ILM is kinda sucking these days (boring and meta ignore not safe for work)

Yeah, it's not a proper red warning.

Raw P: It is still in the title.

Ned: I don't see it in the subject line. This would not be the first time I have missed this kind of joke. Appreciate your 'Uh' by the way.

This is kind of why ILx is down in the dumps.

i.e. people missing jokes.

still blamin the polls, it took em a year or so but they gradually replaced good discussion (I know, poll-defenders, there are some poll threads that are exceptions, but the notion that music discussion = ranking things worst to best is a pretty closed system)

-- J0hn D., Wednesday, June 4, 2008 9:11 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Link

when I start my album polls I really don't care about the polling itself I just want to talk about the album

The year-by-year polls about Pazz & Jop albums and singles last year (and some of the subsequent year-by-year ones about NME etc Brit polls)actually generated a lot of good, interesting discussion. Otherwise, I really have nothing against polls; they're easy enough to ignore, and no more boring, in general, than those ancient OPX sorts of things.

Rolling threads make a lot more sense than individual-record threads (which I've almost always ignored, though the Ashlee and Vampire Weekend ones weren't bad) in my book; records happen in a context with other records, after all, and the rolling ones let you get the big picture. Plus there are so many interesting records out there that devoting so much energy to just one of them almost never makes sense. The most interesting threads on ILM in the past few years have mostly been rolling threads. But yeah, they're not what they used to be, either; only one I post on myself these days is the country one (and occasionally the hard rock one), and since I'm writing way more outside ILM this year, I'm nowhere near as obsessive on even those as I used to be. (Some people would probably say that's a good thing.) Metal one I barely post on at all anymore, though that probably has at least as much to do with me being really bored with metal and unable to get inspired by it these days than with anything on the thread, which still seems to be alive and kicking.)

xpost to DK: There aren't enough hours in the day for me to get half the jokes in this place! (Although during last week's cross-board dramas, I did try quite hard. It was all quite cumulatively engrossing, in a rubbernecky/sleuthy kind of way.) In which case, I'm personally quite glad that a corner seems to have been turned on the hitherto increasing dominance of meta-zing culture, as clever as some of it was.

* Pause, as I assess the chances of this being copy/pasted into a rolling zing thread on some board that I never read. Oh, whatever. *

xpost to xhuxk: When I was doing bits and bobs for Stylus, ILM informed my opinions rather usefully. Now that I'm doing bits and bobs for a mainstream newspaper, I feel a lot more separated from it.

I like poll threads, because they get REVIVED! TWICE!

ILM I've always seen as having mainstream taste ( amongst other things since it does cater for all IMO)

This is kind of why ILx is down in the dumps.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, June 5, 2008 1:13 PM (23 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

i.e. people missing jokes.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, June 5, 2008 1:15 PM (21 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

maybe cos most of the 'jokes' simply ain't funny?

What I meant was over-literal readings of things which are clearly intended not to be taken seriously.

Let's all raise our games and let this thread die.

ILM would be improved if random googlers didn't need to register to post on the Dave Matthews Thread.

jeez people, thread title sarcasm like this has been part of ILX since its inception. how did you guys ever parse Allyzay posts??

wallofvaginas.jpg

I was semi-tempted to post that and actually make it NSFW just to avoid any confusion but thought that would be mean.

so consensus is:

-no big crossover albums
-rolling balkanization
-not enough discussion on poll threads

Can't do shit about #1. #2 can be helped by maybe starting independent threads for stuff Rolling dudes think might have broader appeal? #3 might be helped by starting interesting polls.

Could you start a poll thread on that?

The point about the clannishness of the rolling threads is that, for the posters within them, it's quite handy to have a place where a basic level of knowledge of the product is already there, so posts don't have to start with "Royce Da 5'9" is a Detroit area known for his early association with Detroit hip hop luminary Eminem and subsequent solo career, during which he has released 3 studio albums as well as numerous mixtapes."

"Black Sabbath were a band formed by four gentlemen in a mystic far away land, one of whom lacked some parts of fingers."

so posts don't have to start with "Royce Da 5'9" is a Detroit area known for his early association with Detroit hip hop luminary Eminem and subsequent solo career, during which he has released 3 studio albums as well as numerous mixtapes."

ha actually i would be in support of this cuz new jacks would be informed and conscegneti could lol @ the stiffness of the language

conscegneti

nb this word does not actually mean anything

i think he's a shortstop for the brooklyn dodgers

The "Sceg"

I don't see why ILx should have to do homework for lazy people who can't be bothered to Google or otherwise find out for themselves.

lovely with carbonara though.

This isn't a mandate, Marcello, it's a suggestion as a way to inform the uninformed in order to usher new people into discussion.

xp

The point about the clannishness of the rolling threads is that, for the posters within them, it's quite handy to have a place where a basic level of knowledge of the product is already there

Of course, no point in anyone else getting involved with them

No. The uninformed should inform themselves before coming on here.

More elitism, more intimidation - then standards of discourse might be raised since posters will be expected to work harder.

so according to marcello if anything is stultifying the debate on ILM it is the lack of intimidation and elitism?

They don't need a message board they need a good stint in the army, or maybe down the mines.

God, even this thread is boring.

Good to see the old style Marcello coming back.

More elitism, more intimidation - then standards of discourse might be raised since posters will be expected to work harder.

-- Dingbod Kesterson, Thursday, June 5, 2008 2:11 PM

I understand where you're coming from, and it's certainly plausible that an uptick in elitism would weed out lolposts and make everyone start posting in paragraphs again, but it seems just as likely that this place would become just as boring as Dissensus as a result.

I dunno. I found the Ashlee Simpson thread elitist and intimidating in the best sense of both terms - I don't know enough about her music to join in the discussion, and I'm afraid the writing doesn't quite convince me that her music is worth knowing, but hey! Serious, intelligent and evocative discussion on ILM in 2008! Who'd've thought it? A few more threads of that calibre would be more than welcome.

The main reason it sucks now is because nearly everyone who is the least bit interesting has been banned.

Dissensus painted itself into its own corner very early on and it's never really recovered.

OTM on that Ashlee Simpson thread

We could be the zingy One Touch Football.

what i remember being annoying about dissensus was how slowly everything would load

Yeah that's the annoying thng about Dissensus

Is that still going? Only ever looked at it once or twice.

actually Dom, recently there's been a very similar thread over on OTF re the quietness of the Music section.
guess its just one of those phases for all as has been mentioned previously.

The QUIETUS-ness of the music section morelike amirite?

Yeah that's the annoying thng about Dissensus

-- Dom Passantino, Thursday, June 5, 2008 9:35 AM (10 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

ha well i just gave up before actually reading the content at a certain pt

I've been feeling the same for a few months now, dunno why...I scan New Answers prepared to not see anything I'm very interested in & rarely if ever read the poll threads.

I'm in one of those periodic phases right now where the only thing I can listen to is The Fall or talk radio. And what is there to post about the new Fall record...? GUYS THIS ONE IS REALLY GOOD I'M SERIOUS (It really is though)

Re: the rolling threads I don't find them exclusionary or clubby at all, & I esp. value the big ears and opinions on the psych/drone thread though I rarely post there...

The QUIETUS-ness of the music section morelike amirite?

v. smooth sir.

Current top four threads on Dissensus:

Grime Top Tens
incedental (sic) music
New Skweee Mix
crucial new riddims

QED

LOL more like