I know about the waning HH message boards phenom, but I refuse to believe it is something that is inevitable. I like to use
DWG forums as an example of a good Hip Hop forum that is not only alive and well but it seems to be getting exponentially bigger each year. The difference between that place and this place (besides they have a million users and we have 5) is that they are the product of many years of work, many incarnations, and this place just turned 3 years old. They have their own record label, a lofty goal for this place, but it's not an impossible goal to reach after basic membership and contributions go up. They have a tight-nit family of long time users who are actively posting daily comments, we have a much smaller tight nit family who are less likely to post daily or even weekly sometimes. They are primarily a British membership so I thought this place would be a welcome addition to the lack of American based crate digging forums. While neither they or we pigeonhole ourselves into our own locale and neither they or we discriminate against any countries at all, they draw much more Londoners for that reason due to the common ground while we basically get what we get, which is a good thing but there should be much more of it.
I'd love to see more DWGers here as I think many of them would bring a unique skill-set to the table, but they are justifiably satisfied with what they have and I think to some degree comfortable with the usual routine. Not to mention they are a lot more cliquey and I think that frankly many of them are uninterested in even reading perspectives that aren't their own. Of course this isn't a slam against the entire forum, it's just an obvious observation from another DWG member who sees it routinely from certain snobbier members. Many of those guys are really good people, a few who dwell there dwell here as well, so this observation is definitely not aimed at all the good fam at DWG, but I'm sure those who go there as well can see what I'm saying is true about the closed mindedness with certain key players. Again, I'm using DWG as an example, because someday, I would like CDC to be the American equivalent in a non-competitive way in terms of passionate contributors, knowledgebases, and camaraderie. We don't have the longevity factor, the money, nor the numbers of contributors but I don't think that reaching their relevance some day is an impossible goal to reach. But it's certainly a far fetched one when I look at how there have been maybe 8 posts in one week, 6 of em mine, 2 of em are JBs. I'm exaggerating about all the numbers but you get the drift and probably see it yourselves.
OSHH turned into a clique and chased away a lot of cats that were there for years because they (we) could no longer fit in with the elitists and holier than though attitude that now reigns supreme. Troy L (that's right, I don't mind dropping names) thinks his shit, and his friends' shit smells like rose petals, they squashed not only troublemakers but took it to an extreme and banned those who simply disagree with them. In the process, they banned debate and basically only welcome their own personal yes men and those willing to stroke their egos. I couldn't even disagree with anyone there without getting the "God loves you and I pray for you to change" speech. They deleted a post I started because it had a pot reference in it and John G didn't think that a marijuana reference was relevant to Hip Hop (I can't even make this shit up, that's a joke but so true) That place seemed to turn into a ghost town over night due to these types of bad decisions, it is still there but it is a tiny little speck of a forum compared to what it was when they were open minded to outsiders and outside ideas. It didn't die, but it changed so much so that it might as well be dead since all independent thought and lively debate and even joshing around is dead. If we make the wrong decisions here, this place will also die.
A similar thing happened to Justice League forums, one day they got sick of all the member beef and basically got delete happy with any flair ups instead of letting them play themselves out they turned into censors. That was a place you could ask Phonte of Little Brother a question, and he'd actually answer. Likewise, OSHH was a place where you could ask DJ Ready Red a question and he'd answer, or in your case Beatmaster, quiz Bob James on if he was actually Bob James or not via mind battle (I'll never forget that and I still don't know if it was or wasn't really him) or Grandmaster Mele Mel and other old School legends, they dwelled, you asked, they answered, it was really a cool place. Now Justice League said fuck it, they pulled the plug because they were wasting money and no one was talking, OSHH doesn't have to pull the plug, it's self-sufficient with advertisements so it doesn't really matter if it's dead or not as long as it pays for itself who cares. I refuse to bombard readers with pop up ads, because I started this to fill that void, build with good people, constantly learn about music and enjoy good camaraderie with friends with common goals. Money was not the issue here but it is an issue if I'm paying to watch myself talk about records. At some point, if things stay dead, it is not worth paying money for, I can't justify paying for something that isn't used.
DJF the Hip Hop section was another sub forum I dwelled, they went down due to some royal fuckups by their Internet hosts, and by the time they fixed it, everyone moved on. If you go into that Hip Hop section now all you see is spaz boy Sigma talking about his scratching skills, a regular spam post by a dumbass so-called rapper, or a check out this guys scratch video discussion. Not one person in that forum besides a few who lurk actually knows jack shit about Hip Hop music and they still call themselves a Hip Hop sub forum.
I hate to be a downer, but I when I saw all that happen to those places, I swore I would fight it from happening at this place, and I hope that I am not seeing the first stages of that happening. But unless things get better, unless regulars get more involved, unless growth continues upwards, the writing may be on the wall, and I can't fight the writing forever.
So again, I'm asking for help from those who don't wanna see this place diminish to kick in a little bit more effort, to help conjure new recruits who are excited to contribute, to get more involved with behind the scenes contributions, to be an "investor" (not financially, but wholeheartedly involved in administration type roles) I would love to have a partner, or several partners invested in this place so that it can become what it SHOULD become.
You mentioned reddit, that is another example of what can happen here. Vinyl is HOT again, there are SOOOO many newbs over there, who don't know how to clean a record, who have 3 records on their IKEA shelves and are WAY more active participants there than we are here. Why can't we get some newbs who want to ask good questions and learn more? I want this place to be for newbs and veterans alike, are we too snobby and therefore intimidating them? If so, how can we reach them?
I don't mind catering to new ideas and new cultures, but I don't know how to even begin to do so, so yes, I want specific ideas. I can install all kinds of language translation files that translates these English words to any other language, so I WILL do this, but that won't break down the barriers. That won't do anything to immediately fix anything, it's a small step that might help at some point but not anytime soon.
I also don't want anyone to think we are strictly a Hip Hop forum, all of us are very versed in all kinds of music. Sure we cater to Hip Hop, why wouldn't we? But I don't wanna scare away anyone who is a funk expert or punk expert or whatever. They are just as important to the real point of this place and that's discussion of music. You all know that Hip Hop uses elements of ALL genres so they are no less relevant here, it's all about the love. Can I make it somehow less intimidating to Non-Hip Hop heads?
Thanks for your ideas BM, but I'm not done with you or anyone else yet. Please brainstorm and keep em coming. And someone please step up and help me run this place with a more active role. PM me if interested, I don't want money I want help.
Thanks, for listening to the rant.
I'm working on an Electro mix right now and I gotta get back to it cuz it's Sunday, I'm getting my mix on.
“Lesser artists borrow... great artists steal.” - Igor Stravinsky
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