(Up front note: This only has to do with the bootleg section.)
I have been a lurker and poacher from the bootleg section of this site for years and have serious questions and suggestions for you. I also frequent many torrent sites, blogs, bootleg forums, etc. and to be perfectly frank, the opinion by a vast majority of people is that the bootleg forums here suck. Now, I am willing to bet that you do not want to run a site that most people look down upon, so please take the time to read and hopefully respond:
1. Why is your bootleg section open to the general public? Do you understand that keeping this open looking glass into your world that it increases your liability? If someone posts copyrighted material (which happens often), anyone can see this and report it before a mod can take action. Also, there is no incentive for people to join the community, because they can anonymously leech from the hard work of the members. Often, only 20% of the users active in the forum are members. Forcing these people to join to have access to the bootlegs would also give you many more potential users who may be willing to pay the fees necessary to get rid of the ridiculous advertisements on this site.
2. Why is the bootleg section such a disorganized mess? Is Van Halen that important they require a special section? Why can’t there be 4 forums – Lossless Audio (people care), Lossy Audio, Video, and Requests? Under the forum should be alpha subforums so that it is easier for people to search and find the artists they want. I am willing to bet the majority of members here would support you wiping everything out (assuming you don’t have the desire or resources to move all the posts) on “X” date and start over with a clean organized slate.
3. Where is the quality control? Look at this post (and I am not picking on the poster, it just happened to be the first one I found):
http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90...-es-79819.html What is it exactly that is uploaded? A concert, studio outtakes, or other? Is it audio or video? What is the file format – FLAC, MP3, MPG, AVI? Not everyone here enjoys super fast internet service or premium memberships to these sites. Some, due to economic issues, have had to scale back their service, and others may live in a country run by a midget dictator who doesn’t put high speed internet access high on the list of priorities. So, knowing exactly what is contained in the files is a big help to all. Also, if I were a moderator, I would want as much information to ensure proper oversight. Here is an example of a good post:
http://www.guitars101.com/forums/f90...ard-52254.html All posts should contain Artist, date, location, file type (audio or video) source (AUD, PRO Shot, SBD, etc), format (MP3, FLAC, WAV, etc) and setlist. So, please establish some guidelines, and have the mods enforce them.
4. Bring back the thanks button or hide the links until a reply is made. If I spend the time to upload something, it is a big help to know how many people download it. Plus, most people are just rude, so they should be forced to simply say thanks just to get their next free fix. Knowing how many people download or being able to gauge the popularity of the artist posted is a big help to determine if more posts by that artist should be made.
5. General complaint – the large ad that pops up and freezes my machine (usually a classmates.com ad) it exceptionally annoying.
So, in conclusion, making changes to improve this site will increase the satisfaction of the existing members, potentially increase membership and revenue pool, and improve your image across the world wide web. Thank you for your consideration, and any improvements in advance.
Hybrid Mode
