessly fascinating to me but I have nothing to add because that's not at all part of my experience. We discuss a slew of bands and artists in the news section, where most of the music discussion happen anyway as opposed to the music discussion section. We all know why KISS gets discussed here. If the majority of members here all came from a Poison site, we would be discussing Poison all the time. |
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Post by Hey Man on Sept 30, 2014 10:43:32 GMT -5
"Rikki Rockett Vs. Neil Peart"
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Post by lugnut on Oct 10, 2014 19:41:25 GMT -5
Yeah, it probably wouldn't cause some large increase in members, but I'm not sure I see the harm either (and if dickholes and morons do invade, it's easy enough to get rid of 'em). I dunno, myself I've always wanted it to be sort of an "all music" site, and to a tiny degree it is, but I'm sure HM has spammed it on every metal/classic-rock site in the known world - which is fine, and I know it's a predominating interest for most current members and a lot of potential ones too, but I think it just gives us a rep as being a site that only has interest in those styles, when obviously lots of us are fans of all sorts of genres that would be diametrically opposed. I dunno, I miss Blackwell's looks at modern pop for example, even if I've got no use for most of it. It'd just be interesting to talk about some other stuff besides the 37th Winger album, y'know? Maybe somebody finds a post about Kanye or Depeche Mode or, fuck, I don't know, Ray Stevens, via a Google search and brings in something a little different. Or not. I dunno. Whenever I go to the music section, all I see are threads about Kiss. Yesterday afternoon, virtually every single thread on the first page was Kiss-related, and Kiss isn't the most universally loved band. They're like U2: very polarizing. Someone coming in here might get the idea that it's a Kiss fan-site with a heaping of politics on the side. I haven't been to The Velvet Rope in a few years, don't even know if it still exists, but the one thing I liked about that place is that they discussed every kind of music and artist without (much) malice. Granted, the place was largely made up of low-level industry people, but that's the kind of place I like. You go to Hoffman or BSN, you get a lot of vicious attacks from the old guys about anything outside of the same-ol classic rock. IMWAN is pretty good about discussing what's new out there, but they just don't dig into the sound issues like the other two sites do. Whatta ya gonna do? You open this place up, the trolls come in. You keep it exclusive, no diversity. Yeah, I think the over-KISS thing hurts. It makes sense, because really, the Freewheeler is to KISSFaq what Stereo Central is to Hoffman (and I know you know what SC is even if nobody else here does). But still, SC stagnates because of what it is, and I feel like the FW could expand into its own thing but risks collapsing into less than it's capable of. Hard-rock will always be a dominant interest here, and that's cool, but we also have a user-base that's interested in more beyond that... just somehow it doesn't get as much interest these days (where have you gone, Mr. Blackwell? A forum turns its lonely eyes to you...) I dunno, what sucks is I feel like there's a real chance for this place to gain a large following simply because we've got a lot of posters who are posting at levels beyond what you typically see on a lot of music forums. The SHF has a lot of what I think this place could be, but the general atmosphere is so fucking insane it can't even be quantified, and a lot of other music/entertainment forums are typically too focused on one particular genre or band to have a wide reach. And the format here is open enough to include anything and everything, which isn't something you can find (for better or worse) at a lot of other places. I mean don't get me wrong, I dig the place, but I feel like it could have went further and still could. Back in the FW 1.0 days it almost looked like it was going there until Blackwell pulled the plug. And I don't mean that as a knock against HM or how it's all ran since then, but more on people getting the wrong impression after that, and a problem in attracting new members - perhaps because the topics tend to linger around the same subjects. (Then again, not like it's hurt Hoofy and his Beatletards...) |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 10, 2014 21:04:38 GMT -5
Whenever I go to the music section, all I see are threads about Kiss. Yesterday afternoon, virtually every single thread on the first page was Kiss-related, and Kiss isn't the most universally loved band. They're like U2: very polarizing. Someone coming in here might get the idea that it's a Kiss fan-site with a heaping of politics on the side. I haven't been to The Velvet Rope in a few years, don't even know if it still exists, but the one thing I liked about that place is that they discussed every kind of music and artist without (much) malice. Granted, the place was largely made up of low-level industry people, but that's the kind of place I like. You go to Hoffman or BSN, you get a lot of vicious attacks from the old guys about anything outside of the same-ol classic rock. IMWAN is pretty good about discussing what's new out there, but they just don't dig into the sound issues like the other two sites do. Whatta