Note before we begin: why is this not an FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)? Well, for two reasons: one, I find, as I'm sure many of you do, that usually an FAQ is more of a QTWYTA, which is to say, Questions They Want You To Ask, such as “Where can I buy this amazing piece of software!” and “Do you take VISA?” rather than, often the more usual, “How do I get this piece of **** off of my computer?” So I don't trust FAQs: they rarely answer the real questions you want to ask. Secondly, this is more than just questions and answers. This is, insofar as I can make it, or at least I intend it to be, a beginner's guide to the forum, a walkthrough if you will, guiding you through the pitfalls and showing you the good stuff you can do, and the bad stuff you should not do. So then, on we go!
Welcome newbies, noobs, new members, greenhorns, rookies and people who have not been here before! Come in and take a seat, grab a drink and settle back. This is the thread where all your questions can and hopefully will be answered, where we'll tell you about the place. If you've followed correct procedure you'll have made an introduction thread to tell us who you are, now we'll return the compliment by explaining who were are, and what we're about. Questions can be asked at any time and no matter how obvious they may seem I can promise you you won't be (snigger) laughed at. Seriously.
Note to current, older members: None of you need take part in this if you don't want to. Like the Journals Update thread, I'm happy to run this alone. However any input from any of you would be great. Just maybe to drop in and say who you are, where you can generally be found, if you're a mod or not, answer any questions or just mingle. The more we get involved the better it will be but as I say I'm happy enough to sail this ship alone if need be. Anybody who thinks this is funny, unnecessary or over the top need only look back at the last week or so in two separate threads. You know what I mean. Anyway, it's here now and I think it will be a good thing.
Sorry about that noobs. Oh, and please don't take that as an insult or slight: here at Music Banter we don't consider or use it as a derogatory term, it's just a word. If you have a particular problem with it (maybe having come from, or being in a gaming community) let me know and I'll make sure I don't use it to describe you. But the word will remain as I think it has no offensive value personally.
So, who are we and what do we do? Well, rather surprisingly, considering the name of the forum, we like to banter about music! Is that all we do? Hell no! We're always going off-topic and into weird and wonderful tangents, the lifeblood of many forums. We do however try to keep music discussion separate from others, and so we have our forum, like many others I'm sure you've been on, divided into sections. Let's go through them now, so we know what goes where.
General Music - Music Banter
As the title suggests, this is for general music threads. That might seem a little misleading though, because there are also specific subforums for rock, pop, reggae etc. Basically, if you want to discuss albums (but not a particular album), artistes (but again no specific one), topics related to music (“what's your favourite lyric”/ “What gig have you been to” etc) this is where your posts go. You can of course wander around and see for yourself, and by the threads made you'll get a good idea of what's allowed or accepted. Generally speaking, ONLY music threads go here. There is a whole subforum for offtopic, which I'll get to.
There are two subforums of the General Music forum and they are
Soundtracks & Compilations - Music Banter
which I think is fairly self-explanatory and
Name that Tune - Music Banter
where you can ask for help remembering or identifying that song you just can't track down. PLEASE do NOT post “name-that-tune”-type posts in the General Music forum; they will only be moved anyway so you may as well use the subforum that was created for them.Also please make sure you read Urban's introduction to the subforum: as much information as possible please on the song you want, and have patience, as this is not a service, just something people may decide to help you out with. Nobody does this fulltime.
Punk - Music Banter
For discussions relating to Punk Rock (including, I believe, post-punk, pop punk, power punk, but I'm not that familiar with the genre as it's not one of my favourites) and also including Hardcore & Emo - Music Banter, in which you'll find the rather excellent http://www.musicbanter.com/hardcore-...ub-thread.html run by Briks, who is a great guy and whom you'll meet if you join his club. Someone else (maybe Briks) may hopefully pop in to explain more about this whole subforum as it's outside my sphere of interest and influence.
Rock & Metal - Music Banter
A lot happens here. Hard rock, heavy metal of all types --- death, doom, speed, thrash, black, symphonic, technical, nu, power .. it's all here. Basically, if you don't like it loud then don't open this door! ;) Subforums for
Rock N Roll, Classic Rock & 60s Rock - Music Banter
and
Prog & Psychedelic Rock - Music Banter
in which you'll find my own little club, http://www.musicbanter.com/prog-psyc...lbum-club.html, which anyone can join as long as they have an interest in progressive rock and/or metal, and is willing to dedicate a bit of their time.
