Taking sides: nu-ilm vs old-ilm

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why is it not okay is an equally viable question? it doesnt mean anything really, i doubt someone wanted someone literally persecuted for saying they like something the other person hates, but as long as no action is taken, ill-judged verbal abuse is still tolerable and rightly so - tho you dont have to like it obv.

blueski, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

What's the point of trying to communicate on a message board if all you're going to do is tell people to fuck off? It defeats the purpose, unless the purpose was to give attitude in the first place.

Nicole, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Graham, if you want a more controlled discussion, then turn it into something private, or moderated, or at least post some definite rules as to what sorts of things should be discussed. If your main complaint is with rudeness (e.g., the "Fuck off" response you mention), then I'd have to agree.

I think I am nu-ILM, but I'm not sure what the cut-off point is.

I do appreciate your efforts (and those of everyone else who was involved) to save ILX. Although I've done my share of complaining, I obviously seem to get something out of it.

DeRayMi, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:08 (twenty-one years ago) link

i don't often post here because ill-judged verbal abuse is something that really, genuinely upsets me - targetted at other people and certainly i would take it very personally if aimed at me. so i lie low and just read through the more ill written stuff for the stuff that really interests me and provokes me to go and investigate stuff. i can't see how you can defend anything that you know will actively upset people on a personal level. you can disagree with people as much as you like but when personal abuse or stuff that can be misconstrued as personal abuse comes into it then you have to worry...

sorry rambled on

commonswings, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:10 (twenty-one years ago) link

It's "not okay" mostly cause it kills discussion, rather than for its offense-causing properties. Of course I wouldn't delete that kind of thing or even make a 'rule' about it, so yeah we are tolerating it and rightly so - we're just not embracing it.

Tom, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

I rememeber the sophie ellis bextor thread thar graham put up. Two of her tracks (x vs x thread) and i said somehting like fuck this and fuck that (not aimed at him but really bad of me). Again it was ill judged and inconsiderate. The fact that it was posted on a sunday morning when there was nearly zero activity does not excuse it.

Graham put up many threads abt sophie on that day (which i thought it was funny, I made all sorts of negative comments on all of them) but it wasn't 'constructive' or anything.

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

it neednt kill the original discussion point which i assume was whether anyone else liked Atomic Kitten - obviously someone should be challenged to expand more on why they believe you should fuck off or why Atomic Kitten are NOT good...if it happened to me i would be more encouraged to keep up the response, no thread should ever end with just 'fuck off' of course...and admittedly you've got to be seriously off form to want to post JUST that and nothing else, which fortunately is a rarity here

blueski, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

If someone can't be bothered to state a case other than 'fuck off' though, what makes you think that any sort of sensible discussion with said poster is likely to ensue?

Matt DC, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:35 (twenty-one years ago) link

You *are* nu-ILM DeRayMi — and you're also one of the reasons why I think the "old-ILM great nu-ILM bad" argt is so ridiculously unfair. If the trade-off of being two years old and ten times bigger is a (very) occasional kiwi-style rudeness for a regular DeRayMi discussion, then it seems to me incredibly ungracious to make so much of the former. And the benefits of Good Julio outweighs the tiresomeness of Evil Julio. For me, anyway — but of course I've met him, and seen that he is underneath it all a shy, winsome sweetheart.

mark s, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

I wanted to talk about fucking atomic kitten. Why can't I? Should I trample over every Sebadoh B-sides thread everyone starts?

The reason I started all those SEB threads was because you basically said we already had one SEB related thread and that's all someone like her deserves.

Graham, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:39 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh, yeah, but it wasn't someone else like her. As i recall by that point she already had a few threads and I was thinking something like (now this is very very stupid but I'm going to say it): 'what in god's name happens to this place on a sunday morning, why can't everybody be on a computer at that time instead of wasting their energies reading the bloody sunday papers' but it was very stupid of me.

