contro-versial

Cluas is what it is...if you dont like it, then move on. Its a bit childish to make posts purely designed to get on peoples nerves. Grow up.

Nah, it doesn't get on my nerves. Yep, this is blatantly obviously a troll, but still at least RBA gives a reason why he doesn't like Cluas, rather than just saying "Cluas is rubbish". Whether the the point RBA makes is valid, I'll leave up to you. I'm a moderator, that means I remove stuff thats potentially libelous/offensive, move posts to the correct forums, delete cross posting or spam and try to get people to behave, but thats it. At the end of the day, this forum is exactly what its members make it, if you want it to be a better place, its down to the quality of what you post. Over to you folks....

I assume you're referring to Thumped when you mention "another Irish music forum". Thing about Thumped is, it's pretty much one joke. Over and over and over again. It's a bit of a love in frankly, but then most bulletin boards are. I agree that Cluas can be a bit humourless at times but frankly I like the balance I get between reading here and browsing Thumped. The music boards over at boards.ie also seem to have struck a good balance, though there's often a lot of irrelevant drivel there as well. Anyway, if I had to lose one, it'd be Thumped, but, judging from your post, you're the only one taking yourself too seriously.

whatever man most people post on a range of forums for different reasons I got much needed info on a band on thumped yest that i couldnt get here doesnt make thumped better than cluas etc. Just different.

well, i think it's a good question tho - and the recent little redesign of the front page of this site would suggest that the people running cluas are also wondering about the low level of activity on the forum. to be fair , i don't think it's because a few members tend to post mini-dissertations from time to time - some people who post on here really know their music, and/or how to use google, and i've read countless well-written, informative and entertaining posts on this forum. i think there are two reasons why this forum is relatively quiet. first, there is quite a lot of negativity here, especially towards irish bands/musicians. surely most visitors to a site that's "lending an ear to the irish music scene" will be fans of at least some irish musicians. people like paddy casey, damien rice, the frames, declan o'rourke etc etc have sold a s**tload in ireland. obviously if you don't like it you don't like it, but the overwhelming hatred expressed on the forum for those bands must turn a lot of people away. i think if there was a little more tolerance, if differing opinions could be respected, there would be a much higher level of activity. the other reason, i think, is the attitude towards new members, or sometimes even existing ones. there's no 'introduce yourself' forum for newbies, and not enough effort made to encourage new members or make them feel welcome. i had a fairly crap experience with a moderator and later administrator of this forum, and the over-riding message was: this is our toy, we're in charge and you don't count. (obviously the truth is that i am actually a crazyperson, no-one involved in the running of cluas is less than perfect, and could ever do any wrong). another example, rather recently, of the same kind of thing involved a once regular poster, who i personally saw as on of the more balanced, interesting users of the forum, attacked rather visciously, and unfairly. end result was that this user now posts a fraction of what they used to. if i wasn't such a stubborn f**ker there's no way i'd have read this thread, let alone reply to it. i don't think cluas is boring, and i don't think it should drop it's standards, i just think some people need to realise that it is possible for two different opinions to both be valid, and that a little respect goes a long way.

no no man i agree with you! What i mean is.... the original title - calling one forum unpopular and laying into members etc is silly cause at the end of the day most members of cluas are members of all the other boards too so its not really that segregated at all. I mean i post here more than on any other forum its nothing to do with loyalty or anything its just the way its worked out.

Aw crud! I wasn't sure if you were disagreeing with me or not but my ego couldn't let it lie! I think the Cluas forum dropped off in popularity years ago when they moved to the current format. Before that there was a lot more activity, or maybe it just seemed that way because of the layout.

So folks, whadya gonna do about it? Cluas has had lull periods before, discussion boards tend to ebb and flow (like any conversation really), you gotta start new threads, and respond to existing ones to keep it alive. Anyway, rather than be a hypocrite, I'm gonna start one, yeah, a little contrived maybe, but if it gets discussions going thats all that matters.

I would argue that it's the members of Thumped who take themselves far too seriously and who try too hard to make themselves look intelligent and knowledgeable about music. I've contemplated joining that site several times but the constant cynicism just does my head in; "The Arcade Fire just rip off U2", "The Flaming Lips went to sh*t once they signed to Warner", plus every new band with even a hint of a public profile is dismissed as NME/MTV2 marketed garbage. Also I can't stand their obsession with obscurity. The posters only seem to be happy when they're discussing their favourite b-sides by some long forgotten Fugazi spin off band. If you actually went on there and said something positive about somebody relatively well known but decent like say Kings of Leon or Interpol they'd bite your head off. I blame that whole rep/points system. Frankly I don't like the idea of logging on and having to consciously try to be as underground and unenthusiastic as possible for fear of being leapt upon by a bunch of bitter failed Dublin musicians and frustrated IT consultants who'r rather take their problems out on me instead of leaving them in the work place.

