Where is Blu-ray.com headed?

[GasCat]

I used to love the boards here. You could post and follow a thread.
Conversations took place and friends were made. Right now the forum has reached a stage where it is too large.

We are met with the overzealous moderation due to immature posters. We also have over-reactive posters like those found on AVS demanding everything be deleted acting as if they were the MPAA ratings board.

It's odd on one hand you have a board like slashdot where nothing is really discussed just a flippant comments are made. On the other side you have people who do not want to have any discussion on certain subjects and demand removal.

Is this the sad fate of all boards and once tight communities? I thank the administrators here for the space to speak. It was a very refreshing change from other forums pro-HD-DVD.

Perhaps you can make a "Veterans of the War" board with posting limited? I don't know. What is the future of Blu-Ray.com going to look like? Maybe others here are also concerned and would love to know the direction. Perhaps this thread could be a vehicle for that.

Goodbye and thanks again. It was fun. For myself, this place isn't worth it to be here at this time.

[jw]

Originally Posted by GasCat

I used to love the boards here. You could post and follow a thread.
Conversations took place and friends were made. Right now the forum has reached a stage where it is too large.

We are met with the overzealous moderation due to immature posters. We also have over-reactive posters like those found on AVS demanding everything be deleted acting as if they were the MPAA ratings board.

It's odd on one hand you have a board like slashdot where nothing is really discussed just a flippant comments are made. On the other side you have people who do not want to have any discussion on certain subjects and demand removal.

Is this the sad fate of all boards and once tight communities? I thank the administrators here for the space to speak. It was a very refreshing change from other forums pro-HD-DVD.

Perhaps you can make a "Veterans of the War" board with posting limited? I don't know. What is the future of Blu-Ray.com going to look like? Maybe others here are also concerned and would love to know the direction. Perhaps this thread could be a vehicle for that.

Goodbye and thanks again. It was fun. For myself, this place isn't worth it to be here at this time.

very true, its all downhill from here. Para/Univ need to defect quickly I am tired of reading the same thread, just different sources

[Grisle]

I was thinking about maybe a premium membership...we could pay a certain amount for access to exclusive areas. I think it would suck to pay, but it would ween out those who just want to come and mess with us.

[Mericalis]

Originally Posted by Grisle

I was thinking about maybe a premium membership...we could pay a certain amount for access to exclusive areas. I think it would suck to pay, but it would ween out those who just want to come and mess with us.

This has already been discussed before. Mods (Iceman specifically) have already stated that this site will stay free for now.

[Teazle]

Originally Posted by GasCat

We are met with the overzealous moderation due to immature posters. We also have over-reactive posters like those found on AVS demanding everything be deleted acting as if they were the MPAA ratings board.

Then there are those of us who don't want it censored, merely better organized -- so it's easier for users to sift the hard information from the on-topic discussion of the hard information from the banter.

Especially the Insiders Thread, which IMHO is now completely undermined. Not just to read but even to post questions to insiders -- legitimate queries are being lost in the flood of casual conversation/commentary.

[JimPullan]

Now that this format war is coming to an 'end', this site, its esteemed members from the audio/video industry, the studio and media insiders, and all those who can impart "Facts" as opposed to speculation, rumor and conjecture, should now focus our attention to educating and equipping the masses who have standard DVD players to transistion to Blu-ray High Definition entertainment.

Our site should contain a wealth of information on the various features and benefits of all the product offerings, hardware and software available to the general consumer, to include product comparisons, recommendations, and so on. Amplifying the wonderful advantages and benefits of high definition presentations, both visually and audibly, with special attention to the synergy of the simplicity of operation of a display, the receiver or pre-amp, and the Blu-ray player utilizing the CEC functions on many family products.

Also, offer more discussion and reviews on musical entertainment, whether Blu-ray DVD concerts or 'music only' concerts using the advanced audio codec's featured in Blu-ray players, capturing the attention of the Audiophile as well as the videophile.

Thsi is my desire for this site, more factually informative and far less speculative, where the consumer can come here for "Answers" based upon facts, using the information here to make an informed purchasing decision.

Jim Pullan
Audio Excellence
audioexcellenceocala.com

[greekjgg]

The real problem!!

I think the main reason there is a lot of many repeat threads is the fact that there is a most recent threads viewer at the bottom right of the home page.

You only see like the 15 most recent ones of ALL the categories. Most people just cruise this list in general and miss a lot of the REPEAT threads. I know that is what I NORMALLY do. However, when I want to START a thread. You have to click on forum and then the appropriate subject. It is there that I check to see if somebody posted the information first.

As conveinient as this little tracker is, I believe it adds to all the confusion to this board sometimes.

[MatrixS2000]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

Now that this format war is coming to an 'end', this site, its esteemed members from the audio/video industry, the studio and media insiders, and all those who can impart "Facts" as opposed to speculation, rumor and conjecture, should now focus our attention to educating and equipping the masses who have standard DVD players to transistion to Blu-ray High Definition entertainment.

