Feedback on people using this forum.

raindog.promo

This has probably been brought up before, but what do people think of having a feedback feature for the people using the forum here similar to the one used for posters on adverts.ie?

As hard it is to find people to jam with, the biggest obstacles I find is:

1) Someone getting in touch expressing interest in jamming. You say "Great, let me know what day/time suits you and I'll organise a rehearsal?" and then you hear nothing back.

and (the cardinal sin in my book)
2) Agreeing to a rehearsal, booking the rehearsal and the person pulls a "no-show" on the day. These rehearsals cost money and can't be cancelled at a moments notice on the day it is to take place. So you have not only decided not to bother your arse to show up, you've also cost other people money.

I'd like to see a feedback section because it will save me taking a risk on someone if they have continuously done this to other boards users and will also save me time and money and headaches I don't ****ing need.

That's the end of my half rant, half suggestion.

Oh, and I've probably been guilty of gripe no. 1 a few times. But I've never pulled a no-show or cost anyone money. In fact, I've been burned cash-wise a few times now.

Esy

Nothing p1sses me off more than number 1. It's the height of disrespect, in my book, to just ignore someone. I've had it a number of times recently here (Although thankfully I've found a nice little set up now but I still come here to window shop) which really did my head in. I sent one chap demos, he told me he wanted me in his new band and it was just a matter of setting a date that suited anyone. 2 weeks had passed and I sent him a PM to ask what was going on and he didn't respond. Then someone, a drummer I think, responded to one of his threads and he mentions they had their first rehearsal the previous week!?!? Did he think I wouldn't read that or something?

Another example was with a band (who are sickeningly good btw) who posted their ad, I sent them my demos and they responded saying they liked them and they were going to email me unfinished demos for me to put guitar tracks over in a couple of days. A week had passed and nothing so I sent PM to ask what the craic was. Another week had passed without a response so I posted on their Facebook wall and they fupping deleted the comment.

Seriously, what is so difficult about taking 20 seconds to send someone a message to let them know where they stand? I wish nothing but bad karma on **** like that.

The thing about starting a thread to name people though is that it's open to abuse. Someone might have a personal gripe and go to town on the thread basically making up bs. It's just an unfortunate fact of life that there are so many d1ckheads out there that prefer to convey a message by ignoring you than taking 20 seconds out of their day to demonstrate some courtesy and respect.

Esy

double post

User2

Completely agree with the above, I don't know how many times I have bumped my own threads started new ones because of this bs.

Everytime you think something has been worked out it's the same..

Kinda makes this forum a waste of time...

I have met a couple of people off of here, nice guys to be fair, went for a drink as well, had a couple of jams, starts to get interesting and then radio silence... I just don't get, why get involved if you don't want to be...

raindog.promo

User2 wrote: »

Completely agree with the above, I don't know how many times I have bumped my own threads started new ones because of this bs.

Everytime you think something has been worked out it's the same..

Kinda makes this forum a waste of time...

I have met a couple of people off of here, nice guys to be fair, went for a drink as well, had a couple of jams, starts to get interesting and then radio silence... I just don't get, why get involved if you don't want to be...

That's exactly why I'd like to see a feedback section. It works well on adverts.ie and doesn't seem to be abused. Why would it here?
A feedback section lets you know if the above has happened and will save you time and effort jamming with someone who's responsible.

It's a tough one.

In principle I'm in agreement.

However,
As has been mentioned before, it can be used for personal gripes against someone. How do we (the mods) know if someone is telling the truth? Also, by saying, "X is a tosser, had a room booked, guy never turned up, never use him" you are not only telling people that he's unreliable, but you are sullying his reputation. As some of the users are professionals on this site, I am incredibly wary of the libelous nature that these posts can bring.

Comments you post on boards do not belong to just you, they belong to boards. If you were to post, "X is a tosser, had a room booked, guy never turned up, never use him" and X sends me a PM saying, "I believe this is libelous, please take it down" I have no choice as a moderator but to take it down.

I know it's a nasty situation, but there really isn't a whole lot we can do about it.

How about this: Do the complete opposite. Have a positive feedback thread, where if you organise a jam you can give and receive referrals from other members? As in, say, I had a jam with Raindog today, I would post, "Had a jam with raindog.promo today. Guy turned up 5 minutes early, had full kit and the biggest collection of pedals to play with and could really play. Looking forward to jamming with him again." You can direct people to your recommendations when applying for a band so they know you're reliable and can play.

raindog.promo

Deleted User wrote: »

How about this: Do the complete opposite. Have a positive feedback thread, where if you organise a jam you can give and receive referrals from other members? As in, say, I had a jam with Raindog today, I would post, "Had a jam with raindog.promo today. Guy turned up 5 minutes early, had full kit and the biggest collection of pedals to play with and could really play. Looking forward to jamming with him again." You can direct people to your recommendations when applying for a band so they know you're reliable and can play.

That's a good idea, the sceptic in me says people would be a lot less inclined to praise than to condemn. Musicians, a bunch of bitchy whingebags

It's better than nought :pac:

raindog.promo

How easy would it be to set up though?
Did they ever update the server/board/whatever so that you could embed soundcloud audio in a post?

