Participation shifted...

[Hellfire]

...as participation has shifted from Forums to Facebook groups.

This quote is originally from the Topic Strata core module not loading. However, it's very true.    

I find people only come here now as a last resort. Which means people aren't getting the big questions on Facebook groups (or from Alesis) answered.

I know there are only a handful of members that are still active on this forum (BTW, I haven't said it enough, but Thank You). I've questioned a lot lately on what to do about this. Normally I would have a topic like this in the Top Floor Club section, Unfortunately this is too big of an issue not to have it in the general forum.

New or Old members, I'm open to ideas and your thoughts on how to increase real traffic/eyeballs to this forum. I'll consider any reasonable ideas... Or maybe it's too late, I don't know. If you could, please post your thoughts/comments on the subject.

Thanks,

HF

[Chaser]

...as participation has shifted from Forums to Facebook groups.

This quote is originally from the Topic Strata core module not loading. However, it's very true.    

I find people only come here now as a last resort. Which means people aren't getting the big questions on Facebook groups (or from Alesis) answered.

I know there are only a handful of members that are still active on this forum (BTW, I haven't said it enough, but Thank You). I've questioned a lot lately on what to do about this. Normally I would have a topic like this in the Top Floor Club section, Unfortunately this is too big of an issue not to have it in the general forum.

New or Old members, I'm open to ideas and your thoughts on how to increase real traffic/eyeballs to this forum. I'll consider any reasonable ideas... Or maybe it's too late, I don't know. If you could, please post your thoughts/comments on the subject.

Thanks,

HF

That is a Tough question...especially since AI is now getting involved/training in the browsers.
I know many now that use ChatGPT for research including Code development and Project Development.
I would imagine eventually the AI Models will assimilate (steal) info from All sites.
I don't belong to any Social Media.There is not enough time in the day to be constantly monitoring for a question that may or may not get lost in all of the posts , not to mention deciphering a question made up of abbreviations and emoji.
I know too many people glued to their phones and wonder why they can't seem to be more productive...don't want to be one of them.

I have also noticed the Public groups I would occasionally check on ..now require some sort of login even to just view page/posts.
Forums are as the title of this one..a "Community" made up of Individuals/Users..participation builds the overall knowledge base.
Social media is made up of Individuals trying to direct attention to themselves build up their page/presence.
The majority of my friends have kids and younger drummers who consider Facebook is for "Old" people and are on TikTok promoting themselves or their Business Models,Websites etc where Participation appears to be more Video Oriented and users today are looking for answers in a Video format..
I believe a large amount of answers in this data base are/or can be turned into Videos for Youtube Channels etc
I would imagine you could create/Post some sort of Promo Video for a Usermade Community for Hard to Find Answers for Obsolete/Old/New Alesis Drum Products..and link it to here and see how the Voting system goes om whatever Platform it's posted on.
For you it would be 1 more thing to monitor...and some may expect answers/responses in Realtime 24/7..which isn't typical for a Forum..

Computers are already being released with the New AI Chips..you can set them up for Daily tasks, Create Audio.. Videos etc,without an Internet Connection.

Example:Dell AI PC.

I would imagine all Apple products will follow shortly as I receive Developer News and AI Chip (Apple Intelligence) also being developed..including AI Server Chips.

Years and Years ago I had an Audio Engineering/Producer P2P site and before I sold it (and Torrenting became controversial) I incorporated a Chatbox with all options that was available at that time...participation increased but so did a lot of undesirable activity and work.To give you an idea how long ago..the Chatbox was filled up with "Keyboard Cats'..gifs,belligerent drunks etc ..so you had to scroll through all of the posts and the language became less "Family Friendly"..so it had to monitored constantly and over time,site had to go private a number of the options were removed and eventually the Chatbox itself.
The Old days it was belligerent Drunks,Spammers,Hit N Runners etc...today it is more bots, Political etc...but close to the same language..lol
 
I am sure many Forums (that are still around..many are gone) are also trying to address this,especially those that don't have a major Sponsor picking up the Bill.
I constantly get notifications on the Web Archives (Wayback Machine) needing Donations/Support as the site is down to fighting Month to Month to keep the lights on..