The thing abt that Atomic Kitten thread was you just said I luv this without saying why as some sort of intro. Personally I thought it was a bit of a joke because of that. Then when you said a track off that album gave you the 'goosebumps' I thought you were serious and so on...

Thing is: I know ILM is abt music but there's an indie thing going on here (I definetely read it as that at the start) so that atomic kitten thing might upset the indie fan (but there was no excuse for telling you to fuck off, I have never done it and never intend to).

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm new too and i hesitate to throw in my two bits but Tom "another, better board somewhere" will run into the same things sooner or later. it was frustrating to have started posting during the last nu-ilm crisis and feeling like half of the old-guard had jumped ship the same day and taken their thoughts with them. but the it-didn't-used-to-be-like-this lament gets you nowhere. why not treat ilxor as the fresh start, say IT ISN'T like this, get other people saying it too and pitching in with a bit of moderation.

blueski - fuck "par for the course". "the course" is teeming with swine.
graham - i'm confused about the "Last 5 Records" bit: is it because those threads bring more googlers than others? as for you not having much constructive to put in, that's nonsense.

okay i just woke up but NO ONE IS GOING ANYWHERE GODDAMMIT.

The Actual Mr. Jones, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:55 (twenty-one years ago) link

maybe "these people" will be more and more likely to tell you to fuck off the more you let it be known that you hate them... also, i thought the "x is great/crap" kind of threads were one of the things "old-ILM" was complaining about.

i'm not really trying to pick on you, graham - i think more than anything i was really upset by your 'delete ILM' comments on that thread. i think it's WAY off base to even talk about that. that was like a little bratty kid who doesn't want to share his toys. i think you know how much i(and everyone else) appreciate(s) all your hard work on these boards - PLEASE, no power trips!

ron, Saturday, 24 August 2002 14:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

didn't jel start the new (4-records) version on the new board? he's been around for a while, yes? so not EVERYONE hates those threads, just don't look at them if you dislike 'em.

ron, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh yeah, I started that thread, I personally see nothing wrong with knowing what people have bought or been listening to lately. It's just a list, and I like reading lists.

jel --, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:07 (twenty-one years ago) link

jel, what's the deal with pop-off tuesday, i really like this song you put on the cd

ron, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:09 (twenty-one years ago) link

I never really felt part of the old ILM gang because I wasn't (nor am) not smrat enough (heh!). But I still long back for those days - sorry Mark S but I do - because it seemed as though there was much more intellectual banter. It seemed more challenging in a way. Oh hell I dunno, I haven't been around much the last couple of weeks.
We shouldn't nag, Graham. "I ain't complaining, I am entertaining." is what should be the line used here. it's up to us to change the atmosphere. Truth Hurts. ;-)

nathalie, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

And I'd also be unable to distinguish between old and nu-ILM, as I sorta jumped boards as soon as ILE came along.

jel --, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:14 (twenty-one years ago) link

That double negation clearly PROVES I am not clevah enuff. heh

nathalie, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

The problem wasn't the thread itself, it's just that people answers the thread literally with no explanation, which is fair enough as far as that thread goes, but soon after every question was being answered with no actual discussion going on, and I'm not really saying that thread was the cause, more that it being so successful is a symptom of what I don't like.

Graham, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Pop-off Tuesday are a duo from Japan! I think they are very hard to describe, one song is beats, then seventies guitar solos, and then it sounds like an electric saw...

There's some stuff about them here: pop-off tuesday

jel --, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

Oh, and they have a new album out really soon!

jel --, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:28 (twenty-one years ago) link

''more that it being so successful is a symptom of what I don't like.''

oh no!ILM is a victim of its own success! oh no!!

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

i'm new too and i hesitate to throw in my two bits but Tom "another, better board somewhere" will run into the same things sooner or later. it was frustrating to have started posting during the last nu-ilm crisis and feeling like half of the old-guard had jumped ship the same day and taken their thoughts with them. but the it-didn't-used-to-be-like-this lament gets you nowhere. why not treat ilxor as the fresh start, say IT ISN'T like this, get other people saying it too and pitching in with a bit of moderation.

