[PinkFloyd]

Quote:

Originally posted by Dan the audioman You know, Im sitting here at my computer, browsing through headfi...and i just sort of realized how many people post here, and how many of those posters dont know squat about what they are saying. Pollution i say!! Im sure that back in the day...lets say a year or so ago, this place was a really relaxed, small community, where everyone new eachother, everyone knew jude, and it was just a friendly "gathering" where one could discuss headphones. Now, there are so many new people here and there who when it comes to being audiophile they know nothing. I admit, I only joined this fine community last september, but i wish i would have joined a year ago when it wasnt so crowded and IMO polluted. But then again, my wallet sure is happy i only joined in september! Anywho, theres my spiel. Dan

Here here.. totally agreed

 

[eric343]

Well... look through the HeadWize archives if you want to see the "good old days."

 

[dngl]

hahah yeah that's the truth eric343... i'll never forget those mariowar threads...

 

[bangraman]

I don't think it's worse since I joined (late 2002).


True, in terms of numbers there are far more people doing what I really hate, that is commenting authoritatively on things/phones/amps which they know nothing about. It creates a "pyramid scheme" of erroneous phone recommendations, caused by one guy who doesn't know what he's talking about but has read someone else's review, followed by everyone else who reads the same thing and piles in with a recommendation. It discourages people like us who have actually owned the gear and tested it in the field from posting as one differing opinion isn't going to make a difference amongst the sea of uninformed/half informed "buy xxx, it's the sh!t" recommendations.

 

[hottyson]

Quote:

Originally posted by Hajime Just weed out what you want to read and ignore the rest.

One member in particular seems to post too many times for me to ignore. Last week I was reading a related thread on the subject of useless posting. In the thread someone suggested using the ignore feature in which you can put members usernames of those who post things that you don’t want to read. Posts from those members are then ignored.

I tried it. It actually works pretty effectively. Ever since I put the excessive posting member on "ignore" my experience here has been greatly improved.

 

[Snufkin]

Quote:

Originally posted by bangraman I don't think it's worse since I joined (late 2002). True, in terms of numbers there are far more people doing what I really hate, that is commenting authoritatively on things/phones/amps which they know nothing about. It creates a "pyramid scheme" of erroneous phone recommendations, caused by one guy who doesn't know what he's talking about but has read someone else's review, followed by everyone else who reads the same thing and piles in with a recommendation. It discourages people like us who have actually owned the gear and tested it in the field from posting as one differing opinion isn't going to make a difference amongst the sea of uninformed/half informed "buy xxx, it's the sh!t" recommendations.

Exactly the way I feel.
I miss the days where people would recommend a specific headphone out of a range of headphones they'd heard to someone based on the recommendees tastes and needs rather than the recommenders tastes and needs.

I often get a strong impression nobody respects my opinion because a) I'm now a dealer (therefore I MUST be biased

) , b) my postcount isn't astronomcal and c) I don't "go with the trend" and recommend flavour of the month models.

I also miss reading posts from people who's opinions I trust and respect rather than pages and pages of "buy the headphone I have so I don't feel lonely!"

Bah, rant over.. time to go back to listening to my music

 

[Elec]

Part of the "problem" is that there are other boards now where people will ask about headphones and, instead of getting an actual answer, 5 people tell them "Just go to Head-Fi and ask there." What happens next is that somebody who would have simply gotten a response of "Buy Grado SR-60s or Sony MDR-V6s" and done just that, comes over here, registers, gets wildly differing opinions, maybe likes it, and decides to stay. That's how the place gets bigger, but also how you get people who don't know much about the hobby making bad or hearsay recommendations.

BTW, I don't mind the hearsay all that much. Is there really a difference between when I say "Grado SR-225s are great rock headphones!" having not heard them, and when 10 people who have heard them show up and say the same thing? Some people do make bad recommendations and there is always the FOTM (flavor of the month) thing to take into consideration, but in general there is usually a "forum consensus." You could probably program a Head-Fi bot where you would give it price range, open or closed, music preferences, and a "scale of 1-10, how important is comfort, looks?" and have it crap out 2 or 3 standard recommended headphones (Edbot, anyone?). Of course, that wouldn't be quite as much fun as heated debate, but it's probably doable.

It's hard to limit people to only phones they've heard, because it's kind of an expensive and inaccessible hobby. If somebody is interested in 2 phones, especially if one is uncommon, you'll probably get people who have heard one, or the other, but not both. Before I visited a local hi-fi shop to audition some cans and ended up purchasing Etys instead, the only phones I would have been "allowed" to recommend were Koss Plugs, Koss Sportapros, and Sennheiser HD545s. In other words: Nobody buys, everybody buys Portapros instead, and good headphones but GOOD LUCK finding a pair to buy. If that's all I was allowed to recommend, I might as well just go away until I felt like buying something else and needed advice. Fortunately it doesn't work that way

 

[wallijonn]

if there weren't as many posts, there would be complaints that there are no posts and that it is getting boring.

instead of checking in twice a day I would check in once a week or once every two or three weeks.

 

[Born2bwire]

I was with Strohmie in avoiding the previous thread but I still feel compelled to post in this one, especially seeing as I've been posting and/or lurking in the forums for comparatively a long time now. In some ways, the forums have improved over the years and some ways they've gotten worse. For the most part, I think that the only major thing that degrades any forum is a small minority of posters that carrry poor attitudes and constantly pick fights. With head-fi, it's always been the atmosphere that I have loved but there have been a few posters over the years that I felt affected the attitude of the boards negatively. Nowadays, it's been awhile since I've last seen anyone act like that. Of course with the bad some of the good also go that I wish would come back.

