Do people tire of audio forums?


Not sure how much interest this will generate since members who've left audio forums, or at least this forum aren't here to comment.

 

Anyway, I've been one to come and go from forums of all kinds over many years, this for any number of reasons. So recently I've been lurking again, checking in perhaps once a week, came across a recent post where a member stated he was leaving because he felt unappreciated. Got me to thinking how much this sentiment enters into people decisions to participate or not participate in this forum, or any other forum for that matter.

 

Based on my observations and experience, being unappreciated and/or underappreciated is inherent to the hobby/obsession. Unless one has very wide experience with equipment in their home system or systems they have only limited empirical evidence to offer. For instance I'm exclusively involved with SET, custom build and modification. only limited numbers of members have interest in this, so appreciation only goes so far.

 

Seems to me, a whole lot of people on these forums speak on things they've only heard from others, or have very limited experience with, suppose this makes them feel important. And then some are provocateurs, get their need to be appreciated fulfilled in this manner, guess arguing feels like appreciation for them. Based on my observations the need to feel appreciated is important for people both to continue to participate and in decisions to leave.

 

I've also been perusing some past posts where members are leaving and remarking about how audiogon was a more friendly place at some time in the past. I don't recall a time when that was true, there have always been bully's, provocateurs, self important people here. I believe this nostalgia comes from a time when this individual was still making many new audio discoveries. I suspect many of us settle down into satisfactory and/or dream systems and no longer have much interest in new discoveries. I for one don't see this forum ever changing much, members come and go, always newbies and oldies, same arguments and agreements go on and on.

 

For me, interest in talking about audio waxes and wanes, never get tired of listening to music over a fine system, just get tired of talking and thinking about everything that goes into creating and maintaining a system. Feeling like you're repeating yourself and seeing the same old posts gets stale for me, so I leave. If past repeats itself I'll likely find audio talk to be of interest at some point in the future.

 

Just interested if others have similar experiences or observations.

 

sns

@acman3- thanks for that. I'm like a year behind in writing and publishing about released LPs. I really need to get back to that- it's enjoyable, research is fun, and of course, there's the listening. 

There are far more interesting and/or important things in life worth following than audio. But for building a system, buying equipment or just general interest in passing time, the forums can be informative and interesting. 

I think it depends on your personality type. As a Sigma, I tend to become very involved in a hobby or project to the point of some level of mastery, then I move on to the next. I may still be involved in the old hobby, but not to the extent I used to be. This is the common trait of a Sigma. So yes, once I understood audio and attained/built the equipment I wanted I stopped visiting those forums. I only visit this one because I get an email every Friday and might see a thread that interests me.

I don't look at forums for validation, so concepts like appreciated or not have no bearing. I just like to share, learn or be entertained.

Hi there.

I’m one of those whose system has had a fairly stable configuration for 35 years, no need to go out and get the latest thing, I just have what works for me. That said, I now have a semi-anechoic listening room, and I had both of my NYAL Futterman OTL3s rebuilt (a tube shorted in one of them and took out a $0.29 part that threw the balance out, they had not been serviced in 14 years so I took them both in to Jon who pointed out that the units were 35 years old and parts and some of the design could be significantly upgraded so I let him do his thing). I may post about why keeping 35-60 year old equipment upgraded is a solution in today’s market, and how I went about it.

All by way of saying that I come here to get entertained, to learn, and to relieve FOMO. Sometimes I’ll contribute if I think I have something valid to say, most of the time I’m just listening. I do forget about this forum for stretches when I got lots of other stuff on my plate.

theaudioatticvinylsundays.com