I agree, this is what should be done. I just think too many people here are too disinterested to bother, which is a shame.

Nicole, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:42 (twenty-one years ago) link

''but soon after every question was being answered with no actual discussion going on''

for that thread, which is just general survey type thing this is fine surely. I was asked abt a xenakis rec i bought and i said i was going to post thoughts on it on a thread abt Xenakis (which i haven't done but i will).

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm not an O.G. ILM-er, but I have been hanging out for awhile and can I just reiterate Tom's excellent advice from the FAQ: if you're not enjoying it, take a break. As Julio and others can attest, I was pretty testy on ILM for awhile there, and left in a semi-huff. It's a lot of fun again. I start threads about things that interest me an answer threads that interest me. I also read lots that I don't know so much about, and often learn a lot. I can't really remember what it was that used to get me riled up. Maybe I was a little disappointed with ILM because I was simply wasting a lot of time on it. That's been my experience, anyway.

& I've been meaning to say this for awhile: Graham, the new system is vast improvement. The new message alert in particular prevents a lot of misunderstandings, the ILM -> ILE click is great, and having the "contribute an answer" box on the same page of the thread is really handy. Sorry you're feeling down about ILM, but thanks nonetheless for all your hard work.

Fritz Wollner, Saturday, 24 August 2002 15:57 (twenty-one years ago) link

The Clash sell-out thread and the Pitchfork's silliest moment thread rejuvenated my interest in ILM. Those two threads are the first time in a long time that I've attempted to debate anything on ILM (and one of them was only tangentially about music, haha).

Dan Perry, Saturday, 24 August 2002 16:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

''I can't really remember what it was that used to get me riled up. Maybe I was a little disappointed with ILM because I was simply wasting a lot of time on it.''

you're not the only one 'wasting' a lot of time on it, I can tell you!

Julio Desouza, Saturday, 24 August 2002 16:17 (twenty-one years ago) link

i don't post as much anymore - certainly not as much as i was 10-12 mos. ago - but i still lurk and post around ilx because i feel it has something good to offer me, even if just a respite from boredom. i'm surprised to see tom advocating the "only thing to do is start a new board" (even in jest); as i remember tom being one of the most vehement in opposition to this idea back during the last ilx identity crisis. i do have to agree - with the reflection of a few months - that at least 50% of the problem comes from "old ilm", who, thinking that all is lost, have lapsed into the fuck-off-one-liner mentality more than any nu-poster i know of. (and yes of course i include myself in this.) i don't think there's anything wrong with a clever one-liner, or even just telling someone to fuck off and die if the need arises. old-old-ilm (in rereading from the time before i was around) was polite almost to a fault. but the complaining is coming from all angles these days. tom thinks the one-liners and fuck-offs in the blogs thread are a sure sign we're going down the crapper (even jokingly.) people actually got upset because there was a discussion, however vitriolic or stupid it ended up, going on about blogs in that thread rather than just a polite little list. the thread did degenerate in the end because a few of us got too overzealous trying to be clever, but not seeing the actual conversation that was going on at least halfway through is missing the forest for the trees. (or the trees for the forest. i'm never drinking again.) i'm upset that it ended up that way, not because i'm really that upset about contributing to the crapification of ilx, but because i promised myself i wouldn't bother anymore. (this is what booze and boredom does, kids.) in the harsh light of morning, however, i have to agree with fritz. if you don't like it, go away. (for a while. fritz did. i did. now we're back. i'm going to take another vacation from the internet in general for a while.) if you want to stay or come back, talk about the stuff you want to talk about in the way that you want to talk about them and hopefully you'll generation some conversation. because in the end, tom's right, the last few months of ilm can't be turned back and - again mostly through the boredom and exhaustion of the old school - it turned at points as pointless and snipey as any other message board i've ever been exposed to.