ya gonna do? You open this place up, the trolls come in. You keep it exclusive, no diversity. Yeah, I think the over-KISS thing hurts. It makes sense, because really, the Freewheeler is to KISSFaq what Stereo Central is to Hoffman (and I know you know what SC is even if nobody else here does). But still, SC stagnates because of what it is, and I feel like the FW could expand into its own thing but risks collapsing into less than it's capable of. Hard-rock will always be a dominant interest here, and that's cool, but we also have a user-base that's interested in more beyond that... just somehow it doesn't get as much interest these days (where have you gone, Mr. Blackwell? A forum turns its lonely eyes to you...) I dunno, what sucks is I feel like there's a real chance for this place to gain a large following simply because we've got a lot of posters who are posting at levels beyond what you typically see on a lot of music forums. The SHF has a lot of what I think this place could be, but the general atmosphere is so fucking insane it can't even be quantified, and a lot of other music/entertainment forums are typically too focused on one particular genre or band to have a wide reach. And the format here is open enough to include anything and everything, which isn't something you can find (for better or worse) at a lot of other places. I mean don't get me wrong, I dig the place, but I feel like it could have went further and still could. Back in the FW 1.0 days it almost looked like it was going there until Blackwell pulled the plug. And I don't mean that as a knock against HM or how it's all ran since then, but more on people getting the wrong impression after that, and a problem in attracting new members - perhaps because the topics tend to linger around the same subjects. (Then again, not like it's hurt Hoofy and his Beatletards...) I am not stopping people from posting threads about all kinds of bands, music genres, reviews, etc. The Freewheeler can be anything that people want it to be - but one has to make the effort by posting a ton of threads. It often seems like people are waiting for me to do something regarding any aspect of the forum that they want improved - I can't do everything. For the most part, I am posting movie, music and political news daily and that is what generates discussion here the most. When I do post about KISS, it's really only because it's the one thing that we all have in common, since we have all come from KISSFAQ and there is a general interest in the band. And that is the reason other people post threads about KISS as well. These are threads guaranteed to be read by everyone and more often than not - there is always discussion and debate that follows. Sometimes the threads go for many pages. For better or worse though, this is a rock forum. There are just some genres of music that will never find traction here no matter how many members we have. Blackwell was mocked for liking modern pop music, most people here hate rap and hip hop and country music doesn't get the love that you have for it. I certainly try to post music news for various music genre's - if it's something major in the music industry like when I posted news about Kanye West and Yeezus or Garth Brooks' return to making music or some pop music video that everyone is talking about, but this is a rock forum ultimately and our members here know all the bands and artists that are mentioned in the news section daily. The members here actually know who Richie Kotzen is, even prior to Winery Dogs. Go to a general music forum and they have no clue who he is as well as many other artists and bands. I am sure Joe Lynn Turner's new supergroup isn't the hot discussion on general music forums that it is here either. I am kidding, but I think you get my point. We can't be all things to all people. And as I said in a post above: You may have noticed that I have actually been deleting members from the forum. We were at 100 and something and now we are down to 80. The reason being is that these people joined and never actually posted or they haven't posted for over a year now. I want people who contribute on a somewhat regular basis - not a post every 4 months. I am happy with the group we have now, because we are all more or less daily posters. We have had many sign ups actually, but I have set up where I have to approve them first. Most of them are spammers when I do a search on Google with their email address - they are on a ton of forums selling shit. The ones who are not spammers - join up and never log in again. I haven't whored out this forum in a very long time, because I am very happy with this place as it is now. Even if 50 people joined tomorrow, the majority of them would just be names added to the members list, who don't contribute. I want people who post - not people who don't log in. I would rather The Freewheeler be a small exclusive club so to speak over a forum with 10,000 members who don't post. Having said that - I have no problem with members here whoring out this forum to their friends, Facebook and every single website and forum you go to, but beyond some exceptions, nobody here seems to want to do that. It's like you love posting here, but don't want anyone to know you belong to such a cesspit. |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 10, 2014 21:12:30 GMT -5
We actually got a new member today - Dutchy5150. Let's see now if he actually logs in and posts.
