Re: [acid-jazz] Is the Acid Jazz Server coming to an end?

From: Carl Barimore (carl_at_stirtloe.fsnet.co.uk)
Date: 2004-04-18 21:58:16

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    >i think this also has something to do with the decline in music sales

    I don't reckon so, there seems to be lots of activity on web-site discussion
    forums.

    >or maybe it's not the fresh&new thing anymore, so people are looking
    elsewhere?

    But the subject matter on the list has generally changed with the music, and
    all music styles were regularly discussed, including reggae, afrobeat,
    hip-hop, west London and others. The list hasn't been about 'acid-jazz' for
    years, if anyone even managed to define what it was.

    >I started posting when i was in college and it was more of a dedicated
    hobby
    >the people who originally energized the list with postings are now the ones
    making music, throwing parties, writing articles, running websites and
    generally being too busy to have an opinion on anything.

    I agree this is probably the case for many, but where are the new-comers to
    the list who are currently in college, or have the time to post? If you have
    a quick look back, there aren't many who have been consistently posting
    since 1995. It seems to be that people came and went, but there were always
    new people popping up and asking new questions (and old questions) and
    keeping the list going.

    If I remember when it was really busy in 2000-2001, there were about 30
    people who seemed to post most of the stuff, and lots of other peope would
    chip in. All in all there would be about 4 or 5 discussions going on at once
    and the list could fill up your inbox in a day.

    >for real, i second dave's quote: "how many playlists can you take before
    you glaze over?"

    True, but the playlists were always there and they never put people off
    before. It seems like there are more now because there is so little
    discussion they make up most of the postings on the list. When the list was
    busy the playlists/adverts only made up a small proportion of all the posts
    and so weren't as prevalent.

    >3. posting on sites rather than lists (more interactive)

    I reckon that is definitely a factor. Even small labels have their own
    websites and discussion forums now. For example there used to be a lot of
    talk on here about broken beat. But now both Goya Distribution, 4 Hero and
    Bugz in the Attic have their own websites and discussion forums.

    I see that the list policy was changed in July 2002 so that non-subscribers
    could no longer post. It's from exactly that time that the list has started
    to decline, so I wonder if the list was partly held up by people who
    contributed casually but did not wish to subscribe. I know the resulting
    decline in spam would decrease the post count, but not by that much. If you
    take out all the playlists, there are only about a dozen posts a month on
    this list now.