Forum Newbies... a few thoughts + FAQ

[matto]

Quote:Hey Jensen, I'm a newbie to and I've also noticed that this isn't the most friendly of places, especially if you say anything the least bit negative about taxi.I think if (one of) your first post(s) is negative towards Taxi, you're probably not going to get a very friendly welcome.It's like going over to someone's house and complaining about their cooking...you're not gonna win a lot of brownie points with that.

[hummingbird]

Quote:Hey Jensen, I'm a newbie to and I've also noticed that this isn't the most friendly of places, especially if you say anything the least bit negative about taxi. But I suppose it takes time...PS With regards to my newbiehood, like you, I'm not a newbie to music either, just these forums. I was actually a member of Taxi back in the mid 90's as well. Nice to meet you btw.I'm actually surprised you feel this isn't a friendly place. It has it's ups and downs but as far as I can tell 90% of the folks here are friendly and helpful. Some irritate me too (and you know who you are ) but there are some amazingly cool people here who bend over backwards to help and God love them for that, too If someone comes on the Taxi's board and slags Taxi... don't you think it might get a bit a negative response? Those of us here who are members of Taxi are trusting the Taxi business model for a reason. Everytime someone says the screeners are losers & don't know what they are talking about... they are telling me I'm loco for being a Taxi member. Every time someone complains about the cost of membership & the cost of submissions, they are telling me I've thrown my hard-earned money out the window. There's information all over here about how Taxi works, so it doesn't make sense to me when folks make posts that imply they've been duped or something. Particularly when there are Taxi members who write music fulltime and credit a lot of their success in growing their network & marketable catalogue to their Taxi membership. That doesn't mean that we all aren't willing to jump in and discuss suggestions or opinions or thoughts about how things should work. And we all know how it feels to get returns for the music we've worked so hard to create. Not good. So we share our ups and downs and despairing days and joyful days. I hope you don't go away, hang in, we get better with time, like fine wine

[hummingbird]

Quote:Quote:And Vicki, how do you add a picture? Thanks Look around Dax. Find your search button, just to the left underneath the picture of the Taxi cab, and get familiar with it. http://taxi.proboards27.com/index.cgi?a ... min'bird's really nice about answering the same question over and over. I'm not. grrrr Steve! where's that scapel??? (he's actually pretty sweet when you get to know him... )

[hummingbird]

I've written to Taxi admin to ask if it would be possible to help newbies to the forum by having a section called "Introduce Yourself". If there was an "introduce yourself" section of the forum, it would make newbies feel more welcome & it would also help them be more visible to the regular forum members who would like to invite them to participate.-H

[squidlips]

I've been a member of the forums for about.....uh......two months or something. I kinda lurked at first and didn't post much. I'm a veteran of other, tougher boards and I knew it was best to watch and see how things worked first. I found that if I personally responded to everyone's posts to me, it helped. Someone complained to me that I was posting too much but where I'm from, it's kinda rude not to make the effort they did when they posted, by writing something in return. I've received nothing but well-mannered kindness from everyone here. Maybe I'm jes lucky, I don't know.I DO know that if you come on and criticize Taxi, it's very similar to what Matto mentioned. I have a mother-in-law who loves to do that, visit someone's house and then make barbed comments about everything from the food to the decor. She isn't asked back anywhere much. I know the folks here are very busy so I really prize their responses. It means a lot that they took the time to read my posts to begin with, and then went even further to frame a helpful response. My time is very limited these days, I'm in school full-time (going more than full-time in the spring), writing a lot, two kids, one dog, 13 outdooor Katrina cats and 3 indoor cats, a hubby and recording time so I don't get here as much as I did during the summer semester. So when I respond, it's because it matters to me a whole lot, NOT that I'm being especially selective about who I'm responding to. I try to answer newbies as much as I can but there're so many now and so many want reviews and I simply don't always have the time to do that. I'm hoping next summer I will (fingers crossed)Jes me, though. So thanks to all who made me feel so welcome when I first started posting, thanks to all who continue to respond to my posts and a big HI!! to all the really talented newbies out there! I promise when I have more time I'll try to get to know you betta. Squid

[kouly]

Or you could try what I tried which is to use some of your creativity to think of an interesting question that would trigger someresponses and then interact with those that respond. You should definitely treat this forum with the respect any forum deservesand play the polite guest until you have posted a while and people start to think you might stick around. Then you can agree to disagree agreeably but remember where the smilelys are!

[jensen]

like I said, maybe it was a bit of newbie paranoia on my part at first, well you know what its like guys, you venture on there, try and think of something stunningly profound and interesting to say about yourself . . .which isnt easy at first !! then sit back and wait, and sometimes a few days waiting for a response seems forever.But hell, as for slagging Taxi off, no sirree, not me, I wouldnt dare for one thing, my manager is a total taxi nut, one of the first stipulations after signing is "git yo ass signed up onto Taxi " and then she has Michael Laskow listed as one of her heroes on myspace, thats along with God and Mother Teresa, and that aint a joke, its true as I'm writing this !!!Fact is she has 10 of us in her camp coming over for the rally, and I must admit I can see the sense in it now, she's planned this trip, for plenty of reasons, one so we all sing off the same sheet, two so we get to gel together finally instead of fratchin and fightin to see who gets her attention best, and most of all to learn as much as we can about the music business now that we are all in a position where we have been getting some label interest, yep she's a canny old bird my manager, and if she says Taxi is the best, then I aint gonna argue !so guys, a question, wheres the frikkin smileys ???????J

[squidlips]

When you hit reply, the smiley's should be directly above the box you write your reply in. Hope that made sense. It's late and I'm dawgin' it so there's no tellin.

[jh]

I´m kinda newbie if it´s based on how many posts I´ve made... I´ve joined the forum in 2005 though

[sgs4u]

newbies hi i"m new here listen to my stuffparading aboutpick me pick meincessantlyhey check me out asking fordon't you know who I think I am? morewah the screener didn't like meattentionheyyy nice avatar, where'r you from? OK, noobs. You know who you are. All I ask is that you refrain from posting your lame suspicions of Taxi's profits, filtering methods or plans for world domination, until you have achieved at least junior membership status. Cripes it's getting crowded, because there are so many new members with great stuff to listen to (and learn from). But when the lines of questioning are about totaling Taxi's $$ take from submissions, it REALLY is a waste of my time to be bothered reading the posts. Besides, I'm not that smart, and I don't need more friends... and I don't like it when you waste Vikki's, Matto's, Dave's Zirc's, Mazz', Chits', or Squids valuable time, either. These people are AWESOME HUMAN BEINGS. They deserve your adoration, because they are doing what it is you are seeking to do. Casey, well, he's awfully busy too, but you don't have to adore him. Me, you can call a$$hole, when you need to. Avoid dumb arguments with JD1, or Shakabrah if you can. Nobody's getting paid to help you here. We just do it cause it makes our own lives better. It's pretty simple. I absolutely LOVE hanging out here. Every one of the vets knows that pretty clearly. My own learning curve about music, and my confidence in my abilities, has grown exponentially since joining. Yours will too, but you have to be willing to make your growth your goal. Not domination of Taxi, or this forum. All I'm really asking is that you contribute in a positive way, to this forum. Entertain us a bit, instead of demanding that we justify why you should hang around. Maybe we could create some kind of obstacle course, like a video game... where newbies are trained how to find answers to FAQ's they need. Ya know some kind of bullet proof, read all this section before you're even allowed to post, that is a requirement of participation in the forum. steve