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Post by Cducharme on Oct 10, 2014 21:52:55 GMT -5
Lugnut can be blamed for me
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 10, 2014 21:54:27 GMT -5
Lugnut can be blamed for me That's why I said with some exceptions - I know Lugnut brought you here and I appreciate that you are here. |
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Post by Cducharme on Oct 10, 2014 23:18:31 GMT -5
Oh I wasn't looking for a dick sucking, just mentioning who's responsible for me being here
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 10, 2014 23:25:50 GMT -5
Oh I wasn't looking for a dick sucking, just mentioning who's responsible for me being here Just tell me when you are gonna cum. |
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Post by Cducharme on Oct 10, 2014 23:27:55 GMT -5
Gentlemen don't tell
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Post by Playback on Oct 15, 2014 16:49:33 GMT -5
It's like you love posting here, but don't want anyone to know you belong to such a cesspit. Maybe it's because this is such a "freewheeling" place that no one wants what they write here to affect everywhere else they post, and we seem to have quite a few members here from the Hoffman board. It's like posting on Google/Facebook/YouTube. Whatever you say can be spread across websites. |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 15, 2014 16:54:41 GMT -5
It's like you love posting here, but don't want anyone to know you belong to such a cesspit. Maybe it's because this is such a "freewheeling" place that no one wants what they write here to affect everywhere else they post, and we seem to have quite a few members here from the Hoffman board. It's like posting on Google/Facebook/YouTube. Whatever you say can be spread across websites. I can understand how people may not want other people to see how much we love the word cunt. |
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Post by lugnut on Oct 15, 2014 21:17:54 GMT -5
It's like you love posting here, but don't want anyone to know you belong to such a cesspit. Maybe it's because this is such a "freewheeling" place that no one wants what they write here to affect everywhere else they post, and we seem to have quite a few members here from the Hoffman board. It's like posting on Google/Facebook/YouTube. Whatever you say can be spread across websites. Heh, do we actually have any other Hoffmanites? Frankly I'm half-amazed I haven't gotten myself banned over there for daring to tell the truth here about a lot of his more questionable acts and decisions. I like his work (a lot of it anyhow), but I've got no qualms in letting folks here know to take SHF with a very large grain of salt in case they visit over there - I've always said it's a truly amazing wealth of information available, some really great, passionate fans with priceless knowledge to share, and often a truly invaluable resource to learn about pressings, stampers, whatnot... but just be very careful because it's also sometimes a place where blatant racism and sexism can run rampant to the point it damn near feels like it's being encouraged, a place where some members claim to be experts on everything and don't know shit, a place where a perfectly valid question "phrased wrong" or a fair criticism can get your posts or your account deleted without explanation, and for the love of god, watch out for those people who'll tell you that you can't possibly ever really enjoy music unless there's a $6000 USB cable involved. And I don't mind saying things like those three famous words-that-must-not-be-said: "Buddy Holly tapes" (because Jesus, that's just shitty and it's not even one of the cases where it could just be a rumor, there's friggin' news reports to verify it. Oh well, it sure did get us a great-sounding CD, though! Can't recommend that still-in-print-I-think Buddy From the Original Master Tapes disc enough, it still sounds amazing and not a bad track in the bunch.) But I don't go mentioning it over there - it's "his" place, after all, and I've got no personal beef with him (though I've sure seen him pull his condescending dickhole act on you for no good reason a few times - and I've been impressed once or twice that you were able to let it slide and not finally tell him where to shove his gold discs, because there's been a couple where I felt like he deserved it), but yeah, so no reason to walk in the man's house and call him out on his bullshit. But he's known enough and known for a stellar reputation of quality that has been frequently heavily whitewashed or sometimes absent altogether that I almost feel obligated just as a music fan to let people know what you're really dealing with when you consider buying a Hoffman-mastered CD or trusting some of the stuff he'll say now and then. (For fuck's sake, you remember when AF released a couple discs that were digitally goddamn identical to old '80s CDs and tried to pass 'em off as new remasters from the tapes? Even I couldn't believe that one. I'm pretty sure those threads