Non replying to threads / pms of people looking for musicians

guitarwrist

Hi there one and all,

Is it just me or when I reply to threads or send pms to people, they don't bother returning a reply. Whats the point of advertising looking for a musician on this site if you can't even acknowledge that someone has went to the trouble of contacting you!

Am I
(a) Totally crap
(b) Too old
(c) someone they know but dislike.

Just on C there I had a chat with a friend of mine who's here too and he reckons there are quite a few here who use different online personas in various guises. Are ye on the witness protection programme?
Can I get a witness!!!

Discuss.

Mods, if this is off topic here, bin at will!!!

patrickkelly90

your not the only one mate... there loads of em on this!

Laserface

have had the same problem myself..

probably down to boards strict policy on not allowing us to show our email or telephone details.

some people sign up here quickly.. post an ad.. then easily forget about it.. especially if they are getting responses from elsewhere where they were allowed to put up their email details.
thats my theory anyway

but i suppose it is ultimately the member/advertiser's responsibility to check their own mails like

Malice

guitarwrist wrote: »

Is it just me or when I reply to threads or send pms to people, they don't bother returning a reply. Whats the point of advertising looking for a musician on this site if you can't even acknowledge that someone has went to the trouble of contacting you!

It is very frustrating and I'd imagine it's happened to a lot of people on here. I have definitely had to sift through loads of spoofers in the past. I think a lot of people totally underestimate the amount of work required to get something off the ground and get cold feet when it comes to meeting people outside of the comfort zone of their bedroom or garden shed.

guitarwrist wrote:

Mods, if this is off topic here, bin at will!!!

I think it's a perfectly valid question so I've no problem with it .

Laserface wrote: »

probably down to boards strict policy on not allowing us to show our email or telephone details.

some people sign up here quickly.. post an ad.. then easily forget about it.. especially if they are getting responses from elsewhere where they were allowed to put up their email details.
thats my theory anyway

Don't take this personally but that's garbage. The policy on e-mail and telephone details is for privacy and security reasons, not some misguided attempt to make things difficult. As I write in every message where I snip a phone number, there is a private message facility where personal details can be exchanged.

As for people signing up and forgetting, when someone starts or replies to a thread, they are automatically subscribed to it so they will get e-mail notifications of any replies. There's not a lot to be done if someone uses a throwaway e-mail address or changes the notification setting in their control panel.

keyboardcook

Some interesting points. As far as I am aware, it is not against the rules to have multiple accounts, as I am personally aware of a few people running multilple personalities!!

raindog.promo

A lot of good points have been made on topics/threads similar to this if you do a search.

From what I remember, there is a general consensus that people want to be in bands but either don't have the talent or are lazy, and when it comes to the crunch of replying or meeting up, they bottle out of it.

I tend to think of sending PM's posting ads etc as similar to fishing, sometimes getting a bites, sometimes not. Either way you can never tell what's going on beneath the waves and reasons for things happening as they do.

Also, if you're looking for band mates, I think the poster (not the OP in particular, but any posters) should put a bit of effort in and get some demos online with a little info (likes, influences, all that type of thing) that people can easily access and not have to ask for. Saying you want to start a band in dublin and leaving it at that, then complaining about no one replying or showing any interest is your own fault.

After spending a lot of time trying to put a band together through posting on various sites I have come to the conclusion that your best bet is to find band members by asking around other musicians if they know of anyone who plays x,y or z and may be interested in your band.
The amount of work and frustration that goes into arranging things through a site such as this leads to very little reward in my experience.

If you have tunes, get out to open mic nights or wherever others can hear you play and meet people that way because there's probably a lot more likelihood of something happening by meeting other musicians who actually leave the house and don't spend most of their time on their laptops.

(As a sidenote, maybe it's because of the recession but I was getting frustrated as well seeing all the bassist available ads and then seeing them only wanting paid work/covers bands. I think they should be in a seperate thread, as it's a pain in the arse shifting through them.)

Is the use of email addresses' banned? I always used mine and didn't notice it being censored.

Malice

raindog.promo wrote: »

Is the use of email addresses' banned? I always used mine and didn't notice it being censored.

I meant to address that earlier. It varies by forum. On the Bands & Musicians forum e-mail addresses are allowed but phone numbers are not. On the Band Promotion forum by contrast, neither are allowed.

As I wrote earlier, just because someone is prevented from making that information public doesn't mean they can't send it in a private message.

jus_tin4

im just slow at replying somedays i dont check this and then other days i check it 3 or 4 times a day.... could be the same for others

plasmaguy

It can be a bit annoying alright.