Not yet and tbh, it seems to be on the longfinger

Could we not just set up a thread called, "Boards.ie Musician reviews - read first post before posting"*


*This would be a mod note where we lay down the ground rules

Esy

Deleted User wrote: »

Not yet and tbh, it seems to be on the longfinger

Could we not just set up a thread called, "Boards.ie Musician reviews - read first post before posting"*


*This would be a mod note where we lay down the ground rules

That still would be open to abuse. Anyone who's been in a band knows it's almost exactly like being in a relationship. People take things personally so someone who's respectfully told they're not wanted might act like a scorned bitch and make up all sorts of lies about the band/musician. That said, if everyone could be trusted to be honest it'd be great. I mean there's a someone on this forum recruiting at the moment and I fight an urge to warn people off every time I see someone reply to them. Not for personal reasons mind, just that they're completely wasting their time.

raindog.promo

I can't see how it would be abused if only positive feedback were allowed. Although I can see it being quite a short thread. If you were inclined to write a positive review about jamming with someone, then wouldn't you most likely continue jamming with them?

RE - the issue of litigation, (and I'm not questioning here. Just wondering aloud) As the users here are referred to by pseudonym, ie user names, is it actually possible to slander someone? Probably still a grey area law-wise.

Esy

If you were inclined to write a positive review about jamming with someone, then wouldn't you most likely continue jamming with them?

Exactly.

raindog.promo

Esy wrote: »

I mean there's a someone on this forum recruiting at the moment and I fight an urge to warn people off every time I see someone reply to them. Not for personal reasons mind, just that they're completely wasting their time.

That's the problem.
I've just had someone go off the radar and radio silence (great phrase) which means 2 weeks working with them to get some tunes in proper order has been pretty much wasted.

A quick email even saying "listen, I'm out" meant I could have been arranging a replacement and not waiting around for a reply when arranging a rehearsal. If I had known this was a habit of theirs I wouldn't have bothered in the first place.

User2

raindog.promo wrote: »

radio silence (great phrase)

If you keep using my phrase I may have a legal case to take against you

A positive feedback thread would be good and I for one would use it...

off.the.walls

There should be a system like on adverts.ie where you can leave feedback on a persons profile by giving them thumbs up or inbetween or a thumbs down. There's nothing liable about giving someone a thumbs down only if you start calling them a arse bandit on the threads.

MC707

I would love to see some sort of feedback system on here. I've dealt with loads of people on this site and i'd say 90% of them are jokers.

A lot of them tend to post on the weekends for some reason!

I've kept a blacklist of names and emails etc since I joined and it seems like the wasters arent clever enough to realise they have done a no show and then 2 months later are replying to the same ad.

Malice

Okay I had intended to respond to this thread the other day but I didn't get a chance. My thoughts are probably a bit disjointed today as I'm quite hungover so bear with me .

First off, like many others, I've been messed around by a few people when it comes to organising jam sessions so I know exactly how annoying it can be and where possible I've made sure to let people know (see here for example). The problem is that the Bands & Musicians forum tends to attract a lot of users who may not actively participate in any other parts of the site so someone could easily register a username, mess people around and then register another username. As long as they keep their nose clean we've no way of knowing who they were.

Now, something I haven't seen mentioned so far but what I believe is important is that some of the most talented musicians I know are also the most unreliable people I know. These people would doubtless attract a lot of negativity were they to be rated on a feedback thread because they are terrible with their timekeeping, disorganised with money and very poor at picking up the phone to keep other people informed as to their status. The flip side to that of course is that if you can get them focused you can get some fantastic music made.

So, broadly speaking, I agree that some sort of feedback thread would be worthwhile but I can easily see it becoming more trouble that its worth e.g. from the already-mentioned legal viewpoint and the personal gripe that Esy brought up.

raindog.promo

Malice wrote: »

Now, something I haven't seen mentioned so far but what I believe is important is that some of the most talented musicians I know are also the most unreliable people I know. These people would doubtless attract a lot of negativity were they to be rated on a feedback thread because they are terrible with their timekeeping, disorganised with money and very poor at picking up the phone to keep other people informed as to their status. The flip side to that of course is that if you can get them focused you can get some fantastic music made.

And they'd deserve it.

I'm back from a rehearsal I set up to try out a drummer who did a no-show and then texted about 15 minutes before the scheduled end of the rehearsal to say he couldn't make it because he had a headache. That's my morning putting up with pissy bus drivers (why are they always so miserable) waiting around and paying for a room I didn't ultimately need to. I also could have arranged a jam in my house with the others for longer and worked on some songs, so that's a wasted opportunity too. And like Malice, I had a banging hangover, but there's headache tablets that take care of that.

Where else in the real world are people excused for not having their **** together? If someone is trying to put a band together it would be preferable to know the habits of the people before going to the effort. No matter how good a player you are, if you're not there it makes no difference.

I can't see the personal gripe thing being a major or unsurmountable problem. With regard to the legal issue, it must have been looked into if they're able to do it on adverts.ie

rant over, and I feel better for it

*Edit* Just looked at your other post there Malice, and I'd say just putting feedback on a thread like you did is the way to go, as I always look back over previous posts from someone when I'm arranging a jam.
It'd probably be just as easy (if not more so) to simply encourage posters to put feedback in threads they have replied to once they have jammed (or not jammed, as the case may be).