all just disappeared and nothing else was ever said, of course, but I'd have been demanding refunds over that deal...) I dunno, I don't talk shit on the dude just to do it, but I know there's fans here who see something like a new Hoffman Dio CD or Deep Purple and get excited, thinking they're probably about to get the definitive version... and I almost feel like I need to throw in a "You might want to wait on this and see first." The man's work isn't what it used to be, I don't think he's been allowed near any real masters in years (except Peter, Paul & Mary, ooooh!) and, well, there's reasons for all of it and some of them range from deceptive to just outright criminal. Some of them are concerning enough that I feel like they need to know just a little bit more before deciding whether or not to support those discs. I'd recommend any old DCC disc almost without question, but I'd hate to see someone waste 40 bucks on some of these AF discs that are often not what they claim to be or are riddled with strange errors like that Heartbeat City fuck-up. (And honestly, everything else aside and ignoring whatever the sources were, I just don't think his newer stuff sounds nearly as good as what he used to do.) And honestly, I think anyone who's ever spent much time at SHF or ever bought a Hoffman CD on the basis of his "brand" probably knows about all this stuff anyway already. I don't want to see the guy "brought down" or anything, but I feel like generally the folks at SHF aren't swallowing the Kool-Aid nearly as much as they did when I first joined there, and I think that's great. I think people have picked up on some of his habits, odd quirks, and, let's politely phrase it, embellishments, and good. And I hope the folks who still like his work and/or the artists being done keep on buying those CDs, it's not as though everything AF has put out is bad - some of it is great. And god knows there's always room for more quality reissue labels in the world, so like I say, I hope AF is doing great. But I'm glad people are figuring out that it's often best to approach with caution and do some homework before trusting that the SH name still means what it maybe once did. (And hey, maybe this one will be the one that finally gets me banned over there, heh!) Oh hell, one more thing just for fun - what the fuck does that dude they've got doing the artwork for AF have that he's clearly blackmailing Blonstein with? I mean there's no way they REALLY think that crap looks good. It makes the whole outfit look like something operating out of a random guy's garage than a long-standing company who supposedly strives for audiophile sound and quality product. This has dick to do with dick, I just wanted to show some of the FW's this shit because it's stunning. Would YOU buy a record from a company who thinks this is quality advertising and keeps defending it, forcefully so even, at every turn even though some of their biggest supporters who'd generally never have a complaint about an AF product have even stepped up to ask "Geez guys, really?" I swear I thought these were some of Stereo Central's famous Photoshops at first before I went to AF's page and witnessed it myself. And even still after that, I was POSITIVE that the Custer one was a joke. No company would put this out. Jesus, the Redskins coach would find this offensive. But nope, it's real alright. These are just mind boggling and, to top it off, ALL of the artwork is random public domain clipart from Google. Even the fucking TV and record shelf! So for anybody else here who's unemployed like me, sleep tight knowing that someone's being paid for these. fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn1/t1.0-9/1972357_733683453337986_145443437_n.jpgi.imgur.com/IGBzlBi.jpgarchive.today/SgKMC/b1c08254708f23a87bd694710924a4e1359baa88.jpgarchive.today/lNLDu/8ea775a0c901787e6a36dd5e0c09f857538e5c4b.jpgWhen that still horrible Rush one represents the only ad that looks like any attempt at all was made and that's far and away your most "professional" looking ad.... well, as ol' Steve himself would say, "Yikes!" |
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Post by lugnut on Oct 15, 2014 21:23:22 GMT -5
Maybe it's because this is such a "freewheeling" place that no one wants what they write here to affect everywhere else they post, and we seem to have quite a few members here from the Hoffman board. It's like posting on Google/Facebook/YouTube. Whatever you say can be spread across websites. I can understand how people may not want other people to see how much we love the word cunt. I think what he's hinting it there is it's not at all uncommon for longstanding SHF members to just be banned out of the blue with no explanation, and then find out it was because Steve or one of his mods didn't like something you said about the forum, a new CD, who the best looking TV mom of the '50s was, whatever, on another unrelated site. I honestly can't recall it happening to anyone in a while, and like I said in my post above, we'll see if they're looking because that'll all get me the "Hawaiian Shirt of Death" for sure if so. Fuck it, I hardly post there anymore anyway, I stick around for the folks who do have reliable info, great stories of working in the industry, interesting discussions, etc. But unless you really want to talk about what Macca had for breakfast on April 8, 1966 and how this influenced parts of Sgt. Pepper, there ain't been much worth my while lately to join in a discussion on. (But trust me, that Macca post would be on page 26 by now and I truly wouldn't be surprised if that actual thread or something very similar already fucking exists there.) |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 15, 2014 21:39:51 GMT -5
