Topic: Happy Birthdays

I think George has a good point/idea concerning birthday salutations. With the new look to the website it would be nice to have a Birthday/Well Wishes etc. Topic. Whatta ya thank????????

                                                                                                           Think Green,

                                                                                                           J Dawg

P.S. In case today, June 22nd is somebodies birthday, well HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

What is success? Is it do yo' own thang, or is it to join the rest?   -Allen Toussaint

Re: Happy Birthdays

ohiodawg13 wrote:

I think George has a good point/idea concerning birthday salutations. With the new look to the website it would be nice to have a Birthday/Well Wishes etc. Topic. Whatta ya thank????????

                                                                                                           Think Green,

                                                                                                           J Dawg

P.S. In case today, June 22nd is somebodies birthday, well HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!

Ditto on today, June 23rd!

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"

Re: Happy Birthdays

Yeah, I think I made this suggestion a while back too.  Other forums I've been on usually have just ONE ongoing "Happy Birthday" thread that is usually pinned at the top of the forum for easy access.  Making a new thread for each birthday is really unnecessary, and making multiple threads for one person's birthday is just plain ridiculous.

The same thing applies to all the postcount threads.  Actually, now that I think about it, my suggestion was for a "Postcount Milestone" thread... again, ONE ongoing thread, pinned.

I have a pet peeve about multiple threads on the same subject anyway, which happens WAY too much here in general (can I get an "amen" people?), but all these birthday and postcount threads cluttering up the place are especially annoying to me.  It's the mods' job to keep this place in order and merge threads and stuff, and I think there should be more emphasis and expectations placed on this area.  Making one Birthday thread and one Postcount thread would be a huge start.  As for other subjects, encouraging people to look around more and/or use the search function before starting new threads would help.  It's bad enough when newbies come along doing this stuff, but many regulars here do it too, and there's no excuse for it.  Well that's MY 2 or 3 cents... but then again, who am I? tongue

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

Well here's a start... surprisingly no mention of multiple/duplicate threads though, and some parts don't really apply to us... but there IS a lot of good, straight-to-the-point stuff here, presented in a comical way:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D2XpnNcj … re=related

You do make a good point... for a lot of people here, especially the older generation, this may be the first and only forum they've ever been involved with, so they aren't aware of the normal way of doing things.  Granted, what's "normal" as far as subject matter, attitudes, what's tolerated, etc, varies greatly from forum to forum, but I thought keeping things orderly was a goal on pretty much every forum, especially ones that get a lot of traffic like this one does.

Didn't really mean to highjack the nice new Birthday thread to b!tch about my pet peeves and/or force my opinion on how to run the forum, lol... but since almost nobody had commented, I was afraid the thread would just die, so I thought it would be a good idea if I spoke up about the whole issue in general.  Maybe we should just resume our regularly scheduled Happy Birthday thread now, and maybe make a new Postcount Milestones thread too, and pin them both... but I'll let that up to the mods. wink

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

TieDyeVikki wrote:

Yeah, I think I made this suggestion a while back too.  Other forums I've been on usually have just ONE ongoing "Happy Birthday" thread that is usually pinned at the top of the forum for easy access.  Making a new thread for each birthday is really unnecessary, and making multiple threads for one person's birthday is just plain ridiculous.

sorry.
Roy mentioned a "special day" yesterday, so I called him out on it in a new thread in general topics. must have been a false alarm?

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

Jane H. wrote:

I don't think she is calling any one person out, although Nic I think you may have read an old post by Roy? he's on vaction right now. but there is alot going on so i may have missed something.

here's another thread that links to a video that made me mad at first but i did find helpful
http://www.jbonamassa.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=4730

anyway a couple other points, like has been said, the more forgiving we are here the more people decide to join in posting which usually makes it better.
it also impossible to not go off topic sometimes because one thing reminds of another but some people are pretty good at mentioning it and then also mentioning they are going to start a new thread in an appropriate place.

sometimes certain topics take on an uncomfortable tone and really shouldn't be added to so many times it better to start a new thread even if its been discussed heavily before

the search function here, well, i have alot of difficulty with it and have yet to figure it out. when there is a thread i know about i want to find i usually can but have found it bizarre at times how certain combinations of words work and others don't. anyway if you are just searching for a certain topic it is very possible to not come up with a thread even when there is a few on that topic.