It's worse when people dig up threads from 6 months ago, asking the OP if they are still looking.

I think there should be some rules to sort out the genuine from the time wasters.

Maybe threads should be closed when the OP hasn't replied in a month, or where the OP just ignores posts by people and keeps bumping the thread.

There seems to be a number of threads started and then the OP disappears and is never heard from again, while people keep pming and replying to the thread.

Also a status on how things are progressing, if they found someone or if they are no longer looking, etc would be helpful.

markthedrum1

I'm gonna throw myself out there in that I advertised recently stating that I'm a drummer looking to join a cover band. Now I've had ads up before for this and I always get the spoofers who don't read my thread fully and contact me for an original band. Very frustratin to have to reply to them.

But I have had the case that I haven't replied to too. Actually there was a thread before givin out about musicians like me lookin for workin bands, so I had to take one of my ads down/let it go down the list and forget about it because of this thread.

It is expensive to start a band whether its a covers band or original bands. The original band though is all about "re-investment" whatevers made goes right back into the band, understandably but that can be hard to maintain, especially then with say metal where venues don't put on many metal gigs and promoters (which ive had the experience with) put you on the same night with indie bands and the crowd just walk away from ya.

plasmaguy

plasmaguy wrote: »

It can be a bit annoying alright.

It's worse when people dig up threads from 6 months ago, asking the OP if they are still looking.

I think there should be some rules to sort out the genuine from the time wasters.

Maybe threads should be closed when the OP hasn't replied in a month, or where the OP just ignores posts by people and keeps bumping the thread.

There seems to be a number of threads started and then the OP disappears and is never heard from again, while people keep pming and replying to the thread.

Also a status on how things are progressing, if they found someone or if they are no longer looking, etc would be helpful.

Hi Plasmaguy,
We set up this thread asking for input into changing the charter. If you have any ideas, please post them there (otherwise, we'll forget )

For the bolded part, what you are asking is a lot of work from your 2 lovely highly unpaid volunteer mods!

Peace out,

Pappa

Malice

markthedrum1 wrote: »

Actually there was a thread before givin out about musicians like me lookin for workin bands, so I had to take one of my ads down/let it go down the list and forget about it because of this thread.

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but are you saying that something posted by someone else caused you to stop using a thread?

raindog.promo

Malice wrote: »

Maybe I'm misunderstanding you but are you saying that something posted by someone else caused you to stop using a thread?

If I remember right there was a bit of a witch hunt or is it called a "flame war"? because of Markthedrum's thread looking for paid work.
When I say "because of" I mean some posters took exception to the fact he was looking for paid work as opposed to starting an original band.

Malice

raindog.promo wrote: »

If I remember right there was a bit of a witch hunt or is it called a "flame war"? because of Markthedrum's thread looking for paid work.
When I say "because of" I mean some posters took exception to the fact he was looking for paid work as opposed to starting an original band.

Ah okay, that is vaguely familiar to me but if anyone feels like linking me to the original thread I'd appreciate it. Nothing like handing out a few retrospective infractions to get your blood flowing of an evening :P.

markthedrum1

Yep raindog hit it there. I wasn't the only one who was gettin the hit about it. I was told who did I think I was, how der I and all this and I had some cheek advertisin lookin to get straight into a band.

But my thinkin was should I not, I have the experience I've played in busy cover bands over the years and filled in for some great bands. Anyways, I started just advertisin as drummer available and then got in and dated with original bands and finally stopped replyin to original bands as I got fed up.

To find the thread in question that was setup givin out about me and other musicians like me, you'd be talkin about goin back probably around this time last year.

markthedrum1

Actually I just looked there, Malice you banned a guy for a week because of it. I still have your posts on my profile, it's public on my profile.

raindog.promo

markthedrum1 wrote: »

I had some cheek advertisin lookin to get straight into a band.

Not a bad topic for its own thread, but no need to go after one person for doing so.
I have wondered to myself about people who are looking for paid work in a working band and thinking, if you wanna be in a band start one from scratch. Then thinking well seeing how long that usually takes - maybe they have the right idea. Something I would like to see a (non aggressive or self righteous) discussion on and see what everyone else thinks.

Is the purpose of this forum defined? Is it for musicians in general to form/join all sorts of bands? Should it cater only for those looking to do originals?

Or is it mostly for bedroom warriors?

