Huge influx of idiots to the forum? or just me?

[darnold]

This is all the reason why i dont spend much time around here anymore. I try and help as much as i can but im done answering the same questions over and over.

I just skip over the ones that i think are repetitive. Unfortunately thats why i havnt been doing ANY posting for the last 6 months.

Danny

 

[FALKEN]

honestly,

you can figure out all of this stuff by trial and error and reading up and searching. thats what I did for seven years before I found this board. And damn this board is a resource. And it is frusterating, because MOST of the posts are about stuff I already figured out on my own...but it really helps to have help.

but thats not why I'm here. well, thats why I came here originally. and yeah I need help on stuff so I keep coming back. but why am I on here like all the time?? because there is nobody else in my entire world that cares to or even can relate to this stuff. goddamn you think my girlfriend wants to hear about how this compressor has attack and release controls but this other one has a built in limiter?? Fawk no. or people at work??? so...when you are into something this much and there is nobody around you that can relate to it; it is nice to have this kind of interaction, even if it is superficial.

Now I'm going over to the rack to ask another dubass question. fuck y'all.

 

[darnold]

touche Falken.

Its weird because with all the audio engineers or audio philes out there it would seem like i would see more people who do want to talk about stuff like that.

Its especially difficult when its your main line of work and your girlfriend doesnt even know what the hell it is. And whats worse they dont care or interested to find out.

Yah this is a little off subject sorry.

This is a great BBS and it has alot of resources and great engineers here to help. Every once in a while i will still find new and exciting information come out of the cracks. But it seems like 90% of whats being posted is stuff that gets posted week to week.

Danny

 

[ahuimanu]

While the mixing/mastering forum is not the proper place for those types of questions, and a newbie might not know exactly where to post, and that double-posting is frowned upon, I am underwhelmed more often by people of experience complaining about newbie questions. This is the Home Recording website and is geared towards helping people who are entirely new to the subject. The home page explains things like using a four-track, getting audio into your computer, and even using VHS as an audio format. The great benefit of this forum is that there are indeed, audio professionals checking in to help answer what "how does this work?" I don't think anyone should be offended by these kinds of questions wherever they show up, and if I'm to busy to help, someone else usually does.

To riff on your theme,

The gear/vintage/toob-only high-falutin' snobbery always gets me too. HOME recording.com. What this implies to me is: "I am a hobbyist/amatuer with not too much scratch and I wanna learn how to record my toons." However, this site is a good one and most folks are helpful.

 

[Sal4001]

I guess those of you that look down on some of the newbies questions where just BORN with the knowledge you now have of recording. After 22 years of writing, recording and performing, I still have time for any question, now matter how stupid someone might think it is. We all started out somewhere to get where we are now. Did I miss the point, or isn't this site supposed to be about sharing info with everyone? Even those of us with years of experience may often find ourselves with a question about something that may be out of our main area of expertise.

 

[LfO]

Sal4001 - I don't think most people on this thread's objection is to basic questions, but to people not using the search feature, or even glancing through a few pages of posts to see if someone else has answered it.

 

[metalhead28]

I think you guys that are getting mad at the guys who are annoyed by the newbies are missing the point. There is a big difference between somebody looking for real answers to real questions and some bonehead who doesn't even want an honest answer he just wants somebody to tell him he's awesome and that his crappy equipement is totally adequate for the "pro" sound he is expecting. I've seen plenty of these morons get plenty of good information and proceed to throw it back in someones face just because it wasn't what they wanted to hear. Some of these guys, no matter how many people tell them, will not accept that it takes practice and experience to be able to achieve any sort of decent result...or that it takes just a little bit of basic understanding to operate some piece of equipment and that it would be beneficial for them to achieve that understanding rather than insist that people are being snobbish pricks for not telling them how to "set it right"....I agree that alot of this problem stems from the growing number of people doing "music" that don't know anything at all about "music". They think everything is a preset or a plug-in and that anyone who achieves more than they do is just a "gear slut". I also don't think it's any coincidence that these are often the same guys that post their MP3's in the clinic and say "Yo, check out my new Hit Single" (which they downloaded the backing track to and rapped over using a radio shack mic and then limited to the point of horrifying distortion using pirated software) I'm not saying anything against rap music in any way. But you have to acknowledge that an enormous number of stupid kids are jumping on the Hip Hop bandwagon trying to be a star without the slightest shred of talent. These are the annoying people folks, not the honest to goodness musicians (including rappers) who are looking for serious answers to serious questions.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