additionally usually the best way to get a message to the mods is to write to one of them. there is so much here they can't read everything

Agreed on all points.  And I love that Posting & You vid!  smile

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

Oh, and here's another idea... another forum I go to has an ongoing thread called "The Notebook"... it's for those times when you just have something quick or random to say that doesn't fit in another thread, or for minor topics that don't require a lot of discussion or warrant their own thread... and it's also not to be used as a chatroom.  People here are pretty chatty and post-happy though, lol... not sure if it would work or not.  Any thoughts?

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

Jane H. wrote:

Nic I think you may have read an old post by Roy? he's on vaction right now. but there is alot going on so i may have missed something

bleck - yeah it's prolly me that needs to stay up to date...

- Nic from Detroit... posting on JB's Forum since 6-2-2006
Ask me about my handwound Great Lakes Guitar Pickups
Since 2010, Bonamassa fans have taken advantage of my JB friend discount = my cost + shipping. cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

NPB_EST.1979 wrote:
TieDyeVikki wrote:

Yeah, I think I made this suggestion a while back too.  Other forums I've been on usually have just ONE ongoing "Happy Birthday" thread that is usually pinned at the top of the forum for easy access.  Making a new thread for each birthday is really unnecessary, and making multiple threads for one person's birthday is just plain ridiculous.

sorry.
Roy mentioned a "special day" yesterday, so I called him out on it in a new thread in general topics. must have been a false alarm?

Nic,

Don't sweat it.  Roy's birthday was earlier this month.  I'm sure he would appreciate your message no matter when it was delivered.  smile


and, along that same point......


TieDyeVikki wrote:

Yeah, I think I made this suggestion a while back too.  Other forums I've been on usually have just ONE ongoing "Happy Birthday" thread that is usually pinned at the top of the forum for easy access.  Making a new thread for each birthday is really unnecessary, and making multiple threads for one person's birthday is just plain ridiculous.

The same thing applies to all the postcount threads.  Actually, now that I think about it, my suggestion was for a "Postcount Milestone" thread... again, ONE ongoing thread, pinned.

I have a pet peeve about multiple threads on the same subject anyway, which happens WAY too much here in general (can I get an "amen" people?), but all these birthday and postcount threads cluttering up the place are especially annoying to me.  It's the mods' job to keep this place in order and merge threads and stuff, and I think there should be more emphasis and expectations placed on this area.  Making one Birthday thread and one Postcount thread would be a huge start.  As for other subjects, encouraging people to look around more and/or use the search function before starting new threads would help.  It's bad enough when newbies come along doing this stuff, but many regulars here do it too, and there's no excuse for it.  Well that's MY 2 or 3 cents... but then again, who am I? tongue

--Vik cool

Vikki -

I just wanted to give you a heads up that I've been away from my computer for almost two weeks and have some MAJOR catching up to do on the Forum.  Actually, I was in Ohio celebrating MY birthday with several Forum friends - including Melissa who I share a birthday with.  One of the things I'll be doing tomorrow or Saturday, is posting belated birthday wishes to those people I missed while away.  The other thing I will be doing is THANKING people for the birthday wishes they expressed to ME.  Personally, I found it to be really nice that people spent the time and energy to remember me and didn't find it at all 'ridiculous' that someone would accidentally open a second thread to do so.   

I understand that we all have our pet peeves - on and off forum.  I do too.  The forum will NEVER be a perfect thing for ALL of us, ALL of the time.  It's impossible.  There will always be room for improvement and I think our Mods (who I believe do a great job) are open to that.  I also know that they are VERY busy with full time jobs OUTSIDE of our little world.  Their job here is a tedious and generally thankless one.  It might be more effective to email helpful suggestions directly to them. 

Meanwhile, I think the birthday thread is a VERY good idea - BUT, until we have one, I will continue to wish people a happy day on their day, and I might even do it more than once, 'cause that's the way I am. 

and so, whether early or belated ....... here is MY very sincere birthday wish for YOU, Vikki -

Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday to YOU
Happy Birthday DEAR Vikki
Happy Birthday to YOU
..... and many more !!!!