I should mention before we go on, each of these subforums have a “Recommendation” thread, in which you can post for recommendations (or “recs”, as we call them around here) for that sort of specific music (Punk recs in punk, prog in prog etc) and also an “Education” thread, which will tell you everything you need to know about that genre or subgenre, basically an introduction to it, detailing the major movers and events in that genre or subgenre.
Again, please do not post anything in the main forums or subforums looking for recs other than above. It helps keep things tidy and again, wandering posts will be shooed off to the relevant subfourm anyway by our vigilant mods, who will get a just a little more miffed the more times they have to do this, moreso if it's the same person doing it all the time. Friendly warning!
Anyhoo, on we go. We also have
Rap & Hip-Hop - Music Banter
Where DJChameleon, Anticipation and Christian Benteke may consent to be your guides: they're, as they say, the bomb when it comes to this sort of music. Though of course there may be others just as clued-in: again, it's not my scene.
Pop - Music Banter
Reggae & Ska - Music Banter
Indie & Alternative - Music Banter
Jazz & Blues - Music Banter
Exoskeletal, Janszoon and many others can help guide you in the right direction here, or talk to you knowledgeably if you're already an aficionado.
Classical - Music Banter
Burning Down is your lady here! I doubt anyone knows more about classical music. She plays too, and she's a mod, passionate about Classical Music so will be happy to assist if you need assistance.
Electronica - Music Banter
Rave on! Or not. Ambient, uptempo, dance, EDM, whatever-the-hell-it-is, if it has a dance beat or uses dancy synths --- I have no idea what I'm talking about --- it will be here. Vanilla and Fetcher are two beautiful ladies who may lead you through the confusing range of styles and influences here. If you ask nicely... A brand new club has begun here and already rockin' – well, boppin' I guess. Whatever. http://www.musicbanter.com/electroni...club-whew.html is run by Wpnfire, so if you;re into checking out and reviewing this sort of music, sign up here! Also check out http://www.musicbanter.com/electroni...endations.html while you're there.
Country, Folk & World Music - Music Banter
Loathsome Pete and Lisnaholic are the two men here! Lisnaholic even runs another club, http://www.musicbanter.com/country-f...lbum-club.html here.
Avant Garde/Experimental - Music Banter
If it's weird, off-the-beaten-path music you want you'll find it here. Everything from ten dwarves banging cardboard boxes (not really.. Really???) to people using photocopiers to make music (I'm serious!) and Janszoon, bob and Frownland are experts at this sort of thing, so talk to them if you're interested.
Soul & Funk - Music Banter
Can't forget our brothers and sisters in soul, can we? It's all here, from 60s r&B to today's finest soul artistes.
Also in Music we have these:
Album Reviews - Music Banter
where you can post your album reviews (guidelines are provided but there's no real set format per se)
New Releases Ratings Forum - Music Banter
where you can review, or read about, the latest albums. There IS a set format here, so read Urban's intro before you post.
Editors Pick - Music Banter
where only the best threads go. You can't make a thread here; they're moved by the mods at their discretion if they're deemed worthy, or require approval of posts.
Members Journal - Music Banter
My own unofficial domain, where you can create your own journal and write about what you want to. All posts in every journal are moderated so you have to have approval before they go up, but it's very quick these days and other than that the floor is yours really. Express your creative writing, talent for graphic design or anything else you want.
Okay, so they are our music-only subforums. But if you're an artiste, aspiring or established, working or working on, or if you just want some tips on how to play that new guitar or how to set up your new studio, check “Artists Corner”, where we have three subforums:
Talk Instruments - Music Banter
where you can, you know, talk about instruments with other like-minded and knowledgeable folk
Stereo & Production Equipment - Music Banter
where you can talk about all the latest gear, boast about what you have or moan about what you haven't, or tell us what you're intending to buy.
Song Writing, Lyrics and Poetry - Music Banter
Express your creative side here.
Next up is Community Centre. You'll probably already have seen this
Introductions - Music Banter
but if not that's where you basically introduce yourself. If you're here now though that's a bit superfluous and you can forget about it. It is however somewhere that, should you become a regular member, you might want to go to welcome newbies in the future.
