VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

georgethetech · Posted: Mon Jun 18, 2012 11:30 pm Post subject: Sleepy gear forum

Just noticing the activity has taken quite a downturn in here as of late.
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George Whittam
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Bish · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:51 am Post subject:

I think that if you are someone who enjoys an element of "social media" in their lives, it's come to a point where there are so many outlets making demands on your time that it's obvious that you have to ration yourself or run the risk of sinking into a morass of meaningless drivel that just saps you of all your time (not to mention will to live).

I'm really referring to the explosion of voice groups over on Facebook... there are about a dozen different voice groups... probably more if you include all the more specialist ones (like audiobook narrators). The problem is... well, the problem is Facebook. It's the nature of the beast. However much these groups may try to be professional and on-topic, they will always degenerate into a "social hub" where people will be re-posting funny images, good recipes, motivational clap-trap and life events. Great, but isn't that what your wall is for? So, the group degenerates into something meaningless, and someone starts another one... and so on, round and round in ever decreasing circles until it disappears up it's own motivational aphorism. Bifurcation. I love that word, and I get to use it here in context. (is trifurcation a word?)

Some try to be more on-topic. World Voices seem to be trying to police their group a little, but I fear all is lost... again, simply because of the nature of Facebook. A group is the same as a single thread. It cannot be all things to all men. A well run (and moderated) board like this can provide a multilayer and hierarchical structure to accommodate both the specifics of a very granular tech discussion and the generalities of a "this made me laugh" entry. And this is done without them tripping over each other.... something Facebook cannot do.

So, I think that anyone who tries to play the Facebook game is finding that it's becoming more demanding of their time (which means less to spend here). In my opinion, it's becoming mostly noise (self-serving noise for the most part) and has very little to offer in the way of valuable communication. I like it as a social hub to keep up with buddies and interesting people (both voice and not)... but not as a meaningful communications tool.

Some notables have eschewed Facebook. I applaud them and may be heading that way. Time is valuable... I haven't looked at twitter in ages, Linked in is a mystery to me... time is valuable and I cannot afford to waste it. What I have to spare on "VO social", I'll invest here as the return is bountiful. I mean... a one-liner from George gets me writing a missive like this at seven-thirty in the morning. I certainly wouldn't be doing this on Facebook.

... and that opinion, my dears, is worth exactly what you paid for it Wink

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Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
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Bruce · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 5:30 am Post subject:

I haven't noticed a particular slowdown. We do ebb and flow with quiet weeks and busy ones. I'm sorry to see some of our more entertaining contributors go quiet for periods of time, but I catch most of them on FB.

On Peter's thoughts about social media, I just can't spend lots of time on several different sites. I feel it's a horrible waste of my time. I have this fear (I hope unreasonable) that today's younger people will spend more and more of their day networking and telling people where they are at this moment and caring about where all their "friends" are at any given moment, and what they're eating, and what they're reading, that they won't get any real work done.

This is the "Information Age"? All infotainment and no real productivity? Bugs me if I bother thinking too much about it.

VO-BB remains my main source of business chat, I have several people and other interests I like to keep up with so I wade through Facebook, and I keep hoping to get active on Linked In, but no more than that. I have work to do and life away from the monitor to live.

B
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I'm not a Zoo, but over the years I've played one on radio/TV. .

Diane Maggipinto · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 7:35 am Post subject:

george, if it's any consolation, if i have a gear issue and the coglione to post about it*, i do that here.
i know you're the man. Wink

*to clarify, if i can a.) articulate the problem and 2.) know that i've tried everything i know to solve it without success yada yada ...
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Bish · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:00 am Post subject:

I wrote a wonderfully witty response to that post Diane... but I didn't want to incur DB's wrath, so I thought better of it and deleted it before hitting submit Smile

Seriously, I think you hit the nail on the head. A specific question that hopes to solicit a targeted response can sometimes be futile on FB. Here, on the other hand, you'll get thoughtful responses with the appropriate smattering of levity (or snark where appropriate... but delivered in a caring, sharing way).
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

heyguido · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 8:45 am Post subject:

I'm with Bruce on the ebb and flow theory. My most recent gear acquisition has taken some time to adjust to.... making it play nice with the other parts of my audio chain, tweaking the knobs til I hear what I'm after....

And my newest quest for gear is non-audio related.... time for a small, powerful computational device to replace the aging relic on my desk. A Multi-core, hyper-threading, ram-packed, SSD totin' whiz-bang slice of sexy sings to me from the shadows. I haven't found it yet, but I know it's out there....

As for social media? Meh.... Really don't have the time to waste on it.
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georgethetech · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:24 pm Post subject:

It's very easy to self-police in FB groups.
I use the Mark as Spam tool in the FB Groups A LOT.
If I consider it off topic, I take it out of there. Anyone else is always welcome to do the same for my EWABS posts, as I know they already do.

Heyguido: You mean a Mac Mini? Wink

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If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

Bish · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:45 pm Post subject:

georgethetech · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 3:55 pm Post subject:

It's hard to get people to understand that an Apple Mac IS A PC that runs Mac OS or Windows. In fact, it runs Windows better than almost any other hardware.

PS:
The writer of the aforementioned article needs to understand that Bootcamp simply provides a boot loader and loads the drivers and so Windows will run on the Apple hardware, nothing more. It's not a Virtual Machine, there is ZERO performance compromise.
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:04 pm Post subject:

knock wood - my hybrid (i refuse to use the term hackintosh) is rock solid. osx runs off a 64gb ssd, win7 off a standard SATA drive. i have a rack-mount server case with 7 fans so it sounds like a cessna 310, but the rack is in another room - so i don't care ... so i guess what i'm saying is - there's nothing quieter than a computer that is NOT in your recording space.
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georgethetech · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:07 pm Post subject:

Me too, Todd, but wouldn't recommend it to any voice ACTOR. Why? COMPLETELY DIY SUPPORT. No thanks.
_________________
If it sounds good, it is good.
George Whittam
GeorgeThe.Tech
424-226-8528
VOBS.TV Co-host
TheProAudioSuite.com Co-host
TriBooth.com Co-founder

Bish · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 4:39 pm Post subject:

My MacPro has four hard drives and four fans... and is perfectly quiet.

+1 for putting the noisy bugger outside the room Smile

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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls... I will not feed the trolls.

todd ellis · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 6:26 pm Post subject:

Yes ... Absolutely right ... The hybrid is not for the technologicaly timid. Zero tech support. I had a slight panic the other day and had a large panic ... Restart fixed it ... But that's life on the edge.
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"i know philip banks": todd ellis
who's/on/1st?

Deirdre · Posted: Tue Jun 19, 2012 10:13 pm Post subject:

It gets slow in here from time to time, but I wonder if it's because we don't have a resident Guru Godfather or Godmother of this forum.

We lend our expertise when we can here in GEAR. I like asking questions here because I know the people looking at it are people who have likely come across a similar issue.

And the signal-to-noise ratio is quite high— and I like that.

A lot.
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Lee Gordon · Posted: Wed Jun 20, 2012 3:22 am Post subject:

I pop in to the Gear section but if the gear being discussed is not something I use or potentially might use, I pop right back out and head to the Chat section.
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