What to say in a comment when listening to another artist's track?

My intention in starting this thread is to simply open an exploration of the listener comments and the kinds of things that might be said. It may be worth developing some guidelines on how and what to leave for the artist to read about your thoughts and feelings on his/her music (perhaps these exist somewhere on the site, so feel free to direct me there too if I have missed something that already exists - no sense re-inventing anything, although it may be worth re-visiting the current guidelines regardless). I think it may be especially useful for new-comers, as well as laying the groundwork for all of us who wish to help maintain MP3U as an active and supportive community of artists.

I will offer the following thoughts to start:

1. Most of us "intend" to be positive and helpful. (Sometimes we don't express ourselves with enough clarity to get that intention across, but I think we generally mean well).

2. We all struggle with listening to criticism ( a human condition, often a musician's Achilles heel), regardless of how well and precisely it may be expressed. So, it is likely best to let a comment sit for a a few days before responding. Taking a deep breath (or two or three) before we load a replying broadside is always a good strategy. If needed, take a week of deep breathing

3. Most "differences" are best expressed in Private Messages" or "e-mails," I think. A PDA - public display of aggression - does not serve any good purpose, I think. If a more public forum is needed for broader input or opinion, a thread could be started on the MP3U Forum, but I would not prefer this route myself. Privacy is preferred (dirty laundry in public sort of thing)

4. Seeking clarification and precision and sticking to observations is more productive than generalizations. For example, "the vocal in the second verse is not as clear to my ears as the first verse," rather than, "your music sucks" - these are hypothetical examples for demonstration purposes only .

5. Let reason prevail over emotion.

OK, that's all I'll say for the moment.

Please feel free to add/subtract. Community is developed by involvement

All the best,
Terry

[Pidgeman]

I didn't hijack this thread James. It was clearly referring to me even if it wasn't said in the original post so I felt it was appropriate for me to respond to it. As I'm not a particularly bad mannered or aggressive person I decided to respond lightheartedly rather than getting angry and offensive like some other people would. If this boiled your piss that's up to you, I can't control how other people decide to take what I write. The fact is to me the whole idea of anybody getting upset by any of this ridiculous. At the end of the day all we are talking about is commenting on each others music. Let's get some perspective on it, we're not talking about ending conflict in the Middle East or putting a stop to world poverty. Lighten up mate, it's an Internet music forum. Maybe I'm not funny, maybe I'm a tosser even, but I have the right to be a tosser if I want to.
Love you
xxx

[tbwig]

Quote and response format to concerns DDJ raised as follows:
"if you upload music on the internet you are open "
- True enough, but that is not to be miscontrued as having a target painted on one's music, I think.

"You should be able to comment however you feel fit... you should deal with whatever consequences happen "
- True, but one person's freedom to comment may step on another's freedom to be free from some types of comments.

"BTW that guy has left the site more times than I can care to remember...He needs to deal with it...Stop crying and leaving every time he doesn't agree with something. "
- OK, point taken, and that is the history I referred to, which informs the present, but it may be tainting the discussion here because the issue under discussion is the way forward, not an analysis of the past.

"if you start @ the very beginning of what happened he was the one who left negative feedback first...and didn't like it when he got some in return."
- I agree with the sequence as you portray, but that seems to be extraneous to the idea I put forward that the "process" is worth looking at (the growing number of posts that were "stuck" - BC and M at first , then P took it up to "help" BC...all good stuff, no doubt about intentions, I think, but doubtful as to the results ). My question is exploratory, and asks for a better way than the status quo. I have seen this scenario a few times within the one year I have been on this site: once is an anomaly, twice raises an eye-brow, thrice is a pattern and is worth exploring, I think.

" no one is having a go at him for doing this."
- I believe no one is having a go at anyone, at the moment I started a thread to explore the way comments are left and the types of comments that may be more useful than others. Would you like to make a contribution to the discussion?