Our site should contain a wealth of information on the various features and benefits of all the product offerings, hardware and software available to the general consumer, to include product comparisons, recommendations, and so on. Amplifying the wonderful advantages and benefits of high definition presentations, both visually and audibly, with special attention to the synergy of the simplicity of operation of a display, the receiver or pre-amp, and the Blu-ray player utilizing the CEC functions on many family products.

Also, offer more discussion and reviews on musical entertainment, whether Blu-ray DVD concerts or 'music only' concerts using the advanced audio codec's featured in Blu-ray players, capturing the attention of the Audiophile as well as the videophile.

Thsi is my desire for this site, more factually informative and far less speculative, where the consumer can come here for "Answers" based upon facts, using the information here to make an informed purchasing decision.

Jim Pullan
Audio Excellence
audioexcellenceocala.com

+1 - very good post.

[HDJK]

+ another 1

[Joe Cain]

+1 to JimPullan's post.

When the format war winds down I hope to see some naturally-occurring changes.

It's hard to rein in the madness that comes with feeling victory is imminent---I totally get that, and I feel a little giddy and celebratory these days myself. However...

I joined in early September. One of my earliest posts was about technical trouble with my PS3. I got some good feedback. Just two months later, I saw new members getting immolated because they made the mistake of being new and asking for help at a time when anyone with a low post count who claimed to have any problem with anything related to BD was automatically assumed (by a significant percentage of members here) to be trolling.

When this stupid format war is over and done with it will be nice to see this site become the easy-going, baggage-unencumbered HT enthusiast resource that it has been and should be.

[greekjgg]

The congestion on this forum is no different then any popular forum. Originally it was made up of mostly early adoptors and that led to great discussions. With blu becoming the main attraction, we are now adding to it the first of the mass adopters.

ANy popular forum is like driving down the highway.

1. THere will ALWAYS be somebody driving in the fast lane that shouldn't be
2. There will ALWAYS be spectactors who slow down to look at the accident
3. There will ALWAYS be somebody that is talking on their cell phone not paying attention and missing important information.

There is NOTHING you can do about this except to DEAL WITH IT. What your wanting to do in a sense is drive with a gun and shoot anyone who gets in your way.

[DrinkMore]

As with all things - it reaches a critical mass at some point and "explodes". After that it's a downwards trend. Once Blu-Ray is mainstream and all studios support it - this wonderful site will pretty much become useless. No offense.

In all honesty, how many people spend their days on DVD forums talking about new releases and new "editions" of the same movie? Not many. I would rather not and just buy movies


EDIT: I also think everyone here should be reset back to 0. Start from scratch. Quit a few people - the ones that cause problems - will leave because all they care about is how many posts they have.

[Marwin]

There are a few things that are compounding the issues with the forum right now:

1) A lot more members than usual are online and posting during CES
2) A lot more speculation is going on because of the Warner announcement and the current situation in the format war (what will happen with Universal, Paramount, HD DVD)
3) Some of the newer or less experienced members are creating a lot of duplicate threads that really shouldn't exist to begin with
4) We are currently a few moderators short during CES

Hopefully things will quiet down and get back towards normal after CES, but please know that we are aware of these problems and will do what we can to get things back on track. We're already working on a new format/layout for the Insiders discussion, as well as discussing other changes that will help improve the forum.

We're always interested in hearing what our members think, so feel free to post your suggestions here

[Magic]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

Now that this format war is coming to an 'end', this site, its esteemed members from the audio/video industry, the studio and media insiders, and all those who can impart "Facts" as opposed to speculation, rumor and conjecture, should now focus our attention to educating and equipping the masses who have standard DVD players to transistion to Blu-ray High Definition entertainment.

Our site should contain a wealth of information on the various features and benefits of all the product offerings, hardware and software available to the general consumer, to include product comparisons, recommendations, and so on. Amplifying the wonderful advantages and benefits of high definition presentations, both visually and audibly, with special attention to the synergy of the simplicity of operation of a display, the receiver or pre-amp, and the Blu-ray player utilizing the CEC functions on many family products.

Also, offer more discussion and reviews on musical entertainment, whether Blu-ray DVD concerts or 'music only' concerts using the advanced audio codec's featured in Blu-ray players, capturing the attention of the Audiophile as well as the videophile.

Thsi is my desire for this site, more factually informative and far less speculative, where the consumer can come here for "Answers" based upon facts, using the information here to make an informed purchasing decision.

Jim Pullan
Audio Excellence
audioexcellenceocala.com

I couldn't agree more. A++++ for this post.

[iceman]

Unfortunately I have to agree with a lot of you.

I believe a big problem is that with the format war there have been so much going on and people are just too anxious and hyperactive. This has been especially true the last past weeks. We have been extremely busy and unfortunately we haven't had the time to see over the forum as much as we would have liked to. In any case, here are a few things that we will do:

1. Try to educate new Blu-ray fans/members better, by having better FAQs, better stickies, better organization etc. One drastical way is also to not allow new members to create new threads. There is actually such a restriction already in place, but it's only 3 days long.

