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Basilisk

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I have decided I will no longer be putting most of my reviews up on Psynews. As I sometimes get into discussions with people in obscure threads about my approach to reviewing, I figure a single topic designed to clear up any misconceptions may settle the issue. Apologies for the long-winded nature of this post :) it is probably only of interest to a select few.

 

I suppose the first thing to know is that I have put a lot of work into my own site where I frequently publish reviews of psytrance releases new and old. I have designed it to be a little like TRiP or the old (pre-forum) Psynews, but it is just a personal site; an archive of my work. One thing I have discovered through the years is that my writing skills are always improving, my taste is always changing, and I learn more the music when I go out and DJ (i.e. I update my reviews with words about the crowd response to a track I have played). As a result, I do not consider my reviews to be static; they change over time.

 

The problem with reviews that change over time is keeping content synchronized. I don't like the idea of having a central repository of current material while content posted to sites like Psynews remains antiquated. Nor do I entertain the possibility of running around maintaining my reviews wherever I post them. This is, of course, beside the fact that I encode a great deal of meta-content into my reviews (links to more information, related reviews, etc) which would be a pain to translate to BBcode or whatever is in use on a given site. It seems to me that the prudent thing to do is simply avoid posting reviews anywhere, or just post a link back to my site.

 

Unfortunatly people have not taken kindly to me posting links instead of full reviews in forums such as Psynews. I may occasionally post a link for a review I think may be particularly interesting to an audience, but I shall avoid this practise in general.

 

So, at this point, I figured it would be best to simply post a thread and say I'm done, for the most part. Exceptions will likely be made for promos I am reviewing, but I generally do not receive those very often. If you want to check my reviews, head over to my site sometime. I will, of course, continue to make reviews of music I feel like exploring. It must be understood that I am mainly writing these reviews for myself - to develop my understanding of music, to improve my writing abilities, to sort and assess my collection, and for something to do :) still, I do take pride in my work, and try to make the best reviews I can.

 

A last note - I do have an RSS feed for my reviews, in case any out there is familiar with this technology. That is all... thanks for reading, and I guess I'll be here for any questions that may come up. Peace.

608887[/snapback]

do like this:

post short extract from your review, lets say 10-15 sentenses and and link to full review ;)

also - isnt it the right time to ask mods for link section here, not as another subforum [or maybe? dont know] where to place psy related stuff :)?

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whatever suits you best man, coming from someone that has put an affort to get a website going i also understand part of your reasoning. The links issue, you have your reasons too... like it was mentioned you should consider dropping an intro with the link or a bit more content to beef the posts... but that's just a suggestion like it was mentioned before.

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can I copy and paste your reviews here? :)

608894[/snapback]

Well, I'd rather you didn't :) for the reasons I mentioned.

 

do like this:

post short extract from your review, lets say 10-15 sentenses and and link to full review ;)

608915[/snapback]

Not such a bad idea (and I hadn't thought of this) but I wouldn't be surprised if some people would consider this spam of some kind or another :huh: of course, this is the internet - someone is bound to get false notions in their head no matter what :)

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maaaan talk about being stuck up... 

 

do you have an idea just how pretentious this post makes you look? personally I'm freakin tired of all these self proclaimed "professional reviewers"...

608912[/snapback]

:lol: What the hell is now wrong with pretentiousness :blink: I love pretentiousness. Take pride in your work. Not sure, though, I would even categorize the input as pretentious. But, anyway, ok, different strokes for different folks.

 

Well, I really like your reviews Basil. If you don't post them here, I'll be sure to check them out from time to time on your site. They are always very enlightning.

 

:)

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:lol: What the hell is now wrong with pretentiousness  :blink:  I love pretentiousness. Take pride in your work. Not sure, though, I would even categorize the input as pretentious. But, anyway, ok, different strokes for different folks.

 

Well, I really like your reviews Basil. If you don't post them here, I'll be sure to check them out from time to time on your site. They are always very enlightning.

 

:)

609006[/snapback]

OT: (AND IM SORRY BASILiSK!!) But I just came to think of Faulty Towers (BASIL!)
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I have decided I will no longer be putting most of my reviews up on Psynews. As I sometimes get into discussions with people in obscure threads about my approach to reviewing

608887[/snapback]

I don't get it. Some people have problems accepting your way of reviewing, and you quit? :(
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I'm also not quite sure if I understood your point, Basilisk. Are you saying that you don't want to post reviews outside your own page because it's too much work for you to update them if you change your mind? If yes: Why update them at all? I mean you can still use sites like psynews to get view on how you looked at an certain album some months or years ago and have your updated homepage with your actual point of view. Or are you ashamed on your former perspective?