My basic feeling on the issue is this - if it's POSITIVE, and HAPPY, and HEARTFELT, and CLEAN, and HARMLESS and not detrimental to JOE - then it must be a good thing.  If it's going to put a smile on SOMEONE'S face and brighten their day, and perhaps lighten their load (and, I would ask you to remember that we NEVER know what burdens people are carrying), then I'm all for it.  I think the more cohesive we are, the stronger support we can be for Joe.  I feel VERY CONNECTED to many people here and think that celebrating each other is just another way to bring us together.

Speakin' of Joe - gotta GO!!  Tempe is calling!!!


smile  Libby  smile

I know that Joe could play one of those kid's guitars with the plastic strings and make it sound good-
Bill S.

Re: Happy Birthdays

I was also away from the forum for 2 weeks, so I also had some major catching up to do last night... but I think that's part of my point... it wouldn't be so overwhelming (for us or outside visitors) if there were just a little more organization in certain areas.  Overall I think this is a great forum full of great people and run by great mods... it's just that I've never been involved in a forum before where so many new threads are constantly being started with little or no regard as to whether there's already a thread or ten existing on that subject/band/review/etc.  I suppose there's somewhat of a different culture here than I'm used to elsewhere, and it's certainly a nice friendly cohesive one which is a good thing, but I just can't believe this one area doesn't drive anyone else here crazy.  I know the mods have full lives outside this forum and I'm not trying to make more work for them... I meant that they should place more expectations on US the posters, so that WE can keep OURSELVES more organized... I just think that would benefit EVERYBODY, we'd all be able to find things easier, etc.  That said, I also agree with all of Jane's points, which I don't need to bother repeating.

I think it's great that people here have formed such good friendships, and certainly nobody should be apologizing to me or warning me about their posts!  I know it's human nature to defend one's turf, but I'm not trying to attack or stifle anybody, just improve our organization.  And I agree that the most effective way to make helpful suggestions to the mods would be to email them, but for now I just wanted to see what other posters thought.  I mean maybe there's other people who think like me but aren't the type to speak up on their own.  Or maybe I'm in the minority and I should just go back to ignoring this stuff and keeping my mouth shut, which is fine too.  Ya know, I normally don't even get involved in forum politics or online debates of ANY type, because, well, I just don't care that much.  And remember, I didn't start this thread... I just agreed with it, and expanded on the idea... here I thought we were onto something.  hmm

Here's a parallel for ya... remember when someone started that joke thread a while back and we all posted all our jokes there?  Wasn't that a lot better, in every respect, than each person starting a new thread for their joke?  Similarly, maybe there should be one thread to post all the JB YouTube videos we find, instead of starting a new thread for each one?  And I'm not attacking anyone who's done that, since that's apparently the way it's always been done here... or maybe what I'm saying has attempted before and people didn't stick to it... but anyway, it's just something to consider.

Last but not least, happy belated birthdays to Roy, Libby, Melissa and anybody else I missed... which would be everyone, since I normally skip the birthday threads.  I'm really very fond of everyone here and I like being friendly, especially to those I've interacted with or even met, and I wouldn't miss any of your birthdays if there were just one thread to deal with... I just don't have the patience, will, or eyesight (lol) to read through so many threads... but that's just ME.  I am a pretty friendly person, a lover not a fighter and all that good stuff, but I'll admit I do tend to keep a certain distance... my depression and anxiety keep me from feeling very social much of the time... like Libby said, you never know what burdeons people are carrying.

Peace,
Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

OK, Vikki, I'm gonna back you up on the multiple threads for the same thing beef.  I was just on the "Show Reviews and Set Lists" section.  There's 3 separate threads about the Fraze/and or Ohio shows.  There's 2 for Doheny and there's 4 for the Birchmere gig.  That's just what I saw at a glance.  That's 9 threads for 3 shows...(well, Dean had to go and lump all the Johio shows into one thread, but still, you get the point.  And maybe all the reviews could've followed after his intro.)  So, I see what you're saying, Vik, and that's just one small section of one small section. 

That being said, I'm just the kind of idiot with too much time on her hands who reads most everything (except the gear thread.  Sorry Cathy!  It would be the same as reading...Greek! ??????????? ?? ??????? ???... See?  Even the letters look different!)

