Why So Quiet Around Here?

RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
edited September 2016 in Off Topic (NRR)
I started Soul Strut in 1999 out of my love for hip hop music, journalism, and graphic / web design.

In 2001, I started this message board from scratch and eventually what was a hip hop focused web site quickly turned into a one dedicated to records sampled to make hip hop music and the art of finding these old records (crate digging).  

By 2003, people quickly descended upon this place to meet and congregate with other records nerds to learn a thing or two, showing off their finds and musical tastes.

Soul Strut became a diverse community of music sharing, hip hop beat development, political conversation, pop culture celebration, and cutting edge news.... way before the ubiquity of social media platforms.

By 2013, there was a mass migration away from the message board format in favor of the ease of smart phone apps and social media.  Couple that with people getting older and moving on, changing trends, and the proliferation of info at the click of a mouse,  Soul Strut was in the midst of a free fall.

Many have suggested I pull the plug, but that would deny me and others to use of this site as a valuable musical reference / nostalgia act.  Check the search engine and your mind will be blown with incredible information that passed through here.

For those who still check in and contribute,  I thank you!  For those who fell upon this site by accident, click around, explore, maybe you can help in it's revival.

-- RAJ
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  Comments


  • CBearCBear 902 Posts
    Soulstrut has contributed so much to my musical adventure which is so important to my life. Endless thanks from me for the contributions of this community through the years. Why am I not checking much recently? It's the middle of summer and my work load and dance card are filled more than it should be. Combine that with myriad new medical issues and tons of visits to doctors and my time on the internet is minimal. But when I do check the internet, I do check soulstrut. I think it's cyclical. The less contributions, the less people check it. Pokemon Go is probably taking a lot of people's time these days. Lulz. I'm thinking of taking a week off work next week. I spent 10 months editing my entire MP3 collection and it's got music on my mind. I'll share some of my new perspective next week. I only say that in an effort to make me do so because I owe this community so much and believe in it existing.
    klezmer electro-thug beats

  • ketanketan Warmly booming riffs 3,180 Posts
    Summer vibes over here. I still czech on the regular, but trying to stay off the internet.  Working on a new mix - will poast by the end of the summer!
    RAJDuderonomyklezmer electro-thug beats

  • Yeah, Raj I think you've just about got the size of it in terms of the dropoff in usage. No fault of the site itself. Social media shit is gonna come and go too; mostly without the massive archive of funny, informative stuff you have up here. Enjoyed the sample flip and beat posts recently, and movie and TV recommendations around here are as on point as the music knowledge, so I continue to check and post when I've got something to contribute.

    Don't forget the wealth of that archive unreal mixes by some great DJs. I still click around that too. I've got some shitty mixes of my own from the past year or so, maybe a post-yer-mix thread is in order? The advantage of this place to me has always been taste. I don't see a direct equivalent anywhere.

  • dukeofdelridgedukeofdelridge urgent.monkey.mice 2,453 Posts
    I am fully committed. Lemme know what I can do. As long as it's not "leave." 

    Message boarders are the true pioneers of electronickal connectedness. We're on the sp12, doing more with less. Stay up!

  • para11axpara11ax No-style-havin' mf'er 402 Posts
    I've been around as a lurker since 2002, regged in 2007, and I'm 100% hooked. I check in at least once daily.

    My tendency is to post comments, not topics, which is a hard habit to break.

  • deezleedeezlee 298 Posts
    Yup daily and archives

  • Too many old dudes.
    Scuba Steve

  • trzakhstantrzakhstan IA 198 Posts
    I miss the days of email list groups.

  • EIGHTYEIGHTY 224 Posts
    Lurk all the time. Contribute topics when I feel like they might spark a conversation.

    Tons of knowledge in here to not look back at old threads. Where did all the Strutters from a couple of years ago disappear to?

  • sticky_dojahsticky_dojah New York City. 2,136 Posts
    People who share the same interests will find this place...it is still a great place, even when its golden age has passed...

  • RAJRAJ tenacious local 7,783 Posts
    I miss the days of email list groups.
    Here. Here.