jess, Saturday, 24 August 2002 16:27 (twenty-one years ago) link

you'll generation

you'll generate of course. i need to go back to bed.

jess, Saturday, 24 August 2002 16:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

I was afraid to say this all this time but since Tom did I might as well come straight out and say I think I prefer nu-ilm because there are a glut of new posters who are into dance, offhand I'm thinking of piscesboy, blueski, and more whom I can't remember. If any of you aren't new I'm sorry but there have been more dance threads recently. I know for certain I've descended into the swearing and one liners that are being complained about above, but only because certain opinions which never would have been aired in the old days get a little bit of credence now. I'm thinking of the Fatboy Slim thread when whoever it was said "the dumbification of dance, haha that's a short trip", would that have happened back in the old days?


There's a chance aswell that my growing sweariness was only on a scale with my growing passion.

I just resent "nu-ilm" being slated or criticised because it seems to piss all over any decent discussions I've had recently, and there have been a few. It's just a bit annoying to have someone come along and make a judgement on all the threads here, many of which simply don't interest them by virtue of their subject.

There's no justification for a straight up "fuck off" after you start a thread, but then again if noone answers the thread other than that it's not ILM's fault either.

Ronan, Saturday, 24 August 2002 18:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

Also there's lots of really smart and interesting new people who obviously now think they've done something wrong.

Ronan, Saturday, 24 August 2002 18:06 (twenty-one years ago) link

Give Ronan a knighthood now.

Dom Passantino, Saturday, 24 August 2002 18:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

As a fairly new boy here, I can hardly say how it has changed. I deplore the reaction to Graham's Atomic Kitten thread: I do think this is part of a desire to homogenize, and drive out divergent opinion, but there isn't enough of this to bother about. I wouldn't propose deletion of what is comparably small-time abuse, but I hope we'll be less than favourably inclined to such behaviour.

There are loads of threads on ILM, and I'm not interested in most of them. That's okay. The style of post on some that I do read doesn't appeal, which is okay too. I still find, here and there, threads or debates or individual posts of extremely high interest to me, whether because they are funny or knowledgeable or intelligent or all three - and all three come together surprisingly often, to my delight. I still like it here, though I spend more time on ILE.

Martin Skidmore, Saturday, 24 August 2002 19:01 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think the worst thing is that no one was miffed at the time about the Atomic Kitten thread comments.

Question for Tom: Do you feel you [you personally] can discuss the things you want to here?

Graham, Saturday, 24 August 2002 19:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Graham, this may sound stupid, but sometimes when I see something like that I don't know whether or not the person responding is actually someone you (or whoever the poster being responded to is) know well who is just fooling around with you. There have been times when what I first took to be personal attacks here turned out to just be friends joking around.

DeRayMi, Saturday, 24 August 2002 20:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

heh heh! theres not really any difference between nu-ilm and old ilm! those 'new ilm' posters like deraymi and martin and ron and chris not poops mcgee anymore sir aren't new anymore anyway!!!!

take off those rose tinted nostalgia glasses, blast off the new westbam single, and wear some cool brown clothes. it always works for me (of course, just coming in from the pub helps).

lets have a call out gareth thread instead, i'll take all y'all motherfuckers to the cemetery...

gareth, Saturday, 24 August 2002 20:48 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jess: I am going to go down with the sinking ship of ILM whatever. Ideally it will not sink. But this is why I can be simultaneously very for (b/c this is the way I think the interweb works) and very against (b/c ILM is something I've put a lot of time into) the idea of a new board. Currently nobody is starting a new board so the point is moot. NB I do not want anyone to start a new board - it is an enormous hassle, don't do it!!

Graham: yes, actually, I think that anything I want to talk about here I can talk about here. I would be sorry if other people don't think that. I think that maybe 18 months ago I was more concerned about the replies I got than I am now. All I know is that if I hear something that thrills me I look for an ILM thread about it and if I don't find one I start/restart one. If pushed I would say that this is what everyone should be doing.