In regards to the influx of new posters, with a lot of them I'm seeing it's the usual intoductory neophyte. They're mostly asking the same questions or type of questions and I feel that a lot of them will just come and go. The great members of this forum are the ones that continually spend time here but also contribute beyond posting two lines of text. They audition a large variety of headphones, they build various DIY projects, they post reviews, they attend/organize meets, they actively try to increase or better their system, etc. With these guidelines, the number of contributal members is about the same or slightly more. And as such I don't think we're losing the community sense. I can still pick out everybody from the old gang of virtue and every now and then somebody from the newbie influx rises up to gain my attention. I still think that we can maintain the small community feel even when we have a much larger number of people coming in and out quickly because the numbers of really noteworthy members remains manageable.

The greatest reason why I feel that Head-fi isn't going downhill is the simple fact that I keep coming back to this place. This winter I had the first change to my system for over a year and a half and beforehand I really couldn't add anything to my system due to budget concerns. However, I still came back to the forums even though I knew I wasn't going to be able to purchase or listen to anything new for a long time. It was still entertaining to read the posts and reviews. The downside is that without being able to really contribute anything, I probably could be counted among the Useless Posters (but I try to keep that within the Members and CI forums as much as possible). As such I don't have a problem with off-topic posts as long as they're kept to a minimum or in the correct forums. The active posting in the Member's Lounge keeps things interesting during those occasional lulls and they allow us to go beyond headphones once in a while.

EDIT: Totally forgot my obligatory threadcrapping:
If you visit American city
You will find it very pretty
Just two things of which you must beware
Don't drink the water and don't breathe the air

Pollution, pollution
They got smog and sewage and mud
Turn on your tap
And get hot and cold running crud

 

[ian]

Pollution? What do you call this thread?

 

[CRESCENDOPOWER]

.

 

[averydonovan]

Quote:

Originally posted by bangraman I don't think it's worse since I joined (late 2002). True, in terms of numbers there are far more people doing what I really hate, that is commenting authoritatively on things/phones/amps which they know nothing about. It creates a "pyramid scheme" of erroneous phone recommendations, caused by one guy who doesn't know what he's talking about but has read someone else's review, followed by everyone else who reads the same thing and piles in with a recommendation. It discourages people like us who have actually owned the gear and tested it in the field from posting as one differing opinion isn't going to make a difference amongst the sea of uninformed/half informed "buy xxx, it's the sh!t" recommendations.

I definately agree with that. If you haven't owned the gear you are commenting on, then at least say so.

 

[zeplin]

i agree. there's no way to dance and prance around it.
if you haven't heard something, then don't comment about how you like or don't like its sound. or, like donovan said, at least say you haven't heard it. when it comes down to it, saying something about a headphone you've never heard holds absolutely no weight at all. it further diminishes your credibility, so why do it? even if 100 people say Grados are "the best" for rock, they might not be "the best" for rock according to your ears. reading reviews and actually exstensively listening/auditioning are two very different things. i don't know how many more ways i can put it, but this kind of false recommendation is not good and one should do everything to keep from doing it.

and it is true, this type of thing is happening more and more these days around head-fi. but for me, it is easy to filter these things out. as for the small community...i agree with what another poster said. the small community is still here. granted, the small community of obssessed head-fiers is a little bigger than it was a year ago, but it is still nontheless a small community where everyone pretty much knows everyone else in terms of our likes, disslikes, biases, opinions, and on and on. that is what i come back for time and time again. that and the fact that i'm obssessed with headphones

on the plus side, and this has been mentioned many times, more people means more of a lot of good things. for one, we have the opportunity to help more people with their audio purchases and questions. personally, i like to spend other peoples money

the more the merrier! two, the more members we have, the more diverse head-fi will become. i like chatting with people from half way around the globe...people with various cultural backgrounds. it is one thing to just know about other cultures/societies, but it is another to actually interact with them on certain levels. three, the increasing number of members head-fi has is slowly starting to indicate that the world/market of headphones is growing, big time! and that means better competition between the companies, which results in better quality products for less $. i could go on and on. i'm the type that always looks for the better good in everything...taking positive aspects out of sometimes slightly negative situations. head-fi was an awesome place 1.5 years ago when i joined, and it continues to be an awesome place to hang out! there's not many things better than dedicating practically every sunday to relaxing and listening to my headphone rig while chatting with you guys/gals on head-fi

 

[wallijonn]

Zeplin (and others that have voice similar opinions),

The problem is that if someone comes in and asks for a recommendation, they may be steered to, oh I don't know, an HD600 (as an example).

Should one stay quiet in such instances?

If there are no responses the new member may start to get exasperated. I've seen it a few times. I have had to ask them to be patient. (If only to bump it up to the top).

No one lurks here 24 hours a day. Threads are missed as new threads scroll to the top. And very few new people bother reading the recommended list (headphones under $500 thread); at least that is how it seems to me. Do they pose their questions after reading the full reviews?

So the same questions seem to get rehashed. But the same pat answers can't be given when new products are being continously introduced, like the HD650, SA563, etc. So we get questions like, "How does the A900 compare to the HD650?" etc.

I would rather err on the side of safety and ask that the questioner consider other alternatives, even if I have not heard them.

 

[eyeteeth]

Quote:

Originally posted by CRESCENDOPOWER I'm sure you'll be hearing how great my equipment is in the near future.

I know your point. I've reacted differently though. Im more comfortable pointing out the negatives of my equipment on occasion, rather than praising the positives. Praise is so predictable and superlatives so easy.