    Old heads stand up!

  • EIGHTYEIGHTY 224 Posts
    Raj, How much traffic has been cut to the site since social media has taken precedent over commenting on the message board?

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts



  • DjArcadianDjArcadian 3,633 Posts
    I'm glad this place is still kicking.

  • ppadilhappadilha 2,244 Posts
    I have a newborn baby in the house, it's been literally one month since I've had time to check in. But I'm still around!

  • yuichiyuichi Urban sprawl 11,332 Posts
    Hey guys.  To be completely blunt, the last format/layout change I think completely turned off most
    remaining OG members. 

  • para11axpara11ax No-style-havin' mf'er 402 Posts
    yuichi said:
    Hey guys.  To be completely blunt, the last format/layout change I think completely turned off most
    remaining OG members. 
    I think there's something to this.

    Every new iteration of SS saw a drop off of members, each greater than the last.

    Meanwhile, waxi, which underwent one change, still hums with activity.

    That said, correlation =/= causation, and all that.

    Also, whatever became of mylatency? Dude was hilarious bitd.

  • Waxi is a unique case though because it has a population that if there's one thing (aside from weird records that suck) that unites its population it is being holdouts, or at least people who have no concern with keeping up to date with trends. SS has always had more people ready to jump onto the next thing. Even at its most "backpack" nobody here wanted to look like the stuck-in-1994 the-breaks dude.

  • para11axpara11ax No-style-havin' mf'er 402 Posts
    Waxi is a unique case though because it has a population that if there's one thing (aside from weird records that suck) that unites its population it is being holdouts, or at least people who have no concern with keeping up to date with trends. SS has always had more people ready to jump onto the next thing. Even at its most "backpack" nobody here wanted to look like the stuck-in-1994 the-breaks dude.
    Fair point, but Waxi has a ton of ex-pats on there. This is old news, but I think those dudes got tired of the political trolls who ran rampant here.

    For all the style waxi lacks, it more than makes up for in civility. Older dudes are def down with nostalgia (breaksyo!, golden-era, etc., funksoul yadda-yadda), but they're not looking to get into a random (and seemingly endless at one point) tug'o'war with anonymous internet dinks.

    Locking away the banhammer, and the website changes are what did this place in, and social media just exacerbated the sitch. When there were mods who put dudes in check, this place was at its peak, imo.

    There were foolios who provided high comedy while flirting on the edge of banishment. All the while, music and great stories were still at the fore. Shit was mad entertaining.

  • bassie2bassie2 56 Posts
    Waxi is a unique case though because it has a population that if there's one thing (aside from weird records that suck) that unites its population it is being holdouts, or at least people who have no concern with keeping up to date with trends. SS has always had more people ready to jump onto the next thing. Even at its most "backpack" nobody here wanted to look like the stuck-in-1994 the-breaks dude.
    Aside from the usual things already mentioned – we’re older, in different stages of our lives with other priorities where listening to music is probably more enjoyable than chatting and flexing about it; that SS has to compete with a dozen other platforms which didn’t exist at the Board’s peak – not only to keep regulars but to attract new posters – and the excellent point made above by ketb – I can say the look has nothing to do with my falling away. I check in now and then, will maybe post but usually just read through old threads instead.

    I would say there were a few weeks (months?) where the assholes had the run of the place and no one reeled them in. That turned a lot of people off, and there was little left to bring them back given the rest of the world kept moving along and providing other options, be it Waxi or real life. We were already losing people at that time, and that politics clusterfuck sealed the deal. Maybe moderators would have helped given the self-regulation the Board operated under was gone as key people left.
    Speaking personally, why would I want to be part of a Board where people got to say some pretty heinous shit unchecked and got run of the place? I had stayed long after my friends and favourite posters left but that time-span left such an awful taste.

    There used be enough of a variety of people here that even with whatever BS people were spouting, that didn't define the Board. Not the case anymore.

    There’s just no vibe here.