(Sometimes I am drunk and start threads and never look at them again, too. I hope someone likes them though.)

Tom, Saturday, 24 August 2002 20:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

every quality message board i've ever seen has had it's old vs new, remember when it used to be really great, etc arguments, and you know what? in every single instance, it RUINED the board for everyone. what mark s said upthread is v accurate- the big prollem is that once the new breed leaps over the fence into eden, the old timers stop being concerned with using the board and enjoying and start worrying about other people spoiling their fun. result = the end arrives much faster.

i mean in real life, if someone's being an ass, hounding you, whatebber - it's alot harder to dodge them, but this is a message board. you shouldn't need to be distressed by other people's posts. failing that, i've seen other msg boards introduce an option to ignore select posters, but exclusion also = death knell

boxcubed, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:02 (twenty-one years ago) link

jess says: "old-old-ilm... was polite almost to a fault", but this is fantasy => neuromancer's rock vs rap thread fairly often resurfaces and there are several others like it... the boards have gone through cycles of nasty rattiness and likeable cheerfulness and paranoia and bonhonie and inspiration and dreariness, because they are posted to by actual live people not robots

graham, stop being so passive aggressive: i certainly don't feel about guilty not giving kiwi a roasting on that thread because a. i'd chided him on other threads for similar silliness, and b. you made no clear attempt to let ANYONE know that you were upset, or even that it wasn't you're intention to produce exactly that sort of response => some people (ie me) are completely unbothered by those kinds of posts (so i'm not going to automatically jump in on another's behalf unless they're very obviously being persistently harassed and disliking it); others — who very much dislike trollishness — are nevertheless inclined (by bitter experience) NOT to respond, because response so often makes the situation worse, most people probably didn't even see it, and some that did may well have felt there was no lasting issue, as no one was any obvious fuss (compare for example how melissa slapped down julio). i have to repeat: we are not telepathic!!!

as it happens, kiwi himself popped up somewhere a few days ago to say he pretty much only ever lurks these days anyway, so i simply don't see why you're *still* posting to this thread about this particular incident: you're a much bigger beast in the jungle than he is! You singlehandedly piloted us from collapsing planet greenspun to ilXoR!! i accept that you were upset at the time, because kiwi was being a childish prat, but as far as i'm concerned the person who has actually "stopped you talking about atomic kitten on ilm" on any permanent basis is yourself. revive the thread and talk about them!!

mark s, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

Graham this all seems like a storm in tea cup to me. I was drunk that night, doesnt excuse it, but I dont think its reflective of my behaviour nor ILM posters generally.

Look for what its worth, Im sorry to upset you like that. If I had any idea how sensitive you are...

As for this nu/old shit...whats that all about? The "Myth of the Other" Id say. All I can say is sorry.

Please dont ban me :)

Kiwi, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:18 (twenty-one years ago) link

Tom you just said NOTHING AT ALL. Of course you can start a thread about anything you like on any message board ever if you're not particularly bothered about what responses you get.

Same response to Mark S I think.

Graham, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:29 (twenty-one years ago) link

don't ban me either. I work hard at getting smart, good people on board--and damn it, I've succeeded. (hello Pete Scholtes, Keith Harris, Sci-Fi Paul.)

sorry if this upsets y'all's identity crisis or something, but having lurked/posted a year-plus myself I fail to see what is so FUCKING different about this as opposed to before, and if so why it FUCKING matters. I'm going to risk sounding like a real asshole here, but a lot of these types of threads (see also the "best new blogs" one) are wound-licking over NOTHING. I'm glad folks have a forum to feel sorry for themselves on en masse, but GET OVER IT.

M Matos, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:43 (twenty-one years ago) link

Jesus Graham the key word there is "sometimes". But OK if I wasn't clear enough:

Question for Tom: Do you feel you [you personally] can discuss the things you want to here?

Answer for Graham: Yes.

Sometimes I decide that I don't want to discuss stuff, though, I just want to say it. But a) that's why I have a website and b) neurotic that I am I've even discussed THAT on ILx at some point!