2. Expand the forum and make more dedicated sections, allowing for more advanced discussions among the more professional members. We just created a dedicated HT section for more serious and specific HT discussions. We have previously tried to keep the forum small to get the discussions going, but it's obvious that we now have the discussions going... expect more expansions and better organization.

3. Make a dedicated, much cleaner Insiders area.

4. Expand all site sections, especially "Players", "Recorders", "Drives", "Media" on the top menu and make them similar to the "Movies" section. We have been working on a new Players section for quite a while now and it should be ready within a near future.

Edit: Damn marwin

[WimeTime]

As a person that is fairly new to posting I have been following the board for a very long time, and only in the past few months have decided to become a member. At the time I was really excited about. The information that I got from people on here was tremendous. I sincerely took people on this forum as being expert when getting advice. However, with the recent mass postings I too have felt that there is really no need to post. I too am tired of all the Paramount talk, Universal talk, I have resorted to skimming the left hand side of recent news just to see if it really has ended.

I do however think that this site has sooo much experience to give to people that really want it. Probably 98% of the information on blu-ray I was receiving I was getting from here. Even though my post number is small, from a reader standpoint, I too have lost the excitement.

[JimPullan]

The vast majority of consumers who enter my store are totally confused about the differences of products being offered today. I spend alot of time educating them, in terms thay can understand, so they can feel comfortable that they've made the right purchasing decision, not thinking did I make the right decision. This lack of knowledge spreads across all technologies, HDTV's, Receivers and Pre-Amp Processors, High Definition DVD Players, understanding what all these advanced audio codecs offer in their audio experience, what they need to hear it, and so on, and so on.

So, I disagree that this site becomes worthless once the format war is over.

The "challange" is to inform and equip the new, prospective buyer of high definition entertainment products with information (Facts) they can use. This in my opinion is paramount to the adoption, on a mass scale, to what we early adopters have fought so hard to bring into the limelight. So, our task is not ending, it is just beginning, with an audience of similar interest to ours, simply less informed. At least, in accepting this challange, and helping the uninformed, there will be less tension around here, less speculation or heresay, he said, she said, kinda stuff. I'll find that refreshing [Jim]

Originally Posted by DrinkMore

As with all things - it reaches a critical mass at some point and "explodes". After that it's a downwards trend. Once Blu-Ray is mainstream and all studios support it - this wonderful site will pretty much become useless. No offense.

In all honesty, how many people spend their days on DVD forums talking about new releases and new "editions" of the same movie? Not many. I would rather not and just buy movies


EDIT: I also think everyone here should be reset back to 0. Start from scratch. Quit a few people - the ones that cause problems - will leave because all they care about is how many posts they have.

[stockstar1138]

+ 1 to Jim

This site needs to be free and up and running for at least the next 5 years to inform new buyers about blu-ray.

i think a lot of people stumble on this site, when they are actually looking for blu-raydisc.com, i did at least.

this site provides better information than blu-raydisc.com, so i think its important that we are here

[davidPS3]

Good thread here. I for one have enjoyed this site. Lots of info and good feed-back and opinions.

I think that honestly though there was mentioned of having new members wait awhile before posting as I think this is a big frustration with new members coming on board and asking really old questions or posting in the wrong places. Not sure what the solution is, just know that there could be a fix somehow. Also, I think that alot of the threads get off topic alot (now) and then we have the same threads on the same topics, just different headers and I think these could be consolidated or deleted by mods.

I would be discouraged if some of the long time members leave out of frustration, but would respect the fact that some are just tired and may honestly need a break, but come back for sure.

[DrinkMore]

Originally Posted by JimPullan

The vast majority of consumers who enter my store are totally confused about the differences of products being offered today. I spend alot of time educating them, in terms thay can understand, so they can feel comfortable that they've made the right purchasing decision, not thinking did I make the right decision. This lack of knowledge spreads across all technologies, HDTV's, Receivers and Pre-Amp Processors, High Definition DVD Players, understanding what all these advanced audio codecs offer in their audio experience, what they need to hear it, and so on, and so on.

So, I disagree that this site becomes worthless once the format war is over.

The "challange" is to inform and equip the new, prospective buyer of high definition entertainment products with information (Facts) they can use. This in my opinion is paramount to the adoption, on a mass scale, to what we early adopters have fought so hard to bring into the limelight. So, our task is not ending, it is just beginning, with an audience of similar interest to ours, simply less informed. At least, in accepting this challange, and helping the uninformed, there will be less tension around here, less speculation or heresay, he said, she said, kinda stuff. I'll find that refreshing [Jim]

I agree. My post does not reflect that as usual because my wording is inadequate. As for LATEST and GREATEST hard hitting who is where in the format war - blu-ray.com will be useless at that point. HOWEVER - it will remain the pinnacle place to get any and all info related to blu-ray and how it works and what kind of equipment and so on.

Then again, it's a double edged sword. If blu-ray.com expects to stay booming, they will need to adapt - add new categories to supplement the lack of news or whatever if that makes sense? You can only talk about something so much before it becomes redundant. Without any new stimulation - things become stagnant and die off.