How to revive this place

[Lev]

Hi All,

I am also guilty of not posting much anymore, I still play as much as I can but no longer with a band so I'm confined to home noodling and recording. When I think back to 2007 or so when I joined this forum my life and the internet in general were very different.

In 2007 youtube was exploding, we were getting demo's of all the coolest gear without ever having to visit a store. Long lost and forgotten footage of our hero's were showing up online. Songs/records that inspired us to start playing were suddenly available to us a the touch of a button rather than having to search through the loft for a scratched piece of vinyl. New talent was emerging with a strong online presence - John Mayer, Joe Bonamassa etc. A realization was sweeping across youtube and internet forums that there was cool gear out there that could deliver amazing tones at very affordable costs - valvetronix, bad monkeys, classic vibes etc. From a personal point of view I wasn't yet married, my wife to-be was working full time, we had no kids, I had some disposable income available for GAS. I also had plenty of time to dedicate to my hobbies. All of these factors were the back drop to vibrant online discussion at theFret.

Fast forward to today and the whole newness of youtube is gone, I can't recall the last time I saw something on YT that blew my mind. I'm pretty happy with my gear and have no disposable income to spend on new gear anyway. My 2 kids eat up most of my time so any free time I get to spend on hobbies usually involves me playing guitar and therefore I don't get time to post on forums much anymore. Life is good though and I'm in a very happy place.

I will also say (just being honest here) that for me the vibe and user experience here diminished somewhat with the upgrade/makeover that happened a couple of years back. I can't put my finger on why! We had the same members but it just didn't feel the same for me. I really do hope this place survives and like other's have said I have very fond memories of the interactions I had here. I hope to contribute more in the future when time permits. I do enjoy home recording a lot now so that may be where I focus my contributions in the future.

Bring back the online Jams!!!

[Eric***]

Hi Lev-

Glad to hear you're doing well. I think what you described is probably pretty common: happy with gear, novelty of online communities and youtube wearing off, and life priorities having shifted. So it goes -- if everything was the same all of the time, life would be pretty boring.

Anyway, I'm glad that you are in a good place in life; good to hear from you.

[tjcurtin1]

Hi Lev-

Glad to hear you're doing well. I think what you described is probably pretty common: happy with gear, novelty of online communities and youtube wearing off, and life priorities having shifted. So it goes -- if everything was the same all of the time, life would be pretty boring.

Anyway, I'm glad that you are in a good place in life; good to hear from you.

#1 - good to hear from you Lev, and glad to hear that life is treating you well!

[Duffy]

Hi All,

I am also guilty of not posting much anymore.

I will also say (just being honest here) that for me the vibe and user experience here diminished somewhat with the upgrade/makeover that happened a couple of years back. I can't put my finger on why! We had the same members but it just didn't feel the same for me. I really do hope this place survives and like other's have said I have very fond memories of the interactions I had here. I hope to contribute more in the future when time permits. I do enjoy home recording a lot now so that may be where I focus my contributions in the future.

Bring back the online Jams!!!

Unfortunately, I think that "makeover" did have a widespread affect on the way people looked at what they thought was "their" forum, in some small way.

Suddenly there were membership fees in order to have certain "rights" to post your equipment, signatures, and things like that. Things that participants were already used to being able to do, and suddenly were no longer able to do.

I'm sure contributions are needed, but the strategy to develop more contributions that was incorporated had the affect, I think, to drive people away, make them feel marginalized and ripped off - just from a simple feeling they got. Like someone just stole your candy.

I'd say open the forum back up to signatures, equipment lists, etc. This may be too late to do that effectively though, because people remember what happened and they still feel the sting of the carpet being pulled out from under them.

This is something to consider, even if you have always been a financially contributing member.

It made the forum a "stratified" environment where this person got more privileges than that person, however justifiable that approach may have seemed at the time to the originator of the idea. All of the sudden people with "x" title had more status than others - something like the social structure in some countries where only certain titled people can sit at certain tables in restaurants. Americans don't dig that type of arrogant imposition of social status that's based on financial contribution and a sort of economic status. It made people that didn't donate feel like they were lesser members and looked at as free loaders; consequently getting limited rights on the forum. That turned some people off believe it or not - even if you think such an outlook is preposterous.