RTP Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 Hello people and all lifeforms on Psynews, I thought imma give you an update on what's going on and arbitrarily share my thoughts about my life and about what is up with me on this forum here: As you might have read somewhat down the line of time, my life recently got a twist - or let me say: a complete turnaround - for the better. Ten years I have basically been sleeping under a rock and all of a sudden it went boom, somewhat - and as I came back to my senses it felt to me like I suddenly was going pretty far on the overtaking side on life's highway, in a fast car and taking turns in the driver's seat with a Soul that makes me really, really happy to be alive. Honestly, I only now realize what I have been missing out and I may ensure you from the deepest of my heart that it has nothing at all to do with any substance ingestion ... that never was my thing anyway. It's just good music and a speed of life that makes me tingle! As good as these news are for me personally, I have to admit it did not have and will not have the best effect on my time here. I will happily stay admin and do stuff when it pops up and when I have time - but I honestly am not much around anymore. If it wasn't for other people who cleaned up here besides me, it would be a true mess! A BIG THANKS to everybody in mod and admin team at this point! The forum has been "kind" to us by decreasing member activity and especially not making my attention so necessary in the past weeks ... but will it stay like that...? This brings me to a question - or rather a decision ... the way I perceive it, we are on a three way crossing and we can pick where we go from here ... the possibilities: 1.: We don't change anything and let all stay the way it is. You will maybe experience delay in requests and reports, in PMs to me, making a few spam posts disappear slower than they should. In fact I will drop by every few weeks, unregularly, clean up some stuff and tidy up a little and together with mods and admins still here we will keep it running as it currently is. 2.: We develop and evolve, get some new members in the admin and moderator panel and rock the place with good content. I'd love that -- but bear in mind that forums are on the declining side of the Internet. They won't get old that soon, but in the medium to long run we would HAVE to evolve into a Metaverse and I'd happily do that with you all, just not as a key driver because my time is a dwindling resource. 3.: Maybe you don't wanna hear it, but the internet has changed, forums are out of date and the activity counter on here shows it. I'm not going to pull out a diagram, but new posts have been steadily declining over the past years and recently some more active members left the community. Makes me wanna think out loud: Psynews could be hibernated and archived, open to browse but not to further post ... a possibility? I am just posing thoughts on my own. Everybody is welcome to voice their opinions. I am NOT saying that we stop this. I am just speaking it out as an admin for the first time and as one option of many - and without having asked anybody else. Bear in mind that this openness is also a form of me saying thanks to everybody for putting up with reduced admin time on here. Let me know your thoughts! If there's a team behind it, I'll happily stay a member, with or without admin rights as you wish, and let you carry the flame on and on cheers RTP 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
technosomy Posted February 20 Share Posted February 20 For me personally, life is very different at 50, no longer listen to much new stuff and very happy to keep listening to the classic dinosaur music on Flintstone tech, with no party's this part of the world, not part of the scene, hence not much to talk about, however still like to stop by from time to time and whittle, and see what all you youngins are doing, and drool over the amazing old school artists doing retro sets I could only ever dream about attending, occasionally some new music takes my eye, but in general think I past the boom boom! It's indeed a very different place here now, and while not for me with to much engagement, I can see how others still love to be here, think this post is important everyone addresses to move forward, certainly wouldn't want to see it archived,however it costs time and money to continue so needs to be a balance if to continue this way. RTP you and other mods have done an amazing job to continue and keep our Goa paradise alight, thanks for doing this, but if the time came to retire psynews, would certainly support that decision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kriestof Posted February 21 Share Posted February 21 i'm reading psynews since the beginning and registrated in 2010, but i never posted a thing until 2024 but i was reading everything and discovered a lot of fantastic music trough the years because there isn't a lot of acitvity the last years, i decided it's time to start posting better late then never! over here (belgium) we are very lucky with parties, all were less than 50 km near my house there were (and still are, but less) parties every weekend with a lot of big names, i went (sometimes i could go on my bike) to acts as dimension 5, chi-ad, asia 2001, astral projection, hallucinogen, xenomorph, ka-sol, texas faggot, osom, kindzadza, x-dream, ubar tmar, ra, kox box, crossing mind, procs, infected mushroom, ... 20 years ago there were never ending party weekend with acts like that every weekend, insane if you think about it, sometimes i went to a party friday night, saturday morning to other party in a forest and then saturday to the last party untill sunday afternoon.......all with great acts..or great dj's we were very lucky over here with a lot of people who organised a lot of parties. now i release how lucky i was to be part of that time of partying....and also lucky that i survived that period😀 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
