Mod Wiggler

[J3RK]

It used to be a LOT better.

Granted, the sense of humor was different, and not to everyone’s taste of course, but it was friendlier, more or less self policed, and while not exactly PC, didn’t need to be as there were other places where that was more the tone. It was more a gathering of weird people that were into modular synths, rather than a modular synth place first that weird people showed up to later and needed toning down.

Now, it’s moderated a bit more heavily than I feel it should be on THAT side of things, and maybe not enough where people just need a reminder to be a bit more friendly.

The Euro boom is where things started slipping in down the Slut path if I may be so bold. Before that, it was a place where people were just excited about all this stuff, and could also let loose a bit.

There are still a lot of REALLY REALLY COOL people on there, but they tend to stick to their favorite sub forums. My favorites are 5U, 4U, and DIY. DIY is especially friendly in comparison to all the rest. If you need to know something about circuits, repairing, building, designing, there’s no better place on the internet. (Electro-Music is up there, but not as active these days.)

Also, I miss Mike. He was a good virtual friend of mine. We started talking before the forum, way back on modularsynth.net. We both had a thing for Frac and Wiard synths, and kept in touch over the years.

If it wasn’t for that site, I don’t know if I’d be designing synths these days. Roman got his start on there (Black Corporation), Girts of Erica fame, Tony of Makenosie, and a lot more. In fact we all used to trade PCBs, exchange ideas, etc. on there. There’s not another place like it on the internet. At least that’s how it was.

[elxsound]

I only communicated with him in passing on KVR, before MW became what it’s been and of course what it is now.

I never thought it would see the amount users it has now… and I guess I signed up officially during the boom?

I doubt my 6 or 7 posts there are contributing to much of anything.

[what_gives]

@nilsec

I’m totally necro-ing this thread but is it me or is this community a little more toxic than most.

(Totally antidotal of course). I’ve posted 2 things in this forum and was met with ridiculous hostility.

Where are you going with this?

[nilsec]

That was it. Fellow Elektronauts talked about their experiences. (on whether it was more toxic than most.)

[J3RK]

Well, in comparison, Elektronauts has like 0.000000000000000112% toxicity.

I’d say there’s definitely some on Mod/Muff, but mostly contained in the Euro section. Maybe occasionally things get a bit heated on the topic of Serge and its various purveyors. It’s always been like that wherever Serge is discussed though. Overall, I’d say it’s generally not all that toxic, unless maybe you’re in one of the bonkers, off the wall image threads, in which case the warning is in the thread topic. (stay out unless you’re not easily offended )

Really though, the only places I’ve seen outright toxicity to the point where I saw myself out and closed accounts were one computer hardware site, and GearSlutz. Even when you try to be nice there, it’s greeted with pure bitchery.

So, that’s why I hang out here, and Mod’s (but contained to 4U, 5U, and DIY forums). Never run into that.

[nilsec]

My questions were in the Eurorack section.

@what_gives,
So a manufacturer released a new product and had some “Synthfluencers” demo their new product, and bunch of people were complaining that by allowing "Synthfluencers to demo the product they were spoiling the product by “discovering all the sounds first.” then proceeded to call the demoers “chimps.”

I voiced that if you don’t like synthfluencer vids, don 't click on those links (literally provided by the manufacture!), and asked if anyone received their preorder yet. I have like 10 posts total on that forum. So that “bunch of people” kinda decended opon me for only having 10 posts and that I must be some sort of concern troll, etc.

Anyway, it’s all rather dumb. I just wanted to gage my experience with other peoples. I rather like Elektronauts and wanted to feel out other Elektronauts’ experiences there.

[Karl_Joseph]

At some point it became a forum of whiners.

[chiasticon]

@J3RK

Maybe occasionally things get a bit heated on the topic of Serge and its various purveyors

Buchla and its offshoots are also fairly polarizing in the 4U subforum these days. actually, maybe polarizing is the wrong word… most people there voice their displeasure with Buchla in general, even if they simultaneously love Buchla

@nilsec yeah the mention of any opinion on synthfluencers seems to drag things off-topic and bring the pitchforks out, for some reason. happens all the time. even in the Cascadia thread last week.

[Kegeratorz]

Wait a minute, there’s other forums?

[J3RK]

Yeah, that’s stupid. Seriously, when did it become ok to do this sort of thing in general? If you don’t like something, don’t watch it, don’t respond to it, and let others get on with their day?

I also hate it when people jump on new people or old people with low post counts. A question is a question. If you can’t answer it, leave it alone, or maybe at least put in a little toungue in cheek joke if you must be that way. I agree though, that kind of attitude doesn’t accomplish anything. Every one of those people were new at one point too.

Well, on behalf of all of those who used to make that place the best place to be, I’m sorry you had to put up with that crap.

The thing I don’t like are the people that are just offended about absolutely everything because that’s the thing to do now. You used to be able to be just plain silly on that site, maybe even slightly offensive, but not in a targeting kind of way, and people would laugh, or just plain call you an idiot.

But, I suppose those days are pretty much past all over the place.