In conclusion, the point of the thread is not to defend anyone, nor to "have a go" at anyone, but to offer a forum for discussions about comments on artists pages. In that vein, I offer this suggestion to my previous suggestions: " Admin to create another column to check when you post a tune - "Open to honest criticism to help improve my track". If the artist checks this column, they idicate an openess to hear anything someone else may post to help. I would suggest admin also route these messages to a PM type of messaging...private correspondence and dialogue....not public.
* I re-read this and thought, hey, there is something like this already. The forum has a place for "Music Reviews"...could this be the vehicle? Open yourself to "honest" feedback from other artists with some experience and knowledge (again that is open to discussion as to who is able/qualified to provide this)

I am hearing DDJ "defend" P.... No need, DDJ, no one is having a go at anyone...more exploration...no name calling, no FFS (since I don't use these abbreviations outside of Erik J's LMAO...I had to look this up to figure out what you were trying to express...OK...I hear you now

Still to hear a suggestion to improve things, though. I suppose that means everyone is satisfied with the status quo? And that is fair enough too. I will leave well enough alone.

All the best,
Terry

[alive]

Fair enough Craig. I just think Terry started the thread to have an intelligent lively debate about the subject of commenting. Now there is nothing wrong with having your say in an amusing way but i felt your 4 posts in the thread were stupid and dumb and above all irritating. Thats how it made me feel. Nothing else to say really - oh apart from......
nah forget it.
Love you too
xxx

[Pidgeman]

I have no doubt Terry's intentions with this thread were to come up with a good 'solution' to the perceived problem of commenting. Thing is in the 5 or so years I've been here I've seen this issue raised time and time again. The fact is you cannot legislate for how individuals will react to something they read, even if it is something that others will see as fairly innocuous, some people may take offence. Nothing you can do about that. It's an inherent problem with Internet forums. This thread alone is proof of that. Nobody can be sure of the intended tone of a written word, even if we use smilies after them.
I still think my suggestion in the second post of this thread is a legitimate one even if it does have the ability to boil piss
Craig

[Disfunktional-DJs]

For someone who claims to have 20+ years of writing music, Should by now have thicker skin...In the wrong business m8... All this drama because he didn't like some honest feedback...Maybe that should be the issue here... People should be praised for been honest... People defending someone for not accepting feedback... That is a JOKE !

Don't mean to be rude but this isn't the first time he's cried and thrown his toys out the pram.

Yeah you can tell I don't care much for him...I don't like the fact he brought the site in to disrepute... The issue was not able to take constructive feedback....Then turns it in to site politics.. BOO HOO!

When I first joined this site (2004) I know my account says 2005 but I had another account before this one.
I didn't like negative feedback but after a while you learn to deal with it...Sometimes you even improve from it.

Without constructive feedback over the years I wouldn't have improved as an artist/musician/producer

[tbwig]

The Last Post - double entendre intended from me:

I am prepared to admit this was a pointless exercise.
I am not really prepared to continue to try to imbue this thread with neutrality and reason.
I am somewhat disappointed that, what I thought was a legitimate concern, was not really engaged as a topic worth replying to with some degree of decorum and reason.
I am not prepared to continue participating in this thread.
My apologies to anyone who has been offended in the process of trying to develop the ideas of a better way to comment.
Long live the freedom and anarchy of the internet.


All the best,
Terry
*freedom and responsibility go hand in hand, I think. Can't have one without the other.
FFS and LMAO

[Disfunktional-DJs]

it's been a good thread for the most part.

I'm just not ready to start changing things because someone cried over what I felt was constructive feedback.

Good topic Terry

FFS, LMAO, ROFLOMA !

[James Oakwood]

I agree with Ricky - I thought it might be a good idea at first but now I believe we don't need guidelines for comments - it's missing the point of what a comment is about - it's inconvenient to PM someone should you have something critical.

If you disagree with the comment you could: -

a) ignore it - let the comment be seen by all who read it
b) add a comment your self as to why you think the person is wrong
c) delete the comment
d) have comments set to invisible

Last year's comment skirmish when Terry joined is of no consequence to me - if the comments are still there then so-what? If anyone sees them and chooses to avoid my stuff then no problem at all.

Gonna post this now but i'm gonna edit it cos i forgot a couple of things

Craig, I read this post before I got wind of the song comment saga and I didn't think this post was referring to those events.

[Pidgeman]

Shit the bed!
First words boiling piss and now Andy Britton agreeing with Ricky Mancini, it's fire and brimstone next I tell thee!

[James Oakwood]

Originally Posted by Pidgeman

Shit the bed!
First words boiling piss and now Andy Britton agreeing with Ricky Mancini, it's fire and brimstone next I tell thee!

Credit where credit's due dear boy and BTW you're going to hell - it was 3 fking dB not 2dB ya bitch lol