*EDIT: That thread in question:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70180342

Deco1983

raindog.promo wrote: »

Not a bad topic for its own thread, but no need to go after one person for doing so.
I have wondered to myself about people who are looking for paid work in a working band and thinking, if you wanna be in a band start one from scratch. Then thinking well seeing how long that usually takes - maybe they have the right idea. Something I would like to see a (non aggressive or self righteous) discussion on and see what everyone else thinks.

Is the purpose of this forum defined? Is it for musicians in general to form/join all sorts of bands? Should it cater only for those looking to do originals?

Or is it mostly for bedroom warriors?

*EDIT: That thread in question:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70180342

Jesus Wept!!

mg1

If this were the case how are bands supposed to find good qualified musicians to play in a band. Of course their should be peeps looking for paid work. I have been advertising for a bass player for some time now. I want to pay (i really want to pay them) of course but they have to be great. If everyone was to aim to start there own band then how would a band find a good person to play with?

And yes i answered all people who messaged me. It may look like i ignored them but in fact i pm them all.

By the way i is still looking!!!:D

raindog.promo wrote: »

Not a bad topic for its own thread, but no need to go after one person for doing so.
I have wondered to myself about people who are looking for paid work in a working band and thinking, if you wanna be in a band start one from scratch. Then thinking well seeing how long that usually takes - maybe they have the right idea. Something I would like to see a (non aggressive or self righteous) discussion on and see what everyone else thinks.

Is the purpose of this forum defined? Is it for musicians in general to form/join all sorts of bands? Should it cater only for those looking to do originals?

Or is it mostly for bedroom warriors?

*EDIT: That thread in question:
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=70180342

raindog.promo

Deco1983 wrote: »

Jesus Wept!!

Still giving thoughtful and insightful contributions to the posts I see. You're an asset to the forum. Go you!

raindog.promo

mg1 wrote: »

If this were the case how are bands supposed to find good qualified musicians to play in a band. Of course their should be peeps looking for paid work. I have been advertising for a bass player for some time now. I want to pay (i really want to pay them) of course but they have to be great.

And yes i answered all people who messaged me. It may look like i ignored them but in fact i pm them all.

By the way i is still looking!!!:D

I was more saying if someone's looking to be in a band, they're jumping straight to wanting to be in something already established rather than trying to establish something themselves or with a group of people.

I wasn't talking talking about cover/working bands but original bands there too.
I'm also not saying I think everyone should start from scratch, just saying it would be an interesting topic for discussion. It might raise some interesting points for people beyond Mr. Scorn's 2 word reply above

If everyone was to aim to start there own band then how would a band find a good person to play with?

If people only want to join established bands then how are bands going to become established if they can't get the members?

@Deco1983

If you have a problem, report the post.

@Deco1983: bit more please in future. This is a discussion forum, not a "Two words is sufficient for discussion" forum

mg1

If people only want to join established bands then how are bands going to become established if they can't get the members?[/QUOTE]

Cover bands work for money. And from time to time need new members so the market is there.
Original bands, for the most part don't get paid, until they are "famous" to some degree.
So if a musician advertises that he is looking for paid work then anyone in a band must be capable of realizing that he is looking for a spot in a covers band or an established "famous" originals band.

I'm not great at putting these things together but i hope you understood my logic.

P.S. i think Deco loves you, he like a little puppy, following you around looking for attention.;)

Pullman123

Interesting discussion here! In my case, I thought that a fair amount of it was ageism -I'm 50(going on 14 my wife and kids say), and most of the posters would be a lot younger. I found it seriously depressing to be checking in every few days for months, getting no replies, or guys backing out when they realize what age I am. That being said, I have actually met two musicians(Guitarists, even though I was looking for a bass player and drummer -still looking) face to face, and it almost sparked off a project in one instance, and has sparked off a home recording project in the other! It wasn't exactly where I thought I wanted to go, but it has been really interesting, and the chap is a great old style Tele and Lap Steel picker, and he's 66 incidentally. So there is still hope, and the forum can work to get people connected. Check out Comfort Zone if you want http://soundcloud/barry-obrien

Fi H

Think this has strayed a little off topic but I have to agree with the OP. There is at least one poster on here that seems to be posting looking for a female singer every 2 weeks or so. I PM'd and was asked to send on some material which I did and once I had sent my original material never heard anything again. When he posted again asking for same thing i posted up asking whether i was going to get a reply i was ignored. While I appreciate i may not have been what he was looking for it is extremely rude to just ignore someone. i have no idea whether this guy is actually serious cause he has had loads of replies but still looking for the same thing!!
Part of me wonders is it a scam to get peoples songs....who knows!