[onthebannedwagon]

@J3RK

There are still a lot of REALLY REALLY COOL

I agree but it seems like a lot of interesting people stopped posting. I miss the members only section, is that too as dead; as the other non-modular sub-fora? I am dying to see what’s in there these days…

[J3RK]

Not sure actually. I used to drop into the silly photos threads on occasion, but had to be in just the right mood for that. There were typically some interesting conversations in those sections too. I haven’t popped into those for quite a while though. I generally hit the 4U section really quick, then hop into the DIY forum for a while to check out what’s new, then I head back over to Elektronauts. Many of my favorite people from there and I still email back and forth off-site, but I do miss quite a few people that left there, and I haven’t found elsewhere. I used to love reading Grant Richter’s (Wiard Synthesizer) posts. I always learned a lot from him. He’s one of the reasons I started designing, moreso than other icons of synthery. He kind of disappeared altogether though. Hope all is well with him. A few others I see on here sometimes, which is cool. Alessandro Cortini used to post on there, and those threads were usually fun. Josh Holley of Malekko too. He was always fun to talk to. Then of course the people on here that I still talk to frequently. There are still some great people that have been around over the years in the DIY sub though. Neil Johnson for one. Huge repository of knowledge. Too many people to list actually, but there are a few that I just haven’t seen on any site recently.

[elxsound]

@J3RK

I also hate it when people jump on new people or old people with low post counts.

To the Elektronauts credit… I never saw that here.

I think this format also works really well for that. You have to click on profiles to see more instead of responding to the content.

Still I see the whole influencer thing a bit of a sore subject everywhere. Here in the Pulsar-23 a couple voiced displeasure that Soma partnered with an influencer and how it was off brand or something like that.

Sometime the same comments get applied here like for the DT update and the partnership with loopcloud.

The point being… don’t let people ruin things for you. There’s always 1 or maybe 10, but just share your opinion like everyone else and keep moving.

It might be New Yorker thing, but in general crazy, funny, scary, disturbing and amazing things happen but you keep moving all the same.

[plragde]

I’m definitely more hesitant on ModWiggler; I post less, make fewer jokes, try to have more of a factual basis or personal experience to build a post on. That Cascadia thread got weird, but I think it was only a few people. If you stay away from hot-rail topics (there are some here also, let’s not kid ourselves), you’re probably okay. I would put the ModularGrid forum, the Gear Page, and Reddit’s various synth-related categories in the next tier down from MW.

[J3RK]

The influencer thing needs to be dropped. They have their uses, and if one can’t discern for themselves the useful parts of the videos, or watch the ones with the personalities they gel with, and not the others, or make informed decisions about gear with or without them, then I really don’t know what to say. There is nothing wrong with what these people do. It’s been the way of things for decades. Except what was once a periodical in print, is now videos. People should just grow up a bit, make informed decisions, don’t look at things they don’t want to look at, and let others do as they please. I’m tired of people trying to dictate what is and isn’t ok for everyone else. It’s becoming stifling, and which is why I’m prone to little outbursts about it all on occasion.

If someone is letting an influencer into their head a bit too much, that’s not on the influencer. That’s on the person in question.

I personally like to watch all of them (well the ones I like) get a feel for something from several peoples’ points of view, then read up, then see what people think on a place like this, and then, you know, MAKE AN INFORMED DECISION.

And as for people saying that “The influencers are using up all the good sounds before other people can.” that is the most asinine, small minded, petty, jealous, bullshit that I’ve ever heard in my life. Those people need to find a new hobby, profession, collection.

[plragde]

The one thing I don’t like about influencers is that they tend to shape the discourse, that is, they are a source of received wisdom. But that’s not on them, really. If it wasn’t them, it would be some other group. At least this way it’s out in the open.

[J3RK]

Well, to the degree that people allow it to be shaped. Sure, there will be people that will go by what they say, because they don’t have as broad of knowledge or background perhaps. I can see that. However, I think there are just as many professionals, deep hobbyists, and nerds that they can all make up their own minds.

In my opinion, I don’t find influencers all that influencing. I view them as data-point presenters.

Loopop’s videos show what something can do. I don’t need the editorial, I just like seeing the capabilities, and he lines them all up, in easy to digest chunks. Starsky Carr does A:B comparisons to other synths. Bo puts them through their paces as someone that just likes to have a bit of fun with something. Stimming uses them in ways that I may or may not, but also makes me giggle. Jeremy and Cuckoo whip up cool tracks and get excited. So, if I combine all of this, take the bits and pieces that I need to know, and get entertained by the personalities a bit in the process, I can generally interpolate or extrapolate the actual data that I need. I also like to hit up some of the outliers that have smaller channels. AudioPilz, Tim Shoebridge, and some that are less influencers, and more just gear nuts like me, like Stazma, Doctor Mix, Firechild, GLASYS, etc.

[plragde]

That’s pretty much the way I operate, also.

[J3RK]

Hehehe, I’ve been following the Baboon/Droolmaster since Harmony Central KSS days.

That was the pre-slut-slut-site. All of the people that moved to GS were once on KSS. Similar discourse, but for some reason it seemed less toxic way back then (early 2000s) and just a bit more funny. Still had that feeling of needing to prove what one knew though before the banter could be participated in.

Hobbies eh? They’re a motherfucker.

[jdaddyaz]

This got me thinking about all the forums I use to frequent that were really active, and then because of one reason or another, became ghost towns, which includes several music specific sites on techno, and house, and others that were specific, like Kratom Connoisseurs. It’s so weird. Undergroundhouse.net use to be a really active site, but now is no more, and it wasn’t sudden. I think it’s problem was that they switched their provider, but had some trouble, so it took awhile and people just moved on by the time it came back, and those who did comeback, stopped doing so as frequently as before. I still talk to people from there, but the site is done. It’s a sad, and I often wonder how many of those people are doing, if their still alive, or what they’re up to. Many had a positive impact on my life in difficult times, and like a lost loved one, never got to tell them.