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

[goroth]

"Check out this pic of me with my two loves, my Bass Big Muff and my favorite Hooters waitress"

Hahahaha!

[Heraclitus Akimbo]

This post from Billy Bragg (about a BBC DJ getting fired for sharing a racist meme) reminded me a bit of this thread:

Banter is a form of social lubricant. Among tight-knit groups who live or work together it offers a means of getting through what may be mundane or difficult situations. We banter a lot on the road. Five guys stuck in a van for hours each day travelling to gigs, we use it in conversation to keep ourselves entertained.

However, the key feature of banter is mock humiliation, ‘taking the mickey’ out of each other. Knowing that you can say things about the behaviour of a mate that would otherwise be hurtful – and being able to take the same treatment in response - has the effect of creating a bond among the group. Our friendship is so great that we can say these transgressive things about one another (I’m not talking about racism or sexism or other bigoted discourse – which is never acceptable, even among friends; I’m referring here to general piss-taking).

The trouble arises when that banter comes into contact with the outside world. Those not within the group, unaware of the permissive bond between members, can only take what’s being said at face value. As a result, statements that participants recognise as being in jest can sound hostile, derogatory, racist.

[frodog]

i don't think anyone on this forum is guilty of repelling potential members with their banter. I'd say if you are offended by ILF you must not have seen a lot of internet, and if you're sufficiently nerdy about pedals this forum will 99.99% of the time offend nothing but potentially your bank account.

[Paul_C]

This place is a lot more peaceful (and interesting, especially musically) than a UK guitar forum I also spend time in now and again.

Rare are the threads or comments I might find even borderline distasteful, I like it here.

[Dapper Bandit]

One thing that I thoroughly enjoy about this place is how the community is very 'live and let live' in it's outlook. Having spent a lot of time on what were in retrospect not great forums (DFFD and TB) the mindset of forums in general tend to lean towards cultural fascism in that the consensus was often "that is not correct nor should it be allowed" whereas here people actually have nuanced discussions and are able to agree to disagree, like what adult conversations used to be like! I would say that from what I've seen, the only people that were arguably chased away were folks who were unable or unwilling to adapt away from this conservatism that they either learned or already enjoyed from other forums?

As far as the forum being a vehicle for commerce, I'm not too sure it will ever be able to compete with social media platforms for the reasons laid out earlier but the beauty of ILF lies beyond the cycle of hype and acquisition, which is odd for a gear forum. This is a proper little community of odd people that love music and pedals that are not well represented at this level on any other platform, which is something that should be cherished.

[BitchPudding]

Well said dapper. Well said.

To answer the question on my end:

I've just got a lot going on. My mental health hasn't been the greatest, and after talking to my therapist long and hard (twss) about it, we decided that I should go on anti depressants. Strong ones. So thats something that I've been struggling with because it sort of feels like im giving up by letting meds take over to help me "feel good", but at this point weed can only do so much. So might as well try it or im out of options.

However, in spite of that my year has been pretty good. My band just released a music video that im gonna drop in the music video thread, we're working on an EP as well as setting up gigs. Its been easily the most productive time in my life musically, finally I feel like this is all going somewhere. Where exactly I dont know, but it feels like the right direction.

I'm also finally getting married to MissPudding in October. She's been such a rock for me during this weird ass time in my life, and I can't wait to spend the rest of my life with her. Shes my everything.


ILoveFuzz is always going to be a homebase type spot for me on the internet. from the very beginning years ago when I joined as a wide eyed kid, to now as an adult with adult responsibilities. I feel like I grew up with you guys as my weird pedal loving family. Despite all of the weird shit life has thrown at me, this place has stayed the same. Theres so much I do now thats influenced by what you guys do, I can safely say ILF is part of what made me the musician I am today. For that I will be forever grateful.

I'll always be here bitch, even when things are quiet.