By the way, whose birthday is it today???  smile

Great musicians have a language & vocabulary that transcends the usual barriers & touches us on a more primitive , basic & yet complex level....

...I'll always have London in my heart, and in my soul...

Re: Happy Birthdays

Please don't anyone take this the wrong way...but this multiple thread complaint sounds like OCD to me. Sort of like keeping an immaculate, hyper organized clothes closet (mine's in disarray).
Ideally, everyone posts to a single thread, but if someone doesn't check and there are two or even three threads...how difficult is that really?

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"

Re: Happy Birthdays

Bill S wrote:

Please don't anyone take this the wrong way...but this multiple thread complaint sounds like OCD to me. Sort of like keeping an immaculate, hyper organized clothes closet (mine's in disarray).
Ideally, everyone posts to a single thread, but if someone doesn't check and there are two or even three threads...how difficult is that really?

Ok, Bill, THAT was hilarious!  There ain't one single drawer, closet or cabinet that's organized to any degree in my home, so it can't be OCD that made me count the multiple threads!   And like I said, with having the summer off, I"ve got too much  time and seem to be reading the forum CONSTANTLY!   When you do that, you CAN find room for improvement.  Is any of it THAT big a deal??  Nah.  No way.   I LOVE the forum.  I LOVE that it's so active.  I LOVE the back and forth banter between people and going "off topic" that bothers others, and I LOVE the inside jokes, even when I'm not on the inside! 

But really, why start a new thread about the Fraze show when there's one right there?  That way all the reviews can be together.   Not everyone has as much time as I do to go reading 3 threads to see if that cute guy you gave that Joe B business card to bothered to log in and say hi.  (purely hypothetical scenario there, Bill!)    Again...big deal?  Nah.  Just a ...sort of...convenience, I guess.

But...if you meant OCD as....  Obnoxious Crabby Donna....well, then...you've got me there!  Is there a thread for acronyms??  smile

Great musicians have a language & vocabulary that transcends the usual barriers & touches us on a more primitive , basic & yet complex level....

...I'll always have London in my heart, and in my soul...

Re: Happy Birthdays

LOL...  Ditto to everything Donna just said!  I didn't mean to sound militant or obsessed about the issue... of course I realize perfect organization would be impossible... there are far too many different scenarios and exceptions and oversights that pop up where you just have to go with the flow, just as in life.  I'm just saying there's definitely some room for improvement, so why in the world not try?  I think a few of the current problems are that there are too many threads to look through to determine if your topic already exists, nobody wants to be the only one bothering to make an effort, and there hasn't really been any expectations put on us to do so.  I think once this is reigned in a bit, none of this will seem like such a big deal, and guests and regulars alike will find the forums more efficient and imformative.

Another issue I haven't even mentioned yet which goes hand in hand with such an effort: In many cases, more care could be given in choosing thread titles to make them less vague and more specific, to actually reflect what's in the thread, so that people could better tell if their topic already exists and more easily go back and find things later.  I agree our search feature is quirky and I don't use it much... but accurate thread titles would not only yield better search results, they'd greatly reduce the need to even use the search function.

Ok Bill, I'll admit I may have some OCD tendencies, lol... but nothing too major, more like just set in my ways with certain things.  But I don't think a general preference for a little order over chaos really qualifies as OCD, more like just practical and efficient thinking.  I just want Joe's forum the best it can be... none of it is crucial in the grand scheme of things though.

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

OK here's a parallel:

I go to a jam.  Some musician walks in, invites himself up on stage and starts playing without listening to or looking at what's going on because what he has to say is way more important than joining in the present song being played and making IT better.

Acceptable?

Bill, somewhere in the middle is best.  OCD---Balance---ADD.  IMO which is not humble. big_smile

muchlove
bigjeff

Rock On & Keep the FAITH
             It is
Blues From the Bottoms

Re: Happy Birthdays

Jane H. wrote:

another thing is that the old forum, which has been like ages ago, had a different format and you couldn't bring a topic back to the top of the page. you could add to it but if it was on page two it stayed there, until more new posts/threads pushed it even further. thats how some of us learned how to do this thing anyway.

