Leaderboard

Be the change you wish to see in this world, even a tiny virtual nook. A church is not made of walls, but rather it's people. Is the dissension among you really all derived from a lack of leadership? Is it that you do not see the colored names of the moderators in the discussions you hold with importance? Is it that when you look at the shoutbox you see nothing but BOOM instead of getting to know the people who you have found a common bond in music? Is it that the focus of this website harboring composers who have chosen a love or passion or even a profession that is lucrative only in pennies has fallen into childish banter, casting the few fingers we have here at each other? Aren't we all to blame? Haven't we all vented our frustrations at others here at times? Is the name-calling really worth it? Are they not all the same grievances? Don't we all have different goals and aspirations in music and life, yet so strikingly similar at the same time? Is it the memories many of you have of a more "glorious" time when logging onto Young Composers? Is it that you miss the friendships you've made while here, as so many have stopped by for miniature increments in their lives only to disappear for random reason X caused by reason Y? I could infinitely go on, but in a society filled with minds clogged with "TL;DR", I'll just get to the point. We don't need meetings, we all know the sources of this site's infestation of problems. I'm glad there are a few people who care enough to point it out, but rectifying the minimization plaguing a once populated site starts with doing what you wish to see yourselves. Be the example. Start commenting on other's music again, especially new members. Surely most have created an account with the self-centered goal to have their music heard and judged by their peers. But isn't that the reason why we've all created accounts? If no one commented on the first piece of my music submitted here 6 or so years ago, would I have become a "member" of a community? Would I have grown into the musician and composer I am today without someone else who knows a hell of a lot more about music taken the time to tell me what they thought of my audio garbage I thought that had attained absolute perfection? There is no glory or reward for the individual in creating a unified community. There will always be those who swim in the waters of vile language and basically sexual misconduct, as just because the repercussions are not directly visible does not mean they don't impact the welfare of this site. Ignore it, don't feed it. With a positive goal in mind (and I know the people commenting in this thread possess that), with perseverance one person only needs to affect one other person, not a thousand. The rest will take care of itself.

As long as we continue to be a community who likes to compare music ego sizes...this place will continue to go under. Nobody likes to be around that kind of attitude. We all have strengths and weaknesses- but there's no point in being on a website like this unless you chose to use the strengths to help other's weak spots in a constructive, non-condescending manner.

Absolutely agree, once more. I see this attitude in most of our remaining members. But the point still stands: if this community is going to keep working, it's up to us. Being here, taking a lot of our own time to listen to other people's music and trying to help, without any real reward, and also dealing with some kind of people, can get one weary at times. But I know no other way, and if there's one, we should be discussing it. As we've seen quite often the attitude of a single member can make a difference - especially in driving away valuable people out of impatience. BTW, I'm relieved to say that Luderart and myself have been able to iron out a few of our differences through PMs. I'm sorry for the inconvenience - yet I felt the need to point it out because unsolved disputes (even if "petty" ones) do a lot of damage to a community. I hope this helps to set an example of how to deal with even the harshest disagreements, which would be a major step in keeping the site alive and improving.

Ok. Seriously. Enough. Both of you see the other as inferior members, composers, reviewers, etc etc etc. We get it. Now shut up and lets actually talk about constructive things for the site.

Finally....can we now focus on the original point of this thread?

At least this is showing that there's still a heart and a soul in YC. Now, it's up to us to choose what kind of member do we want to be, and hope that most of us will pick the high road (which is the only road that may lead to this community soaring back to life).

If you were a more active and interested member of this site, you'd know that moderators have no such power: only administrators have the ability to change things here, and they've already made threads dedicated to suggestions for fixing the site (here and here). The issue is that nothing will change in our favor - nothing about the site will change, at least physically, how we want it to - until the admins start caring about our objections. I have no power over that, nor do any of my fellow moderators and reviewers, nor do any members otherwise - except the administrators. And are you really so defensive now that you see me as somebody 'sitting in [a] [highchair]', as someone morally or musically superior or up there who needs to be surmounted - because I'm a moderator or otherwise because I have beliefs and opinions of my own? Do you find me that intimidating? It's not as though I'm the only one here '[casting] about judgments' - and I certainly have a right to; you've just given a judgment, for instance. As has everbody else here, especially once they've started talking about issues as contentious as all these so far brought up. If there's anybody who's thrust themselves up upon a highchair, it's you: you're always unfailing in seeing yourself above everybody, with the utmost pretension, not ever willing to honestly criticize your own pieces, but rather those who criticize you - and your pieces never change, you never make any real progress. Your constant defensiveness, even against the most constructive and benign comments, though they may be critical, makes you seem antagonistic and frustrates most here who are readied and willing to accept and give like criticism - without malice, and then in the name of decency, courtesy, and social-mindedness, in the hope that nothing is so greatly rumbled that we can't all help and at least appreciate each other's efforts. When I say 'egoist', I really mean it: If you want to become good at music-making, or any other kind of creative art, you're going to have to overcome yourself at some point and start listening to what you do. Stop being so self-obsessed and love your craft. Get out of yourself.

Yes, lets please keep our personal disagreements out of this thread (thats what the shoutbox is for)

Hey!, When did the Vikings arrive here? Where's our Brittish politeness?! I understand why sometimes Luderart "may" have some reasons to feel "scathed" sometimes (first time I see this word in my life), but I don't think it's proportional to the storm he does when overreacting. I do agree that some very important and influent members DO bully sometimes and it's not that contributive (also there are these mean jokes). However, @luderart, you've just written so many bullshit here that I must confess: I'm impressed! Austenite, you don't deserve his comments, it's not true at all. Frankly, I opened this thread in order to create an optimistic environment, a peaceful and productive area where we could discuss betterments to this site. It has just become barbarity!

@luderart: Troll. For clarity: Scathe definition: 'Criticize somebody: to subject somebody to severe criticism'. 'Hurt or wither with sharp criticism' - not the only definition of scathe, and very deliberately picked, it sounds like.

Do you really think there's anything about you that I can be jealous about? Or are you looking to brew up trouble? Frankly this rethorical question would be laughable at the very least, if it wasn't so tiresome to keep reading your self-pitying antics. Seriously? Or have you done enough to discourage any kind of criticism or the slightest suggestion for improvement? Also: Do you ever - EVER - review a piece by someone else? Or does anyone look up to you for advice on forms, development, counterpoint, orchestration or whatever? If your answer to any of these questions is NO, I wonder how can you possibly know for sure that you're garnering respect rather than indifference. Get the idea, for God's sake: this site is about cooperation and feedback. This is NOT a showcase site for "composer wannabes", so full of themselves as to blatantly ignore everything and everyone around them (and who would be better served by starting their own website). This IS a site for people who want to share knowledge and use it to improve, so the only attitude that can keep the site alive is that of cooperation and humility.

Maybe we can convince the admins to revert the site to the old format?