[dubkitty]

forget the "giving up" thing. i didn't love going on antidepressants either, but have come round to the understanding that it's really no different than any other chronic disorder that requires medication. it's no more of a fail than taking insulin for profound diabetes...in fact, it's a Good Thing. i've been doing this for like 20 years now; feel free to hit me up if you want to talk about it

[Gone Fission]

Dubs is right. I went through a deep and long bout of depression as a teen. Still mildly pissed at my mom for saying no to prescribed antidepressants that really would have fucking helped. I fucking needed the assist and denying it wasn't strength, it was denial.

[Warpsmasher]

Hey all, I'm not dead, just in lurk mode while I prepare some new surprises. Haven't bought shit this year, just some mic cables. Started a new project with a female bandmate, and am raising the visual game bigtime. I started using Boris Continuum with Vegas and After Effects, and I'm pretty enthralled with it. I've only been internetting during long slow renders, when the software is busy. The cartooning effects are the best I've seen yet, and of course, lowering the frame rate is also crucial. FX ordering makes huge differences and is yielding amazing psychedelic and retro-futuristic animations, which of course I'll share when ready. Light rays before that dirty toon filter, well, it just made me think of ILF...

[cosmicevan]

As someone who used to frequent music forums consistently over the past 20 years and then switched over to beer forums for almost a decade (after having kids - go figure) and then recently returned to music forums about a year ago...it feels like I'm wading through a wake of jadedness. All the folks who've been around are bored because you've talked it all to death over the past bunch of years and that can come across as snarkiness to someone wide-eyed and excited about gear/music. I'm not wild about social media so perhaps I'm going backwards in loving the comfort of places like this where everything is not so in your face and over marketed, but most other places are so over the top moderated or out of control that people get used to that or sort of expect it?

Returning to some of the forums I used to frequent has been interesting. I still see some of the same people from back in they day, not many...and they are still posting about the same non-sense. Slipping back in doesn't just happen with open arms though. I missed a lot. There are cliques established. Most of the active folks were new people to me, but they are old timers now and I'm the new guy...but I'm the old guy who just came back, but now I'm hanging out on other people's turf. I get that.

Forums are weird like that...they are open and at any point anyone can just walk in, or someone can just quietly be there. I like this place though. There's a ton of knowledgeable musicians here...

[Snufkino]

Whatever happened to Robopimp?

[morange]

As long as people here don't start comparing fill in the blank to "a woman", like I see on other forums frequently. Physical cringe every time. Guitar neckbeards.

I say this as I am reading an article about how Stradivarius violins were made to sound more like a woman's singing voice, whereas its predecessors sound more masculine. Goddammit.

[JonnyAngle]

As long as people here don't start comparing fill in the blank to "a woman", like I see on other forums frequently. Physical cringe every time. Guitar neckbeards.

I say this as I am reading an article about how Stradivarius violins were made to sound more like a woman's singing voice, whereas its predecessors sound more masculine. Goddammit.

Hot chick singerbabe threads are LOL

[Christophe]

Funny: a few days ago I wanted to revive the old Seppuku thread, just to say that I’ve been missing that level of excitement on Ilf, and I found this thread! (previous title was deceptive for me indeed)…
I joined Ilf 4 years ago because every thorough search on google for in-depth knowledge on gear inevitably led to Ilf threads (by the way: the ilovefuzz pages do not pop up anymore when you google search a pedal). This place has become the Great Library of Gear!…. Archives for any piece of gear ever created. You can endlessly wander here and find info, and have fun, and enjoy the spirit. There’s no other place that can play that role. It has become an authority + the “fuck you bro” attitude!
I’m browsing almost everyday here, not posting much these days.
Back to Seppuku: I was about to write that pedal life was less boring with people like Rhys… Would it be awkward to say that the forum’s energy depends on the pedal world’s news? When new gear gets boring, the forum gets a bit dull…?
On the other hand: when the bitquest came out, there was like 20 threads going on at the same time, the whole forum was all over it. But when the Atmosphere came out –I was kind of expecting the same excitement- there wasn’t even one dedicated topic to it (in "general gear" at least)…. So maybe the pedal market has reached a saturation point and we’re losing the need to talk gear?
Anyway, happy to chime in cuz I love this place.

[Deltaphoenix]

I will throw a mayonnaise jar of cum on everyone in this fucking place!!!