Ahh... gotcha... thanks... that explains a LOT! wink


bigjeffjones wrote:

somewhere in the middle is best.  OCD---Balance---ADD

Correct... I like that.  Balance in ALL things is kinda the key to life actually. wink


To be clear, I love the fact that Joe's forum gets a lot of activity, and the friendliness and interaction is wonderful... not trying to stifle anybody or anything... just maybe keep a little order, less clutter, and more efficiency. wink

--Vik cool

Re: Happy Birthdays

I've been having an animated debate with myself ever since this topic appeared as to whether or not I should weigh in with my two cents worth. I can no longer resist. big_smile

I joined this forum from a rather different background than most here. I've been posting on forums since before the turn of the century (great to use that phrase!), so I've seen lots of different formats and I've seen how new forums develop an identity of their own over time. I've seen forums collapse and disappear because of bickering and in-fighting between admins, mods and members. I've seen forums with (in my view) pretty strict rules and ones with no rules at all.

Over the years of posting and being both a mod and an administrator myself, I gradually developed a sort of general concept of what I thought were good, sensible and reasonable rules or guidelines for posting. When the 07-08 model George joined this forum there were any number of things I found irritating, but since this was not my forum and I wasn't one of the ones charged with carrying out the wishes of the owner/administrator I had to swallow my ire and just get on with it. The 08-09 model George still occasionally gets irritated by over-the-top and/or mindless posting behavior, but since I'm much more laid back and relaxed now ('less stodgy' according to Cathy) it's pretty much water off a duck's back. big_smile

I fundamentally agree with all of Vicky's points. I think a single, possibly pinned, birthday thread would be a good idea since there certainly is a feeling of 'family' here and people are going to continue to wish each other happy birthdays. I think that one such thread would look better and be more efficient than the multiplicity we witnessed not long ago.

More importantly though, less experienced forum users should be encouraged to use some common sense as well as their eyes and brains. It doesn't take much effort to scan down the front page for an existing topic before you post one. It doesn't take much effort to suss out the search function and use it to find the last topic about, say, a particular band that you have a bit of information or input about - BDS would be a prime example. Having two main topics about a band, one general and one concerts (just as an example) would get more interaction going than 25 topics, most of which don't attract more than a very few replies.

Once most people have posted for a while, they are reasonably able to suppress the urge to constantly see their name on the board by posting topic after topic. Regular readers can and should remember if there's been a recent topic on the same subject and attach their comment there. Regular posters really have no excuse for not being able to edit their previous post to attach an afterthought, especially when the previous post often dates from minutes earlier. Sure, it's an easy way to boost your post count.

None of this was in any way intended as criticism of how this forum is moderated, just a slight venting of my feelings and thoughts on this subject. This place is largely self-policing anyway, since we regulars know what's taboo; for the rest, Jim and Phil do a fine job when they have to act. As I said, it takes a lot more to wind me up nowadays than it did last year. Another thing I've learned since I've been here is that my judgment is certainly not infallible - there was a time when a certain new poster got right under my skin in several ways - that poster is now one of my 'inner circle' of closest forum friends. Just goes to show...

Love, peace and Woodstock, man.

RIP Iron Man

Rock On and keep the Faith

Re: Happy Birthdays

Vik,
Glad you got a chuckle, because I wasn't being too serious and ,in fact, was going for laughs. I have hurriedly posted a new topic before without checking, only to finds it had already been posted by someone else. I have gotten much better and almost always check now.

Obnoxious Crabby Donna,
You're the best and thanks for not taking me seriously. We still need to meet at a show sometime. I have Davenport, Dallas and Elgin on my list. Not sure about Carbondale.

Jeff,
The parallel would actually be more like someone else playing on an adjacent stage out of earshot. The audience would then either decide which stage they wanted to watch OR run back and forth between the two. I agree that neither is an ideal option. As far as OCD vs. ADD, I'm probably more towards the ADD end of the spectrum.

George,
This is the first forum I have ever frequented. I'm glad you've become more laid back and I bow to your experience as a (former?) mod and administrator. Was that what caused you to start referring to yourself in the third person? : )

"Rock ON & Keep the Faith"