  • The_NonThe_Non 5,691 Posts
    Bassie nailed it

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    The redesigns may have thrown off a few curmudgeons but they weren't difficult to deal with.  The Hatters have gone as far as I can see.  Maybe I just have a thick skin.

    In terms of vibe, the place is what you make it.  You can be the difference and such... rescue the site from the Blahs....

     

    Can I trot out the old adage about it being the only place I can banter with Meriman and dem / only sign of intelligent life across the pond?  Thanks in advance.

    deezleecovebennyboy

  • bassie2bassie2 56 Posts
    Jimster said
    The Hatters have gone as far as I can see.  Maybe I just have a thick skin.


     

    They have but what you see today is the result of their stay.

    Because one definitely didn't need thick skin to be on the Board before, right? I have no idea when you joined but people would actually go on other boards to complain about how mean SS was. Few newbies lasted. A poster said he wanted to punch me in the ovaries. It was so accommodating here, we never had more than five women posting at any given time. This is not about hurt feelings but the culture of the place. But you tell'em, tough guy.


  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    I've been here 10 years, so not one of the first, but grey-of-beard enough to witness the wrath of Foxie and dem.  I did cross swords with a few folls the first time out but came to the conclusion it was better to talk about what we had in common rather than, say, jump in with both size 12s on a gun control thread etc.  THERE CAN BE NO WINNARRS.

    Ovary-punching?  I didn't see that but I'd put that in the folder alongside threats of gypsy curses or being punished in the next life.  Sometimes the kids on here lacked social graces and/or have never spoken to a woman IRL, remember.  FWIW, I enjoyed yours and AwDamms views on the deal-breaking covers and sartorial threads.  You should bump dem.

  • DORDOR Two Ron Toe 9,905 Posts
    bassie2 said:
    Jimster said
    The Hatters have gone as far as I can see.  Maybe I just have a thick skin.


     

    A poster said he wanted to punch me in the ovaries.



    Wow. I'm surprised nobody did anything. Did you flag it or report it? I really hope that a mod didn't see that shit and let it slide.

    I'm not big on moderation of things that people say. But any threats or bulling should have been dealt with. That shit is a cancer that needs to be cut out.

    That said. So many people left for Facebook, waxi, reddit, etc etc etc. But it's kinda obvious many are just the type to jump from thing to thing. That's just the digital world we now live in. People get bored of their blog, FB or whatever and move on. I think the bigger prob (And issue that must be addressed) is always going to be pulling in new people. Which is tough for any online forum nowadayz.

  • bassie2bassie2 56 Posts

    It was superpoaster (who was the resident punching bag until he got semi famous as Jesse Futerman and then he was the Board’s darling. You know how it is.). Lots of people saw it and asked for him to be banned. I don’t remember supporting his ban to be honest – don’t recall if he was or not. He said he was sorry and all that.
    It was aggressive passive aggression in that misogynist nerd way. The board was full of them.

    My point was more to question the notion of that all one requires is thick skin to weather a group of people who change the whole atmosphere of a place when thick skin was a requirement for just logging on!

     

    Anyway, the Board is not for me anymore. I am putting in my two cents as to why off the subject heading. In no way am I saying shut it down.


  • DOR said:
    That shit is a cancer that needs to be cut out.

    I know your heart's in the right place, but as a presumably earnest response to an ovary-related threat, this could use a little work.

  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    bassie2 said:
    My point was more to question the notion of that all one requires is thick skin
    I was not alluding to you not.  Excuse me if that appeared to be the case. 

    I was alluding to the fact that I believed the hatters had gone, or the fact that there appears (accoring to my skin depth) to be no recent hattred going on .


  • JimsterJimster Cruffiton.etsy.com 6,960 Posts
    bassie2 said:

    It was superpoaster

    I think you'd have to draw him a diagram.

  • I had a mostly-lurking account since like '05 and have read the site since '99 and definitely sometimes felt intimidated to post more than the very little I did. It wasn't just here though, I now participate in a few forums I wouldn't have back then. I think internet discussion's changed, and if you just want to pick fights there are now basically specialized places for that under every news article. Makes SS and indeed other communities a bit more focused. 
    Jimster
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