Sal4001 - I don't think most people on this thread's objection is to basic questions, but to people not using the search feature, or even glancing through a few pages of posts to see if someone else has answered it.

Yes, thank you. That's mostly what it's all about.

Of COURSE rookies are going to have questions and many of those questions will be the same. Nothing wrong with that. What bugs the heck out of me is the laziness involved in finding the answers. The times when I have snapped at rookies here have been the times when they have asked a question for which there was already an active thread just a couple of threads away in the same forum or on the front page of the forum next door. When it's the first week of the month and you see the person's join date of that same month, it's their first post, and it's asking the same old question that regulars see come up once a week, you know that person has not bothered to lurk first, has not bothered to look at current thread listings first, and has not bothered to search for an answer. They just come in blurting out that their music isn't as loud as the latest Nickelback CD.

Also, there have been more times than I can count where the answer to their question is am extremely obvious Google search or manufacturer's website search away. From wondering how to wire a box to the outside world to key math formulas used in everyday engineering, this stuff is available faster and more reliably from immediate and authortative sources than it is by casting out a question onto this forum with god-knows-who answering your question hours later. The unpleasant fact is that the folks who come here first would rather have someone else do it for them; they have not yet discovered the pleasure of doing it themselves because they are doped by the drug of laziness.

Courtesy is a two-way street. While it is an obligation for the experienced on this board to try and be courteous to the rookies, it is also reasonable to expect some courtesies back like doing at least a little homework first and not asking us to do all your work for you all over again when we have already done it for a hundred other thread viewers just a couple of hours or days before.

We don't like to be abused any more than anyone else.

G.

 

[Altaire]

look man I can be the first to say thanx...cats on here have helped me out on things I wouldnt have been able to find out about otherwise...I work in hip hop and most of the folks i know who are getting seriously paid off the production end know very little about the technology theyre using and they dont know much about music composition other than i can mash these buttons and ht the 808 at the end of every two bars and people will buy it...anyways if I ask most folks I know about mapping a signal path or the best monitors, they dont know they buy whatever costs the most and all the technical knowhow they need is how to plug midi in into midi out and input 1 into out 1, burn some bullshit to a cd and send it to get m&md...its frustrating, but thanks to some of the folks advice on here ive stepped my game up on my understanding of audio technology, geez, how did i get through school and never learn this stuf....guess i never thought i was gonna be the one who needed to know it

yeah Ive learned to search before I ask a question, when i first got here it was just to easy to put up a new post for every wall i came up against, shit lol

 

[LemonTree]

metalhead & SouthSideGlen: some excelent points! That's exactly what I was trying to put across when I opened up this thread

Alec

 

[ermghoti]

Maybe just rename the Newbie Forum to "Hip-Hop/Rap?" It would probably keep the more arrogantly clueless out of the other forums.

Seriously, I lurk for months before I register and ask questions. My questions are generally pretty dumb, but I have researched them for hours before I post about them. I have also had the good sense to not post any of my recordings anywhere, and I certainly don't think I am in any danger of sounding "pro."

I also am a lot more likely to respond to a "dumb" question with a link to search results, than a lecture. Although I am on the verge of giving the latest realdensenintendo a piece of my mind. Must. Resist.

I just had a good discussion about recording in 16 bit vrs. 24 bit, I have some new things to try, and nobody got hurt. How tough is that?

 

[dachay2tnr]

This thread got me to thinking...

