Veterans of PianoStreet, how has this place changed over the years?

[chomaninoff1]

The title says it all. People who have been on PS a while, how has it changed, if at all? For the good or bad? Are the questions mostly the same as they were 10 years ago?

[thalbergmad]

The forum is not as active nor as stimulating as it once was. The questions are not as thoughtful and perhaps not as worthy of considered response as they once were and perhaps now there is nobody here with the knowledge to answer.

Probably I have been here too long and there is nothing new.

Thal

[swagmaster420x]

The forum is not as active nor as stimulating as it once was. The questions are not as thoughtful and perhaps not as worthy of considered response as they once were and perhaps now there is nobody here with the knowledge to answer.

Probably I have been here too long and there is nothing new.

Thal

No more room for dusty old skeletons like u.

[ronde_des_sylphes]

There's now an awful lot of inconsequential "social" chit-chat - bordering on drivel - which really should be conducted via pm rather than via a public forum. There used to be quite a lot of nonsense posted in older years as well, but it usually wasn't as all-pervading (pianistimo's hilarious non-sequiturs excluded). Also there are a few knowledgeable posters who have left and are missed, at least by me, and probably also by a few other long-standing members.

That said, the standard of piano-playing amongst some of the younger posters is genuinely impressive, and despite my above opinion, I think there has been a definite influx of talented young pianists in the last three or so years.

[Bob]

The name changed a long time ago.  It used to be Piano Forum.

Drama and fake accounts seem to have died down.

I think there might be more negativity, more arguing in recent years but I've just blanked it out I guess so I don't notice it much.

[ted]

According to the list of names I am the longest standing member who is still active. There have been many changes over the last fourteen years, but I have changed considerably too, and it is rather difficult to separate the objective and subjective, never mind assess deterioration or improvement. Although I maintain my small repertoire of pieces and enjoy it, common practice music of any sort rarely moves me as it used to. My technique has improved out of sight in recent months for some strange reason, but now that I can play certain things I used to find hard I no longer want to; life is funny like that. So owing to this grasshopper musical perception I am very reluctant to pass judgement of any sort on the forum or what posters say on it.

In short then, I have probably changed much more than the forum has. One thing, unfortunately, does seem to have remained, and that is the seriousness, angst and competitive striving in the music world, of which this forum is often a reflection. It seems to me that music ought to be an unconditional ecstasy, not a neurotic battle for breath.

I feel the general quality of written English here has declined. Again, this probably just reflects the state of affairs in the outside world, where grammatical incapability routinely sets in beyond one degree of complexity and hackneyed colloquialisms and appalling solecisms abound at every turn of the page of every daily paper.

Overall, however, I still think this forum is superior to the other piano forums out there.

[chomaninoff1]

Thanks for the responses. They have all been interesting to read.

Do you think these changes maybe stem from the fact that Internet users are getting younger every day? Along with the exceptional younger musicians, also comes an influx of the less mature (musically and emotionally) people, who don't want to think for themselves and ask silly questions?

Maybe I'm a bit too cynical.

Do you know why it has changed?

[ted]

I think an influx of younger members is a very good thing; they are, after all, the future of piano music. Ideally, the forum would comprise a diverse range of age, ability and musical taste, and over the last fourteen years it more or less has. It is true that past answers to many questions can easily be located using simple searches, thus avoiding repeated discussions, and it is certainly true that we could all probably do without one or two types of seemingly perennial questions. The silliest asks if the poster is ready to play a certain piece. How can anyone other than the poster possibly know ? And how could it possibly take more than a few tries to find out ? But I doubt these issues are correlated to the age of members.

[Bob]

If there are always new crops of people asking the same questions, there are new crops of people to answer the same questions too.   Potentially new answers there.

The search feature on the site could probably be improved though.  I'm not sure how, but it doesn't seem like it's as effective as it might be.


I guess one thing I've never really understood is the reverence for Bernhard.  Not putting him down though or meaning to put him down, but I've run into many teachers in real life that have good info like that.  The difference is that he posts it online for free I guess and it's focused on a teaching/learning strategy.

[Petter]

I don't think the moderator(s) is doing a very good job... Probably why all the drivel and offensive attacks still exist. Although, some of the trolling on this forum used to be extremely entertaining.
 

[swagmaster420x]

I don't think the moderator(s) is doing a very good job... Probably why all the drivel and offensive attacks still exist. Although, some of the trolling on this forum used to be extremely entertaining.
 

Big words, especially coming from someone whose name in my language means "Forlorn Eunuch".

[Petter]

Lol, I guess I had that coming

[outin]

I think the moderators are doing an excellent job by staying away. I am also on some overly moderated forums and it's a bit tireing to walk on eggshells because some people get insulted by anything, even things that are in no way directed to them. For a North European it's sometimes difficult to understand the need to not see and talk about unpleasant things for any cost that is common in US.

I think a civilized person should be able to handle whatever is written on an internet forum. We can always close the page if we feel overwhelmed. Our world is full of different values and trying to restrict other people's speech, even when we personally get offended by it, is not the answer to making this a better place. I am much more interested in asking myself why exactly did something offend me and what makes people write offensive things than go yelling to the moderators to shut someone up.

I'm ok with removing OT direct personal insults and it's ok to filter out some nasty words automatically because there are children here as well. But in a general discussion political correctness is useless really. There are so many ways to belittle, attack and insult your fellow men in an undirect way that seems completely acceptable. Where would we draw the line?

The only thing I want to be moderated are those occasional spam threads that plague the forum.

[chomaninoff1]

I agree, Ted, that a lot of the informative answers could easily be searched. I think that it is okay to re-ask the more fun questions such as "favorite piece" or "favorite composer" because the members are constantly changing, so you will always get different responses. 

Bob, I actually get the reverence for Bernhard. Although there are piano teachers with the same knowledge, but there are plenty of musicians on here with no teacher, and are elated to get the very detailed responses from him. You could tell he really put time and thought into his responses, which I find quite admirable.

Petter, have there been any offensive attacks on here recently? Just wondering.