Announcements, Suggestions, & Feedback - Music Banter
Where you can offer suggestions, give your feedback and read any notices which may be posted from time to time. Including this one.
Sport & Recreation - Music Banter
Everything from baseball to soccer, golf to Formula One. It's all here and you can argue over which sport is better, which team sucks or just discuss the latest scores in your favourite sport.
The Lounge - Music Banter
Outside of the Music Sections, this is where everyone who's anyone hangs out. All off-topic threads go here. It's a fun place, somewhere to relax kick back and have a laugh, or discuss issues that are not so tied in to music, or even at all. Everything from”What's your favourite sandwich” to “Who has the best haircut?” and you can also post pictures of yourself in the gallery if you wish. The Lounge has two subforums, the first being
Current Events, Philosophy, & Religion - Music Banter
This is where more serious discussion happens. World events, politics, life and death, religion, all that sort of thing.
The other one is
Games, Lists, Jokes and Polls - Music Banter
which is obviously more lighthearted and fun.
That just really leaves
Media - Music Banter
where you can discuss TV, movies, DVD and all related subjects.
There is also “The Archive”, but everything here is closed so you can't comment. But you can read if you wish.
So they are the various sections of the site, and it's important to try to do your best to post in the relevant one(s). There's no point, for instance, going into the Reggae subforum and making a thread about Motorhead, or trying to start discussion in the Metal subforum about Britney Spears. If you want good responses to your threads or posts, post where they will be the most appreciated and understood. This also helps keep a general air of tolerance and friendliness at the forum, as people will get annoyed if you keep posting off-topic in their threads.
RULES : What you can and can't do
There aren't that many important rules here, but there are some that are very important. It's never a bad idea though to familiarise yourself with them, so they can be found here Music Banter - Announcements in Forum : Announcements, Suggestions, & Feedback.
But the main ones are:
1. Don't post one-word or stupid posts (not until we know you anyway) and certainly not in order to get your postcount up.
2. Don't spam. There's nothing that will get you booted quicker than spam. For the record, spamming is not limited to advertising pills for enhancing certain, ah, sexual organs. If you are coming here to promote your music, don't. If you are coming here to sell tickets, don't. If you are coming here to promote a website, don't. Basically, unless you're coming here to discuss music and get involved, you're best not joining because we want people here who are willing to participate in the community, not people who will get their post count up to fifteen (the minimum needed to post a link) drop in a URL and bugger off. If you're going to do that, if that's your intention, then bugger off before you reach fifteen. You'll be detected and kicked anyway: our mods have huge and annoyed experience with this sort of behaviour. Spamming also includes posting the same thread several times whether in one subforum or a few. Don't do this.
3. Be nice. Nobody's asking you to kiss ass, but there's no need to be angry, huffy, insulting or derogatory in any way to any member, new or old. Be nice and people will (probably) be nice to you back. Personal attacks of any kind are forbidden and will result in bans.
4. Don't post off-topic posts in the Music areas. Reserve these for the Lounge; it's what it's there for.
5. Don't undermine anybody's music taste. Be tolerant. Everyone likes good debate, but have something to say. If you hate Slipknot, or Genesis, or Black Flag, say why, not just that you hate them. And vice versa. And remember, everyone is entitled to their opinion. Okay, that's not a rule but it goes without saying surely?
Some myths about Music Banter debunked
A common mistake when joining is for a noob to say “I can't post a YouTube video until I have fifteen posts.” This is incorrect. You can post from your very first post. Simply refer to to this guide http://www.musicbanter.com/album-rev...ml#post1180555 however do NOT post your OWN (or a friend's) music. That is considered spamming the forum.
Equally, you cannot post your own music once you reach 15 posts. This is not a forum for showcasing your work. IF you join us and IF you contribute, we get to know you and you're accepted into the community in general, then perhaps, after maybe THREE MONTHS, you may be allowed to post your music but it will be at the discretion of a mod. Some members who are here years have not posted their own music. Please don't try getting around this because you won't.
Similarly, using something like “I can't post links so check my Soundcloud page” or even worse, “type in YouTube dot com stoke Andy stroke ....” will be frowned upon and you will not make any friends. Accept the rules: they're there for a reason and any attempt to circumvent them will only annoy mods and established members, who also have to live by the same rules.