I've been at this computer recording stuff for about 6 years nows. When I started, I was as clueless as the next guy. Preamps? Duplex sound cards? 24 bits? Bounce to Mix? But I started reading a LOT of threads on this site. I asked a few questions, but mostly just read what everyone else was asking. Making determinations about who knew what they were talking about, and, more importantly, who didn't.

Anyway, the point of this post is that nearly everything that I bought right out of the box as a know-nothing newbie is still in use in my system. Mackie mixer. Sonar (actually Pro Audio 9). Delta 1010 sound card. Event 20/20 monitors. I am having trouble thinking of any gear/software that I purchased that I regret purchasing and/or no longer use (short of software upgrades).

I remain on this site pretty much as payback to those who helped me back then. I'm still learning things, but these days spend much more time answering questions than asking them.

Got to admit though that the newbie's who post a question and then want to argue with you about your answer do frost my nuts a bit.

 

[Alexbt]

Just while we're on the topic, I absolutely HATE the posts where the amateur rapper kids feel the need to 'talk gangsta' in their posts.

I already hate seeing major grammatical errors in posts, but that stuff is just over the top.

 

[giraffe]

Just while we're on the topic, I absolutely HATE the posts where the amateur rapper kids feel the need to 'talk gangsta' in their posts.

I already hate seeing major grammatical errors in posts, but that stuff is just over the top.

yea, the gangsta thing is a little grating.

it could be viewed as an interesting social study though, is the wall between the written and spoken word beginning to crack?

i know it seems silly now, but 50 years from now maybe the differences will be gone.

(i can't say shit about grammatical errors though)

 

[fraserhutch]

yea, the gangsta thing is a little grating.

it could be viewed as an interesting social study though, is the wall between the written and spoken word beginning to crack?

i know it seems silly now, but 50 years from now maybe the differences will be gone.

(i can't say shit about grammatical errors though)

I truly sincerely hope not.

Sincerely.

Truly.

 

[dwillis45]

I don't really mind some of the obvious newbie questions. They can usually be disposed of quickly by relatively junior members who haven't seen the thread a hundred times. It's sort of an obvious division of labor where newbies become experienced and, in turn, provide advice. It can also help clarify your own thinking about recording issues or the recording market place. Sometimes it's a mini "refresher course" when you are forced to define or explain something you might otherwise take for granted. On the other hand, I also get a little annoyed when you take the time to layout your thoughts and you get no response at all. I wish I had a nickel for every three reply post than ends with "tell us your budget and provide information about X,Y, or Z and we'll tell you what to buy."

 

[eraos]

I truly sincerely hope not.

Sincerely.

Truly.

I don't know, I did read a newspaper article that called internet talk/abbreviations (like sk8ter = skater and ur = your/you're) "creative" and a positive step for the english language.

So, hey, it must be a good thing. Might as well jump on the wagon and get a seat while there's time.

 

[SouthSIDE Glen]

I don't know, I did read a newspaper article that called internet talk/abbreviations (like sk8ter = skater and ur = your/you're) "creative" and a positive step for the english language.

Right now that's fine for social situations, people with Blackberries chained to their ankles and Prince albums. Language *does* evolve, no question (when's the last time any of use used the word contraction "shan't" ). While we speak the same language that we did 200 years ago, the speech patterns have changed. We all talk a lot "dumber" and less courteously now than they did in Ben Franklin's time, and that's even before you get into late 20th century speech patterns.

But for the most part, the spelling is the same as it was 200 years ago. Yes there have been some spelling changes, but nothing like what's been started by "Prince's English" in the last 2 decades. That's not evolution, that blatent ignorance and rebellion.

These forums are supposed to be for an exchange of knowledge above all else, not for an ignorance of it.

G.

 

[Farview]

I used 'shan't' twice today and I shan't stop now.


Three times.

 

[fraserhutch]

I used 'shan't' twice today and I shan't stop now.


Three times.

When I was a little kid, I shant in my pants once.