I can understand how people may not want other people to see how much we love the word cunt. I think what he's hinting it there is it's not at all uncommon for longstanding SHF members to just be banned out of the blue with no explanation, and then find out it was because Steve or one of his mods didn't like something you said about the forum, a new CD, who the best looking TV mom of the '50s was, whatever, on another unrelated site. I honestly can't recall it happening to anyone in a while, and like I said in my post above, we'll see if they're looking because that'll all get me the "Hawaiian Shirt of Death" for sure if so. Fuck it, I hardly post there anymore anyway, I stick around for the folks who do have reliable info, great stories of working in the industry, interesting discussions, etc. But unless you really want to talk about what Macca had for breakfast on April 8, 1966 and how this influenced parts of Sgt. Pepper, there ain't been much worth my while lately to join in a discussion on. (But trust me, that Macca post would be on page 26 by now and I truly wouldn't be surprised if that actual thread or something very similar already fucking exists there.) Sort of like Julian banning members on the FAQ - just for being members here. |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 15, 2014 23:54:40 GMT -5
What would it take to get Steve Hoffman to join up here? Is he one of those guys like Gordon Gebert, where if he finds out that people are talking shit about him on some website or forum, he will join up to defend himself? Or is he all about pretending that those people don't exist and banning those on his own forum that dare speak badly about Hoffman?
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Post by Anomacunt the Excellent on Oct 15, 2014 23:57:33 GMT -5
What would it take to get Steve Hoffman to join up here? Is he one of those guys like Gordon Gebert, where if he finds out that people are talking shit about him on some website or forum, he will join up to defend himself? Or is he all about pretending that those people don't exist and banning those on his own forum that dare speak badly about Hoffman? Think Gebert only signed up to various places to plug his 'products.' |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 16, 2014 0:04:43 GMT -5
What would it take to get Steve Hoffman to join up here? Is he one of those guys like Gordon Gebert, where if he finds out that people are talking shit about him on some website or forum, he will join up to defend himself? Or is he all about pretending that those people don't exist and banning those on his own forum that dare speak badly about Hoffman? Think Gebert only signed up to various places to plug his 'products.' About a year or so ago - people were talking shit about Gebert, although I can't remember why specifically. He joined the FAQ only to get banned and then he joined some other KISS forums when he was being attacked there as well. |
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Post by lugnut on Oct 16, 2014 20:40:38 GMT -5
What would it take to get Steve Hoffman to join up here? Is he one of those guys like Gordon Gebert, where if he finds out that people are talking shit about him on some website or forum, he will join up to defend himself? Or is he all about pretending that those people don't exist and banning those on his own forum that dare speak badly about Hoffman? There's times when I think Steve is convinced he's got the only music-related site that exists on the internet. You'd never get him anywhere unless it was a forum about how majestic and wonderful he is as an engineer and human being (which is what he clearly wishes SHF was). He ignores all the controversies and deletes any threads that may get into them, even when they haven't actually said anything about him or his masterings - but they might later, so that thread will blink and be gone. I'd give a testicle to watch Hoffman go over to Stereo Central and let those dudes at him. They're not comprised of just guys who got banned or quit SHF, there's a lot of genuine music industry folks there who know way more than I do about all the dirty deeds done for higher MSRP CDs. They'd also know exactly the right questions to ask Steve. Which is why he'd never, ever do it. He knows they know enough to bust him six ways from Sunday on every questionable or false claim he's ever