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I'm also not quite sure if I understood your point, Basilisk. Are you saying that you don't want to post reviews outside your own page because it's too much work for you to update them if you change your mind? If yes: Why update them at all? I mean you can still use sites like psynews to get view on how you looked at an certain album some months or years ago and have your updated homepage with your actual point of view. Or are you ashamed on your former perspective?

609158[/snapback]

good point

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I don't get it. Some people have problems accepting your way of reviewing, and you quit? :(

609123[/snapback]

No. Read again :) people had some problems accepting mere links to reviews, that is all... and I do not necessarily blame them for this; it is a reasonable position to take.

 

I'm also not quite sure if I understood your point, Basilisk. Are you saying that you don't want to post reviews outside your own page because it's too much work for you to update them if you change your mind? If yes: Why update them at all? I mean you can still use sites like psynews to get view on how you looked at an certain album some months or years ago and have your updated homepage with your actual point of view. Or are you ashamed on your former perspective?

609158[/snapback]

No, this isn't it. It isn't so much that my perspective will change in wild and unexpected ways; it is that I am refining, fine-tuning, and generally improving my reviews from time to time by adding links, nesting content, fixing spelling errors, polishing and editing as I feel the need, correcting historical inaccuracies where noted, and so on. The twin options of either maintaining content in disparate locales or letting said content become antiquated does not suit my any more, hence the small announcement.

 

I have been reviewing on Psynews ever since goatrance.free.fr and the tumultuous minimal/melodic wars. It is through no dislike of the site nor the community that I have chosen to withdraw to my own domain; it just seems like the natural thing to do, as far as reviewing goes. I've come a long way from "goa ruLLLeeezz!!!1 track 4,5,6(!!!!),9 aweomsetunes kthnx!" to doing real justice for Order Odonata 1. Anyway, I hope this is a bit easier to understand. It's not a big deal, but I felt as if it was worth mentioning once, considering that I know a few people around here appreciate my reviews every now and then :)

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Who might they be?

608997[/snapback]

 

I actually just also asked myself that question.... good point pr0fmate :)

609000[/snapback]

 

oh they're pretty easy to recognize: usually they make 1000 word essays saying that you can hear a bleep in the beginning of a track and a "drifting melody" in the middle and then a buzzing noise near the end etc. They also usually conclude their reviews by saying that you absolutley HAVE to buy the album they've just reviewed because it is one of the best albums ever... they also usually have the habit of mutually ass-licking eachother (as if just ass-licking artists and labels wasn't enough...) and they consider that they form some sort of "elite" reviewers and that if it weren't for them the site they post their reviews in would be dead... sorry if my harsh caricature might offend some...

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oh they're pretty easy to recognize: usually they make 1000 word essays saying that you can hear a bleep in the beginning of a track and a "drifting melody" in the middle and then a buzzing noise near the end etc. They also usually conclude their reviews by saying that you absolutley HAVE to buy the album they've just reviewed because it is one of the best albums ever... they also usually have the habit of mutually ass-licking eachother (as if just ass-licking artists and labels wasn't enough...) and they consider that they form some sort of "elite" reviewers and that if it weren't for them the site they post their reviews in would be dead... sorry if my harsh caricature might offend some...

609488[/snapback]

Sorry, I have no idea who you're talking about. Names please.

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oh they're pretty easy to recognize: usually they make 1000 word essays saying that you can hear a bleep in the beginning of a track and a "drifting melody" in the middle and then a buzzing noise near the end etc.

You mean like this one? Fits your description perfectly. Dunno about the word counter thou'...

 

http://www.psynews.org/forums/index.php?showtopic=36617

 

:P

 

Besides, I don't think anyone will get offended by your words. I mean, come on, you liked the 1200 Mics album... :P

 

(I know, I know, the one above is a typical "logical fallacy", I just couldn't help it... it's like a recurring gag for me, like Cartman telling Kenny his family is poor :))

 

ps. Basilisk's reviews own. It doesn't matter to me where I read them.

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If someone would kindly extend an invitation to the 'El33t reviewers club' adressed to me and lemmiwinks, we'd both greatly appreciated  ^_^

 

:huh:

609508[/snapback]

Dude your reviews rule. I enjoy reading them even if it's some silly Dark Psy compilation that i won't ever bother to download.
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