Scott,

Quote:
In the February Album Writing Month community, it is considered bad form to reply with thanks to commenters on your own song post. However, it is encourage to leave a note of thanks on the commenter’s home page.

Your points are well taken.

To be fair, though, when you use FAWM as a comparison, it's a bit like comparing apples and oranges. Sure, both are fruits, but there's a big difference between them. FAWM exists for 28 days each year (29 days on a leap year) while Users Showcase is continuous 24/7/365. As I see it, such difference requires individual approaches. No matter how hard anyone tries, it's not possible to bake an apple pie with oranges.

Written with respect,
Noel

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Charlie,

Quote:
The fact that here on the forum we can elevate certain talented people to a "Celebrity" status to me is one of the single greatest elements of the Users Showcase and PGMusic Forum. To a person, our "Celebrities" deserve our respect and choice to honor their talents, expertise and skill.

The change in the Users Showcase format negatively effects our chosen "celebrities" the most and completely disrupts our Celebrity system.

Those are really astute observations.

Up until now, a song's presence in Users Showcase has been based on the principle that's exactly the same as the Top 10 or Top 40. There's a reason it's popular and sits at the top of the list. It's had the most people comments on it. Whether or not the song's poster replies individually to each comment does not alter this popularity.

Some reasons for popularity have been...

  • David Snyder periodically gives excellent advice in his song posts about how he arranged and mixed his work.
  • Janice of Janice & Bud sings like an angel and is a model for anyone who wants to develop vocal skills.
  • floyd jane has freely and generously given songwriting and song-arranging insights way too numerous to detail over the years. Amongst his advice has been: how to use TC Helicon; best mics; EQ and compression; etc., etc.
  • Steve Young and Animarorecords are the most highly polished orchestrators on the forum. I always marvel at their skills and listen over and over to their work.
  • Guitarhacker has been very generous with helping many people set up equipment and get the best out of production.
  • Sundance has written some wonderful songs.
  • Tommyad's guitar playing is as polished as anything and he, too, has been very generous with advice on how to use plugins and mixing.
  • ROG has regularly shown us all how to be creative and fearless in our writing and production.
  • rsdean is our own Bob Dylan and has developed quite a following on the forum.
  • In addition to presenting outstanding material, RnAM are production and video experts.
  • Buford present works that serve as models for productions.
  • Gruverider, Boheme, 90dB, Aleck Rand, Gibson, RichMac, Dani48, Greg Johnson, Al David, Peterf, Tommyc.... over the years, there have been far too many 'Celebrities' to name. The list just goes on and on.

The large majority of these people are also the ones who make Users Showcase what it is by commenting, encouraging and helping. They define 'generosity of spirit'.

The threads of these people will now disappear fairly quickly and new users will need to be very lucky to discover the gems of learning that are often hidden in the posts of those with expertise.

As I said in my other thread, I find what has happened very disheartening.

Regards,
Noel

MY SONGS...
Audiophile BIAB 2026