Interesting thread. I've been with CLUAS for a long time (since its inception, in fact) and the Discussion Forums are one of my favourite sections of the website. I've visited countless sites introduced to the forum by Una, Gar and others who seems to make infinitely better use of the web than I do. Bands I have discovered here include the great (Arcade Fire), the interesting (the Kanye West/Beach Boys mash up site from a few months ago) to the cretinous (Republic of Loose who make a fascinating live spectacle though...). I should post more but I suspect I am like many other users in that I lurk here during whatever few minutes I get free in work. I read, digest, maybe explore based on what I read. If you take the time to actually write something here, please remember that there are many more people who read these posts that you realise. One of the comments earlier in the thread bears more examination. The fact that CLUAS "lends an ear to the Irish music scene" cannot be denied. The fact that it is a critical ear is a positive facet of the site but I believe that it can be alienating to those who are maybe not as "musically educated" as some of our newer contributors. I would like to see an inclusive attitude - "Ah... I see you like Damien Rice... have you ever listened to Sufjan Stevens? I think you might like him...". Una is especially good at this. It only takes one positive experience on CLUAS for someone to come back regularly. The idea that there should be somewhere for new contributors to introduce themselves is a good one I think and should be considered by the admin and moderators. Maybe a standard questionnaire that's a mixture of serious and silly that's kept towards the top of the board for new people and lurkers to let us know they exist?

Bravo Stroller, bravo. Lots of kids on Thumped. It's like the Oxegen camping area in that while you might find cheerful old veterans willing to impart their wisdom, you're far more likely to get the online equivalent of a 15 year olds puking on you and setting fire to your tent.

For once, a thread that starts out as a troll and descends into something interesting and worthwhile. A couple of quick points: • A discussion on popularity of this site that only considers the discussion board, is a narrow one. Especially when you consider that the discussion board constitutes less then half of all traffic to the site (in terms of page impressions). CLUAS is not a one-trick pony. • A well established and accepted indicator of quality / popularity of a website are the search engines which (most of the time) succeed in filtering out the dross. CLUAS has excellent rankings with all the major search engines and especially for some relevant keywords. Do a search for ‘irish indie’ (for example) or ‘Irish indie music’ with Google and, sure, that wouldn’t be CLUAS now that appears at the top of the results, would it? • The emphasis on the CLUAS discussion board is not on ‘quantity’. Take for example the average number of replies per topic on this board, which is deffo less than on some other similar boards (on thumped for example, on their busiest ‘sub-board’ they get an average of 17 replies per topic, here on the Soap Box the average is 7.5 replies per topic). But I don’t think the quality of the threads here has suffered as a consequence, au contraire, etc. • There’s no plans afoot round these parts to please all of the people, all of the time. So if someone is not happy with the way things are on this board (not enough new topics per day, too many – er – humourless cretins like me, etc) well there’s no one twisting their arms insisting they stay. • Having said all that I do think there is scope for the average number of topics per day on this board to increase without compromising the quality of the discussions. But that is simply up to the users of the board to do. If you want a better board, than make it better. • I think jmc105’s the idea of having an ‘introduce yourself’ forum for new (and existing) members is a good one and I will look into rolling one out in the coming week. Finally, keeping in step with the spirit of, er, humourlessness that pervades these parts I’ve changed the title of this thread from ‘how come cluas is so unpopular?’ to “RBA says: ‘how come cluas is so unpopular?’” eoghan (moderator, admin, dour little Hitler and all that)

Hmm, interesting points here. With regard to 'lending an ear to Irish music', Cluas does that, what it doesn't do is give fawning uncritical praise to a particular musician just to appease their fans. There are fan sites for that sort of thing...and Hot Press. In other words, Cluas is about balance, for and against, you like it / I don't like it, and vice versa. I have made this point before, if Cluas is so off the curve, then why have so many music journalists borrowed from it in the last year ? Cluas was the first to re-evaluate the Irish Singer Songwriter scene and start asking were all the artists of that scene as good as they were being made out to be and, since then, a number of irish newspapers have followed our lead. But that agenda was set by the people who read, write and post on cluas and nobody else. Even so, we do have the annual readers and writers poll and this is how Irish music fared last year http://www.cluas.com/poll/2004/default.htm Considering the vast majority of the acts who made the number one spot in the various categories were Irish, I think it is fair to say that an ear is being lent to Irish music.

A friend of mine wrote this recently and it seems fit right in with this thread http://nationalheadache.blogspot.com/

Unfortunately, as evidenced by this discussion board, we are lending an ear to a music scene that has been in decline for years now. The last band here that there was even a minor buzz about was ROL and that was minimal enough. If there is a perception of 'Local Act bashing' on this board, I strongly suggest it is because of the relatively poor quality of acts dominating the Irish scene over recent years in comparison to the vastly superior acts from overseas. Believe me, I'd be delighted if there were local acts of the quality of Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens, Wilco etc but that is just not the case. Equally, my experience here is that the people posting to this board go out and find good music from all corners of the globe. Unlike ten years ago, I am no more than a few keyboard strokes away from a wealth of new music and am unlikely to content myself with Paddy Casey.

in fairness i think cluas tries. there are reviews and actual features, which are rare for irish music. a few things that annoy me: -the colour scheme and general design. -the moderation of the forum seems a bit over the top at times. -the email system is riddled with popups. -i don’t think the amount of traffic warrants separate new release/gig/general discussion -boards. some threads have 5 views. other sites: cpu.ie -“we’re an indie band, please sign us” kind of place. the whole band profile thing is okay, but myspace can do that job. the site just seems very cheesy or something. goldenplec.com -bit of a pointless place altogether. thumped.com -by far the busiest site around. good mp3 archive, and an entertaining read. it could do with some more music discussion and less sarcasm all the same. emohardcore.tk -always good for a laugh. every site needs seperate punk, hardcore and post hardcore boards.