made. If he ever somehow got ballsy one day and opened up a thread there saying "Fine, ask me whatever you want to know about this," I imagine he'd field about two questions. One with a vague non-answer and the other one by saying he just can't ever talk about any aspect of it even though he really really wants so he can prove you wrong, but because of "legal reasons" (these will also be unexplained), he just can't But he's totally correct and he can show you but darn those lawyers! Then he'd never show up again because the pressure would probably crack him. (My favorite "damn lawyers!" was when he was going around constantly saying he just legally couldn't give any of his opinions on the 2009 Beatles CD remasters. Like on threads where nobody had even asked him about anything, he'd just be like "Sorry guys, don't ask me! Lawyers blah!" Well alright, but nobody even did ask you anything this time. And why is this guy who, y'know, was not remotely involved in any, way, shape or form with those CDs under some legal restriction? It felt like he was trying to give the impression that he *must* be involved in something Beatle-related. Why? Fuck outta me, maybe he thinks he looks cooler if people think he's somehow involved with something Beatles. But he ain't. I think he did some of the McCartney and Ringo solo albums back on the DCC era, but that's well over 20-odd years ago. And DCC didn't have the shit reputation that AF does. Now I specify "genuine" industry guys because SHF is full of guys who claim to be industry insiders (ie, I drove by the Warner offices today!), or consider themselves masters of the field because they mixed some guy's home-released CDs or such. Now and then you'll get the guy that's "good friends" with some famous musician (Typically seems to mean he chatted with some artist for a couple minutes once, or maybe he even really did know the musician - 50 years ago when they happened to attend the same elementary school for a while or something.) The only respected name I can think of who's still around there is Barry Diament, who really did master a lot of well-known, good-sounding CDs that you have in your collection (Got Appetite for Destruction or any of the Atlantic AC/DC discs? You've heard his work.) - but Barry hasn't really done much of anything you'd know in ages, and he'll openly admit he didn't tend to do much "mastering" on his CDs back in the Atlantic days. If he thought the tape they gave him sounded good as-is, that's basically what he put on the CD. He's a decent guy, but it's tough to call him a real "industry type" anymore. Sometimes SHF will get a genuine industry legend like Ken Scott who worked with everybody from The Beatles to Bowie to Supertramp...and I'm pretty sure he was the one who was given some attitude from Steve about something or other and made a goodbye post with something like "So see ya later, you glorified tape jockey." (There's something around - I dunno enough about it to say if truth or rumor or a mix - that Steve hasn't actually mastered a disc in years and what he does now is provide his opinions while some other dude actually performs the mastering job itself (uncredited). Could be a side effect of labels' unwillingness to let SH have actual master tapes anymore, could be for other reasons altogether, dunno.) Oh yeah, and Bob Ezrin was a member there! He came to hand Steve his ass on something to do with claims he had made about what's on the master tapes for the Alice albums AF did a while back. And he's gone too. The thing is, if you ever do see one of those big recognizable guys post there? Ask him whatever you want to know QUICK, because I've yet to see any of them stay long. Now I don't have any idea who the "industry names" posting at SC are because most don't identify themselves, because, y'know, they still have real jobs in the record industry. There's been times Steve has posted pics of a "master tape" he's working on and they can provide proof it's not what he's claiming it is. Both of the mastering engineers from Mobile Fidelity post there openly under their real names, though. Some people don't like the "MFSL style" but you won't find any questionable acts in their history and labels still trust them with real master tapes. Before they wound up at SC, Steve actually invited them to join SHF, with a big welcoming post about how great it is to have them join up and have input from representatives of both AF and MFSL under one roof. Then they were banned, I'm wanting to say in a week or less. I don't remember why and I'm sure whatever thread it was in was deleted 10 seconds after it happened, but they certainly didn't start anything. Wouldn't be surprised if Steve made one of his famous shitty-but-"polite" comments to one of 'em and they threw it back his way. But yeah, SC is virtually nothing but a comedy site in a way, but I'd trust the opinions and facts from a lot of the guys there far more than most anyone who claims to be in the industry at SHF. When they do "get serious" about a particular issue, they'll admit it if they later