Once again..a Tough Question..and with the latest change/trend being AI and the urgency/immediacy to adapt..makes it even harder to answer...if there is one that would apply.I have seen some Forums add an AI Assisted Search..then remove it.
Forums are and should be...people to people communication.
 
Even the email service I have now has incorporated AI and is Summarizing my emails as I receive them and a suggestion how to respond,so I would imagine it's only a matter of time when you can simply ask/type a question on your computer and receive an answer...for any subject.

EDIT:
Added Link

[ap]

First of all, I love this forum. I found it years ago when I bought an Alesis DM10 and have found it invaluable. Thanks, Hellfire, for keeping it going.

I think Chaser is right. The future might involve an AI component that can make it simpler for users and newbies to ask a question and find (helpful, usually correct) answers from the vast alesisDrummer knowledge base. But yes, also the actual interaction between users is something that can get lost with a pure AI approach. I enjoy the posts from the folks who are enthusiastically sharing pictures of their kits and describing how they are using alesis drums for work or pleasure. AI can't really replicate that. But I do wonder what an LLM trained on just the alesisDrummer data might be able to accomplish?

I peruse reddit drum groups -- two or three -- and over the years, I've pointed several people with questions to the answers that are found here. The feedback from these people has been very positive, but I'm not sure how many continue to make this forum a frequent resource. I find that reddit itself is not a great resource for the "harder" questions.

I check this forum every day. I think it's good to think about the future. I'm not going anywhere.

[AlanK]

I also want to thank you, Hellfire, for all the effort you've put into this forum, and Chaser and others who have contributed SO much knowledge to the discussions. I found it sometime around 2010 when I bought my DM10X and was doing a mesh conversion and wanted to know what others had done.. then the ProX hihat came along and I used this forum to learn about settings.. I've poked around here for a decade and a half now, I don't use it near as much as I used to.. I began using Addictive Drums and basically left my module as it was set for that and working.. then the Strike came out and other lower end kits (I call them that because of the drum sizes and number of cymbals but I'm sure the modules were great). I just never upgraded and now that we're into the Strata there are few and far between any questions about the DM10 series.. also about 8 yrs ago I got my hands on an acoustic set and even though in a townhouse decided to soundproof as best I could and screw the neighbours :-).

In any case, I find it so frustrating all the people who ask repetitive questions that are easily found in the manuals, seems few people know that even if they didn't get one or lost it, they can download it.. some days it's just all lazy postings, and a few good ones that I read just to stay abreast of what the experiences are like with the newer flagship models.. I may someday be able to buy one.. but otherwise I'm dropping by less and less and my useage is becoming somewhat relic with my old module. But I love that kit, and have modded it a lot and it's a beautiful thing so I keep it and play on it a few times a year.

I feel like even if I don't partake of this forum as often as I used to, I'd hate to see it go away or change too much. It's a bit of a comfort, and feels like a family (or community at least). Who knows, I'm retiring very soon so maybe I'll have more time to get on my DM10X and explore more of the module features that I never had time to.. or perhaps I'll be able to afford an upgrade and then will be in line with more of the topics that arise.

I was a member of one of the facebook Alesis groups and wasn't too impressed. More of the same, questions that seemed like common sense but the poster didn't want to take any time to figure things out.. postings written on cheesy colourful backgrounds with cartoon people waving or whatever, just so childish to me. And like Chaser said, the emojis and abbreviations and poor spelling and grammar.. I get there could be a lot of posts where english isn't their first language, it's just draining.. like people who see your for sale ad and use the canned "still available?" .. nobody seems to make an effort to be literary and use initiative and act like a human.. I could die happy if I never saw another I'm Interested reply. hahahaha ok, rant off..

TLDR: love the forum, hope it stays alive even if I don't participate as much as I used to, thanks to Hellfire and all for the amazing efforts!

[Hellfire]

Thanks guys!

I'll have to give it all some more thought. I've got some ideas but, for now I've turned off registration to the site. Starting back on May 27th the site started giving hit hard from what looks like bots. We've had this issue in the past, but this is been the longest one yet. I'm guessing there is a lot of "scraping" going on. Turning registration (temp thing) has slowed down the issue some. I've been blocking IP's like crazy. The bigger issue is every time this kind of thing happens I notice a lot less real traffic after. It's as if it effects the search engines in some way. I don't know, I'll figure it out eventually.