One love. Forum talk. Come one, come all.

[gnomethrone]

What are some interesting pedals that have come out in the last year? I havent been paying attention at all.

[JonnyAngle]

i wanna circle with more jerks here

[Jwar]

i wanna circle with more jerks here

We have enough jerks here to last us a lifetime.

[Ugly Nora]

There's no incentive for new builders to join a dying community. Instagram has over 1 billion active monthly users. That is clearly the best bang for the buck in in terms of time, energy, and exposure.

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[UglyCasanova]

Modular is old men playing with model trains for the new millennia

[univalve]

So much life. Not really often here anymore and i almost have all pedals... What to add? I still love this place and you guys. So circle jerk!

[jrmy]

There's no incentive for new builders to join a dying community. Instagram has over 1 billion active monthly users. That is clearly the best bang for the buck in in terms of time, energy, and exposure.

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This is totally true - so I guess the question for any dying community is: what's the benefit of belonging anyhow? Why did it work in the first place?

In the very first iteration, this was the Devi Ever forum, and Devi let a few other builders have subforums, like Dwarfcraft and Fuzzhugger. Then stuff happened, and Devi handed over the reins to Tom, and other builders joined the forum, and we grew in various ways, and shrunk in others. Some builder subforums flourished with builders that participated, others not so much. The Doom Room ended up coming over after getting kicked off of... somewhere? I can't remember. Crap.

ANYHOW... maybe we first need to address what we really offer as a community. Maybe the important stuff we offer isn't just about gear acquisition, it's about something else. I mean, we already know that this is a "quirky" / sarcastic / in-joking kinda group that leans towards noisier / more exploratory pedal usage (typical response to "how do I sound like X?" or "how do you order your pedals?" is "Go figure it out for yourself. But then post clips!"). So... maybe this isn't about bringing over more builders, or focusing on gear acquisition, but highlighting more conversations around experimentation?

I dunno. I've never really fit well on any other online music forum, so I'd like to see ILF figure it out and weather the changes.

At the end of the day, this really is a user-driven community though, so I guess it's up to us to figure it out - it's not like Tom or Aen have the magical "user spigot" that can just turn participation up...

[Chankgeez]

Why did it work in the first place?

Changes in the way people use technology are a bitch though?

That being said, this forum is more conducive to your post above than most other platforms.

[Ugly Nora]

I predict a resurgence in forum popularity in about 15 years when hipsters decide to forego the use of a superior platform like Instagram, and flock back to the clunkier, less flexible forum format. Just like they did with cassettes.

[Gunner Recall]

ANYHOW... maybe we first need to address what we really offer as a community. Maybe the important stuff we offer isn't just about gear acquisition, it's about something else. I mean, we already know that this is a "quirky" / sarcastic / in-joking kinda group that leans towards noisier / more exploratory pedal usage (typical response to "how do I sound like X?" or "how do you order your pedals?" is "Go figure it out for yourself. But then post clips!"). So... maybe this isn't about bringing over more builders, or focusing on gear acquisition, but highlighting more conversations around experimentation?

I dunno. I've never really fit well on any other online music forum, so I'd like to see ILF figure it out and weather the changes.

At the end of the day, this really is a user-driven community though, so I guess it's up to us to figure it out - it's not like Tom or Aen have the magical "user spigot" that can just turn participation up...

I think jrmy hit on something here. Yeah this place started as a place to hang with Devi, and being able to interact and have input with fuzzhugger/Dr.Scientist,Dwarfcraft,ss/bs and others definitely drew people in..but I always felt it was the general gear/discussion forums that really kept this place going.

I don't think any of the social media platforms in their current form could ever replace a forum. They are simply lacking for the kind of interaction necessary for a community.
The closest thing maybe would be reddit. The subs are more focused on gear acquisition but occasionally you see the kinds of post you'd expect from ILF.

Of course this is coming from somebody who rarely touches FB/snap and has never owned an instragram (I still don't understand why it exists).
Maybe we just need more tiktok clips

[JonnyAngle]

I've never met you. You left before I joined. I think I'd like you.

[sylnau]

Builder sub forum are so quiet. It was cool around 2011 to have to interac with them.

[Chankgeez]

If it's a choice between something like Facebook/Twitter/Instagram or here, there's no contest. A builder can reach a far wider audience on any of those platforms. There's only so much time available for self-promotion. Of course, for more in depth discussion, this'll always be a better place.

[BetterOffShred]

I hate Twitter and Instagram TBH..

A builder will debut something cool, and it'll have like 700 comments, 687 of which are like "dude badass!!" And that's it. He/she is never going to mine the comments section to find meaningful analysis posts etc..

I feel like that is just built in to a forum. Most of the time people taking the time to log in etc. Are going to say something of value if that's what the post is about.

That being said we all drop "dude badass" posts from time to time

[Ugly Nora]

I enjoy forums for all those reasons as well...in depth conversations, sense of community etc. But time and resources are limited for everyone. So knowing where to focus your time and resources that will result in the most people seeing your stuff and translating it into sales is an important part of running a business. Yes, posting here will most likely result in sales as well, but it will be at a higher customer acquisition cost. I think that is all it comes down to- where is a builder (or any business) going to get the best return on investment?