realize they had something wrong or off. Steve gets caught in a mistake? That thread never happened. If somehow it ever does get re-addressed, well it wasn't his fault. The damn label sent the wrong tape, we didn't know! Or he said this, but obviously everybody just misinterpreted him, he really meant this. I don't think I've ever seen him in those cases say like "Oops, yeah, I should have explained that better...," it's more "No no, you're too dumb to get what I meant" (Not that he's ever put it that way, but it's usually easy to interpret as such. As for the bannings there for posting on other sites, like I said before, I haven't seen that in a long time. (Usually when that happens, said victim will show up at SC for a bit, but the new guys I've seen over there lately are guys who just left on their own. I just checked and my account's still working and that post has been up for a couple days. I've got the same avatar on both sites and a direct link to the FW in my signature. My guess is maybe an ex-moderator was the one snooping around random sites trying to find stuff. I never got the impression those kind of things were SH himself, because SH seems too self-centered to generally bother looking at other sites not his own. But many of the mods, especially newer ones, will go out of their way to show they're gonna go above and beyond to protect Steve from those awful people who dared say they didn't like his new mastering job on [x]. I don't pay enough attention now to know, but there's been some mods in the past that act like they're auditioning for a chance to be his real life bestest buddy. But yeah, any single one of those things I mentioned in that post would have been enough at one time. All of them together (which, sadly, that list barely scratches the surface...)? My SHF account woulda been gone within the hour after that post here. So I get the impression whoever was doing that ain't a mod anymore or stopped giving a shit enough to bother. To diverge for a second here, since SC has come up a bit here, let me say I hope our buddy with the avatar that bears a slight resemblance to some kind of corporate logo doesn't take offense at me talking about 'em. I wouldn't blame him at all if he holds some bad feelings towards those guys, because they love to give him shit over there for some reason. But since I dunno if he ever looks there anymore, I hope he knows that despite the potshots, I think everybody knows he's one of the good guys at the forum and he's a music fan first and foremost, not someone who seems to care more about their cables than the music that plays through them or some of the other crazy "audiophile" behavior" that drives 'em nuts. I dunno why they pick on him quite so much, and I don't know anyone from SC to even speak for them, but I do hope he takes their ribs in stride because I'm pretty sure it's almost just tradition at this point because he's such a longtime SHF member. When those guys don't like you or think you're stupid or are just an awful human being in general, they let you know. The digs they toss at him feel downright like friendly jabs compared to what they'll do to the ones that really deserve it. (I wouldn't want to be on their "real" bad side, because they'll find every stupid thing you've ever said anywhere and destroy you. But everyone I've seen 'em go that far with? Yeah, probably deserved it.) And hey man, they've even been outright praising you quite a bit here lately! Heh, and I'm trying to avoid using the name I "know" Playback by just in case (it's really hard not to automatically type the other one!) I think it's probably safe at the moment at least since I'm still there, and I'm not remotely attempting to use any different name or such. But I don't blame anyone for playing it safe. That said, oh man, would I love to see Playback's uncensored thoughts on any of that stuff previously mentioned, 'cuz I know a guy like you who's been there for years and is a serious music lover have gotta have tons and tons of 'em. I don't expect you to if you'd prefer not and it's understandable, but I bet it would be one damned interesting conversation. |
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Post by Hey Man on Oct 16, 2014 21:29:02 GMT -5
So you don't want to mention names here in case of a backlash? Maybe I misunderstood, but when you said hey man and the praising - were you referring to me? Didn't Hoffman bash Ezrin for his work on Destroyer Resurrected. That he could have done a better job. Are you high right now? You mentioned you only write this much when your mind is altered. The post seemed a little off. |
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Well, I guess they all want to see what my real political views are without the censorship of 25 moderators around.
I don't really post much anywhere else, a little bit on Hoffman, those people wouldn't be interested in joining up here because musically it's 90% Kiss slamming or praising the collective works of David Coverdale, Richie Kotzen and Glenn Hughes which is pretty damn limited. 