Tom, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

Graham you have a choice between trusting in our mind-reading powers — as genuine interweb mentalists haha *sigh* — or telling us how you feel about things.

mark s, Saturday, 24 August 2002 21:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

Well this is all very interesting. revealing, even. For myself, you could easily chuck the'googler' call at me because that is how I found ILM - and it was a dream come true. I write about music for my university mag and now some other things, I'm fascinated by pop culture and I'm considering a thesis about the KLF in some manner, as well as being a fan of a broad range of undergound stuff. ILM has actually givne me info I've used for uni - I did a tute presentation about bootlegs and appropiration the other week. I live in Tasmania, and it's really isolating - magazines arrive 3 months later, bands never tour here, there are really limited shops for buying stuff and so on - so ILM alerts me to all kinds of intersting things and gets me reading some interesting writers - yet after reading the above thread I feel like I shouldn't be here, which pisses me off as i really enjoy it, reading and contributing what wee kernels I can - and here I'll admit to be a sweary mary as that's the style with which I write my stuff (I'm an australian - what do you fucking expect? Mate. Cock.).
I do understand the problems though... it's just that i feel that being exclusive is wrong and the point of a public discussion board is to bring in as many opinions as possible.

threemetalinsects, Saturday, 24 August 2002 23:03 (twenty-one years ago) link

i really was serious when i offered hugs on the blog thread.

jess, Saturday, 24 August 2002 23:13 (twenty-one years ago) link

Hmm I clearly fucked up and my reply didn't appear. Anyway be sweary and new as much as you like! It's just "Fuck off" as the only reply to a thread is a bit lame, yes?

Tom, Saturday, 24 August 2002 23:19 (twenty-one years ago) link

3metalinsects, this sort of thread crops up periodically. I think there is a significant portion of Olde-ILM which is open to a continuous influx of new posters, taking things in different direction. It's the internet after all.

I do feel slightly bad that someone who has put so much work into this board is unhappy with the way things are going; especially since I certainly haven't done anything for ILM at the technical level, and wouldn't know how to.

(Yes, I have spent an excessive amount of time today online, but it's been a rubbish sort of day.)

DeRayMi, Saturday, 24 August 2002 23:32 (twenty-one years ago) link

(that reminds me to go read deraymi's oum kalthoum post after seeing her records in a store and trying to remember the recommendations)

boxcubed, Saturday, 24 August 2002 23:36 (twenty-one years ago) link

The reason I don't bother posting questions anymore is because with a few exceptions all one gets is stupid answers that question the question. IE "What's the supposed to mean", or "This question doesn't make sense" or "What is (x)". I mean, look it up, you're on the interweb. Make the words mean whatever you want them to mean, I don't care, just don't keep making me repeat the fucking question. Does everyone need everything liquidized into baby food for them?

dave q, Tuesday, 27 August 2002 09:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

Who decides who is old-ILM and who isn't anyway ? What's the cut-off point ? Though I've been posting very rarely in the last year or so, I've been on here since a month or two after the original forum was set up, and I really don't see all that much difference, except it's more crowded than it used to be, and there's less discussion of crappy 80s British indie bands, both of which are positive developments as far as I'm concerned. I'm wondering if all the people bitching against nu-ILM realize how massively offputting their attitude is to newer contributors - there's probably now a bunch of worthy people wondering if they're part of the problem, when in fact the only problem there is is a handful of people thinking that the fact that they've been around here for a while makes them hot shit (this is not directed at Graham, BTW, who I think has done a great job with this board).

Also, I find it very unfortunate that Dave Q isn't posting threads anymore - they had become probably my most favorite thing on ILM.

Patrick, Tuesday, 27 August 2002 09:53 (twenty-one years ago) link

I think the only division that makes sense isn't to do with members but to do with what ILM is. "Old ILM" was a message board attached to a low-readership music website which reflected pretty accurately the preoccupations of that website. "Nu ILM" is a message board with a reputation and following in its own right which has been noticed by lots of other websites and discussion boards that would never have cared about it when it started up. The transition wasn't an 'invasion' or takeover or anything, it happened because old ILM was good at doing what it did.

