Since two members here are doing their best to make a controversy out of the way these forums are administered, I just want to make it clear to everyone exactly what I'm dealing with from said individuals. Starting with this post which I just deleted from the Photobucket Alternatives topic.

Those of you who can do without the drama (most of you I imagine), please feel free to ignore this thread. I'm posting it purely in the interest of absolute transparency until this silly situation is sorted out.

Deleted from http://soundtrackcentral.com/any-absolu … ere/tp8417

Adam, so you support that asshole jb? Well then f--- YOU.

Dude, are you okay?

I don't think I've ever seen you angry at anything throughout the 15+ years I've been coming to STC...
Even the fact that you're sharing an apartment with killer spiders seems to fascinate you more than anything.

I think Jodo was being sarcastic amazingu.

However...

You know what, not that I really care anymore cause this site is on it's last legs and next to no one talks about f---ing VGM anyway, but if you want to say something to me or about me have the f---ing balls to say it you f---ing punk.

I'm far from innocent in any and everything, but the VGM community just BLOWS. You have his half that doesn't talk about jack and then you have the other half born out of Greenings ego-eccentric bunch that clearly feel they're above the others.

But I'll tell you something. It's a secret I've held on to for years. If you want to ban me, go right ahead. I welcome it, I obviously can't help myself from posting, but I would honestly like a reason to quit wasting my time here - cause that's what this place is, a waste of f---ing time.

I'd tell you why what your attempting to do with this thread is stupid, but again, waste o time.

I honestly don't feel I will be losing anything. Next to no one posts anything for sale, it's only a small step above the joke that VGMdb's marketplace is.

I'm out.

I "support" making meaningful posts that don't insult other users or engage in personal attacks.

Even when there are disagreements I'd like to see people post them in ways that try not to offend other members.

Unfortunately that doesn't always happen, but as I try to moderate the forums as little as possible, even if a post is more inflammatory than I'd like, if there's some kind of substantial point being made I'll leave it be.

Posts that have no such point, and are simply an ego-driven jab at another member, waste other readers' time and should be deleted.

I think this all makes perfect sense but if there are any disagreements please let me hear them.

I also want to make it clear that after giving everyone a chance to see and respond to these latest posts I'll be deleting this thread. I originally started it in the interest of transparency but frankly these sorts of bickering posts besides being a waste of time make the forums seem like a toxic, unwelcoming environment.

I've stated on multiple occasions my policy toward moderation (the previous post being another). The long-time members by this point either trust my judgment or not, and new visitors I'm sure can do without the unrelated drama in the first place.

Given Ashley Winchester's history of mean-spirited posts like the ones above I've banned him from the forums. If anyone disagrees with that decision they are welcome to say so - keeping in mind that he himself literally asked for it. Comments in agreement aren't necessary.

Life is too short to spend on getting angry at people over the internet, particularly at the small number of people you share such a niche hobby with.

Could you just make this thread be locked and if there's posts that are deleted and are not complete non-sense just unlock this and make the post and re-lock. Though, it might be too much work for such a small thing that doesn't seem to happen so often in here. Right?

The worst part is, Ashley has a point...

No one talks about game music. What's good. What's crappy. What they just bought. What's new. What they're still listening to. I hear something like Azure Revolution...10-15 years ago, there'd be threads worshipping this soundtrack. It feels like the whole enthusiast element has been stripped out of the hobby for a long time. It hits into my issue with VGMdb...It's an incredibly researched, thorough, painstakingly and lovingly assembled collection of information. But is it any fun to be there? No, unless you're kneedeep in composer breakdowns or translations. I see the forum discussions and I am almost pleading for someone to post something about WHY I would want this soundtrack. Or even why I would want to avoid it. Or some type of subjective analysis. ANYTHING.

Say what you want about Ashley, but at least the guy was making relevant posts about games and their music.

I think a lot of the frustration is seeing moderation from a non participant in the community. I really think outside of a few spats things are always civil here. But what started this thread wasn't mean spirited posts, it was avatar posting off topic in a thread. As a result it drove away 1/3 of the forum activity right there.