This shift is irreversible whether people liked "Old ILM" or not. With the shift comes certain responsibilities, too - like thinking of the board as a 'community' and trying to be friendly to 'newcomers', neither of which the old ILM cared at all about.

(The "offputting to newcomers" argument I pretty much reject anyway. Most posters are made of sterner stuff I'd hope particularly since every internet forum since the internet began has had this exact same conversation, including many where I've been the 'newbie' and my general attitude has been 'sod that, I like it and I'm staying'.)

Tom (Groke), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 10:04 (twenty-one years ago) link

What Roger said goes for me too (except it would be 'keen like Ray' in my case).
Being totally new to things like this, it can take a while to tune into the rules of engagement, especially, when you feel so initially excited and overwhelmed by discovering the place. And to a nubie it really does look like all kinds of responses are allowed round these parts - some Q's are big and difficult, but some of them much more listy or facetious, and a lot of the contributors snappy one-liners are really funny, so it's hard not to want to join in. It's also so much more difficult to compose longer more thoughtful answers in the face of:
(a) So many scarily informed and insightful people, many of whom seem to already write in some pro/semi-pro capacity: I have no training or experience in music journo/writing, just a punter who's never even downloaded an MP3. It's easier to jump in at the shallow end - hopefully I'll eventually learn enough to
(b) Being at work and supposedly doing something else entirely! When you see a thread that engages your interest, you want to add to it NOW.

I haven't been sweary to anybody yet, and I think the closest I got to rudeness was my overly facetious attitude to the first Q I saw Roger F. post, but I know that I've gone crassly stomping into some threads with a HERE'S MY OPINION negative attitude, threads that maybe I should just have ignored (eg Postcard Bands) - it's just that with some -ve opinions that have burnt a hole in your mind for 20 years or so, the chance to publicly vent them is jumped on!
And often, as I tried to touch upon in a recent thread, I think music you hate can be as 'important' as music you love.

I get annoyed when people come to ILM and go 'oh ILM thinks this' and 'ILM thinks that', but only because in my eyes if you post to ILM you're part of it (also because they're usually dead wrong)

I'm probably guilty of what Tom has described there - but, when you first start trawling around these parts, you do come to thinking that there are certain attitudes which are a kind of 'ILM aesthetic' (eg, very broadly, the 'pop' over 'rock' idea, sophisticated dismissals of certain difficult-to-define ideas/attitudes which are 'naive' or CLOSE_YR_EYES_MARKS 'rockist' OPEN_EYES_AND_RELAX, an unequivocal celebration of wide-ranging eclecticism etc.)

I stumbled into this forum because I had for months already been going through a phase of obsessive re-interest in a particular musical period and its meaning to me, and googling a genre term led me here - but it has already become (disturbingly) addictive to keep reading these boards, and I really don't want anything bad to happen to them.
I have been wondering over the last couple of weeks whether I'm capable of having an interesting opinion on anything - but having just read Tom's last sentence, maybe I'll try to adopt that attitude.

Ray M (rdmanston), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 10:12 (twenty-one years ago) link

Aaaargh.

should have been '....learn enough to paddle in deeper waters' or some equally inventive non-writer cliché.

Ray M (rdmanston), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 10:16 (twenty-one years ago) link

RF: I'm sorry, there's just something in me which kicks everytime I see your name no matter how "ironic" it may be. Also, I think it is the "thinking" versus "cataloging" divide except I feel like the conversations we used to have we just can't have anymore, at least the old foax who've been through them so many times already. There's only so many ways to approach certain questions, then we move on -- so perhaps the old foax are a bit tapped out on thangs which always seem to arise again with a new wave of ppl. (cf. "rockist" -- which as far as I know was pretty universally understood by the old-ILM crowd without ever debating it because of a shared background in 80s MM etc.)

Sterling Clover (s_clover), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 13:20 (twenty-one years ago) link

i have never read 80s MM.

gareth (gareth), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 13:24 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sterling - one of the good things Tom/Graham did was to add a FAQ section to this new board. I agreed with someone who wondered whether it should contain/have links to the 'ILM standard definitions' (as far as they exist!) of certain terms that newer people might never have encountered. Maybe one thing ppl should be encouraged to do is spend alot of time reading the archives before joining in - although it's SO difficult not to want to jump right in....

Ray M (rdmanston), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 13:37 (twenty-one years ago) link

Sterling: are you suggesting I change my monnicker? Come on, you must be able to see past my pathetic satire of myself and the abstracted concept that is you [plural].

Roger Fascist, Tuesday, 27 August 2002 14:45 (twenty-one years ago) link

(it is a shame that dave q won't post questions anymore. his 'aerosmith's 'rocks' as first dub-punk album' thread made me hear that record in a totally new way, and his other questions are totally brain-probing.)

maura (maura), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 14:49 (twenty-one years ago) link

dave, please don't stop posting questions. even if i don't respond to them, i still treasure them.

dave q fan club (dubplatestyle), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 14:51 (twenty-one years ago) link

yeah i always thought dave q's threads were fairly interesting as well...

robin (robin), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:50 (twenty-one years ago) link

Q's just fishing for compliments (us canucks need so much love). he also deserves them, damn it.

Fritz Wollner (Fritz), Tuesday, 27 August 2002 16:59 (twenty-one years ago) link

six months pass...
Revive.

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:23 (twenty-one years ago) link

I'm new here but not to music and certainly not to discussion groups. I find myself reading, on average, maybe 5 threads every few days. There are some smart people on here and worthwhile opinions for sure, but it all collapses under the weight of new threads with hundreds of posts. If you're not there when it happens it becomes a far less useful resource, and discussion goes haywire far too quickly.

I've never seen such pointed obsessiveness, opinion bashing, "ultimate decisions" (all this C/D and S/D shite), and the like -- quite the opposite of an informed, developing discussion of music. This thing should be called "I Stalk Music".

mosurock (mosurock), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:40 (twenty-one years ago) link

(Now that I reminded myself what this thread was about, I think I should have left it slumber: too much material directed at individuals. I just kind of wanted to show that this is not a new subject exactly.)

Rockist Scientist, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 15:44 (twenty-one years ago) link

The "C/D and S/D shite" is a rhetorical device, not an absolute judgement, mosurock.

Dan Perry (Dan Perry), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:00 (twenty-one years ago) link

as a relatively new member let me say that i LOVE C/D S/D threads and lists and obsessiveness.

Neudonym, Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:05 (twenty-one years ago) link

How do the people who have been here a really long time remain interested? I've been here two years and we're still talking about the same shit most of the time.

dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:11 (twenty-one years ago) link

it goes in phases dave225: sometimes i think OMIGOD NOT THIS AGAIN!! and sometimes i think "haha i shall surely enjoy bringing a blank look to THIS fellow's honest open face"

mark s (mark s), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Often it's less about what's being discussed and more about how it is -- which dovetails nicely with my 'mood over specifics' approach to music. ;-)

Ned Raggett (Ned), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:15 (twenty-one years ago) link

Yeah, I know, I know .. I'm just really bored with all of the threads right now...

dave225 (Dave225), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:22 (twenty-one years ago) link

''How do the people who have been here a really long time remain interested? I've been here two years and we're still talking about the same shit most of the time.''

heh, we've even talked abt how 'circular' the threads get.

I enjoy talking shit but the ans would be that you never know: a common topic will be explored differently by someone new...there might some interesting things when you least expect. and then you can get into flame wars...all good fun.

Julio Desouza (jdesouza), Wednesday, 5 March 2003 16:28 (twenty-one years ago) link


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