About time to throw in the towel here. Maybe start a discord channel or facebook/twitter group.

Very true. I've been trying to think of a way to make vgmdb more community driven for a long time now. I've been thinking of a companion site that might sit on top of the data but be completely divorced from the translation/data-entry aspect and instead focus on the 3 Ts: talk, trade, and tag.

I have no real comment about the moderation. I didn't take any great offense to what jodo said but I also don't think it was that bad that it required moderation. If Adam wants to moderate so things don't veer off topic I'm fine with it. Also if jodo thinks that of me either based on that comment, or general post history, it is what it is. I don't hate him and at the end of the day his posts aren't generally problematic like others have been. They are a bit weird, though

I think this is getting off topic but enthusiasm still exists in this hobby. You're conflating the lack of content (communities, discussions, reviews) with a lack of enthusiasm and I think that's somewhat misplaced. Lack of content is because music discovery has changed dramatically in the last 20-30 years. We don't really need reviews or discussions about albums because if we want an opinion on something, we can just go out and find said thing on YouTube of any other of a variety of sites and just form one ourselves. There's no magic in discovery anymore. You don't need a community to discover.

The community these days is in depth, research, and passion. Sites like VGMDB, RPGFan, SEMO, etc are all born from passion and as a result, are generally deep.

I don't go to VGMDB for opinions or reviews. The rating system is worthless. I get annoyed when people try to start discussion about the entry and try to talk about it because VGMDB is data driven. It's a database. I want data, information, research, etc. not opinion. The only way I use VGMDB for discovery is by looking at composers or series and learning about them that way. Of course, this is just my opinion.

I don't know what people really want. Where do you think you can go to get cursory, high level discussion about albums these days? A place like that doesn't exist. Maybe YouTube comments. There's just no value in it anymore when you can easily just find and form your own opinion in less time than it takes to discuss it.

I don't think it's time to put this to rest. It's not as active as it used to be and that's fine. Part of the responsibility lies with us. If we want more discussion, the burden on us is to discuss. I know I don't start discussions all that much mostly because I'm just happy to engage with others who do rather than start the discussion myself. If I have something I think is noteworthy, I will post. If I have mutual interest in a topic, I'll reply. I don't know that I'll change the way I participate because it'd run the risk of just sounding like I'm posting for the sake of posting, but it's something people may want to think about for themselves.

I like this place, and I'd be sad if it disappeared.

I didn't realize there was so much derision and anger in our small community.

I have always felt this place was very lightly moderated, mostly in the spirit of killing conversation that took a turn for the worst.

I am really not aware of vgmdb's market place being a joke. I buy from people their all the time. I even think we have a pretty decent market place here too. I would say a lot of people who have been around for a long time have most of the core albums they want or need and I have seen many threads over time from people pruning their collections.

With any hobby, there is a natural wax and wane. I joined in 2007. I lurked before that. I was only 19 back then. Being 29, working 40+ hours a week, and trying to enjoy all of my different hobbies can definitely be a bear. Some days I have the luxury to relax I don't even do anything. I'm sure all of you have variations of this in your life. Priorities, other hobbies, you know.

It is not an obligation to post here. It's something we do for fun. If no one is interested in the topic, the topic dies, we all move on, the world continues to spin. I'd like to think of the people here as friends I don't see that often but when I do, it is typically a nice time.

So yeah, I go to vgmdb for the wealth of info and the market place. I go to SEMO (it will always be SEMO to me) for the latest album break down or cool interviews, and lastly I come here to talk to my friends. I am super guilty of not being active but it is kind of the nature of things right now. I always get a swell of happiness when I hit my bookmark and I see there are new posts.

I'm gonna keep on coming here, and I am gonna keep reading, and try to post more. I'm gonna miss Ashley. We had a fair amount of mutual interests (fighting games) and he sold me a good amount of albums throughout the years.

Sorry for derailing this thread Adam. I needed to get my 2 cents in here. I don't want this place to go anywhere. So long as you host STC I will continue to come.