the goa constrictor Posted February 23 Share Posted February 23 I love this place and if you need any help with Mod/Admin'ing, I'd be happy to support. 😃 2 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
astralprojection Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 thanks RTP! whatever u chose its all good. it is kinda dead, but thats just a reflection of the internet in its entirety. we are getting ancient and the new kids are just into their tiktoks. the golden age of the internet is long behind us, still remember the first time i got connected back in 1994 on a 28.8k modem. those were the days i support the goa constrictor to become a mod 😃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psytones Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 All i want is fewer smileys i miss the old few n selected Psynews emojis. Now -at least on my phone- it's hell opening up the smiley selections... So much lag n crash .. :posford: 😛h34r: ..... Love your dedication to the forum, RTP. Keeping it alive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CosmicEquilibrium Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Yes keep it running, I have some spare time if you need help I think I can help too forums still have some advantages no pub and not so distractive. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
acid being Posted February 24 Share Posted February 24 Please keep it going. As we get older other things take up our time but sometimes we also end up with more time. I'd been reading the site occasionally for many years but only signed up two years ago and am visiting much more often now and writing posts. I much prefer old style forums and if you ended this site the members would disperse onto multiple sites making a small community even smaller. I also love the feeling of timelessness this site invokes. People happily continue discussions inside threads that had been dormant for many years. It's trippy. Your average web surfer would get confused by that! The threads remain timeless because the great music is timeless. Thanks for all your hard work keeping the site running. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyLight Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 @RTP I'm thinking that the most logical thing to do, would be to create a poll. With the options you suggested, kinda like: Keep the forum, close the forum, archive it etc. The participation rate to such a poll, would in itself give an idea as to if the forum is game over. (As if the statistics RTP mentioned, weren't enough of an indication.) The way I see it, if there's less then 10 active forum members, then perhaps it's nothing more than a little chat group. And as such, a forum with all it's associated costs to run it, perhaps becomes quite a bit redundant? The forum is stagnating any way one chooses to view it, the grumpy old male energy is quite noticeable. And that is obviously what happens, when there's no active female forum members. Either way, the forum had a good long run. And as all good things, they have to end sometime. What originally constituted the forum, I.E the users/potential new members, have gone with their favorite labels to the other platforms obviously. And the labels gained the most from that, they cut the middle-man so to speak. Anyways I miss the good old days, when Psytrance and Goa was all one would get in places like this forum, the Isratrance forum and other places. The new platforms obviously offer a lot more unrelated noise, and not enough quality content to be engaging for Psy/Goa for me. The labels own dedicated groups on facebook, I think suffer from a bit of a too narrow scope. And yeah it's mostly just links to music on youtube, and neverending praises. It becomes a bit fanboyish/cult-like. And not much in terms of nuanced discussions, or anything near the in-depth reviews that once flourished on Psynews and similar forums/portals. Maybe people still do that on Bandcamp? I don't feel like investing in that platform tho, it feels like the next myspace, to fade away. On the other hand, this trend with artists/labels having their own dedicated channels, was somewhat starting back in the days too, particularly with Infected Mushroom's and Hallucinogen's own forums. My two cents. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tatsu Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 I personally would prefere it if the forum keeps running. I'm only posting once in a blue moon but I do read it way more. And I've been able to discover some amazing tracks/artists/albums through this forum lately so it is still very helpfull for me. I don't think it's that bad if moderating the forum only happens with a delay. Considering the forum is not very active anyway I don't see any harm with that. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyLight Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 5 hours ago, Tatsu said: I personally would prefere it if the forum keeps running. I'm only posting once in a blue moon but I do read it way more. And I've been able to discover some amazing tracks/artists/albums through this forum lately so it is still very helpfull for me. I don't think it's that bad if moderating the forum only happens with a delay. Considering the forum is not very active anyway I don't see any harm with that. My suspicion is that there are more lurkers here than one might think, if only we could entice those to participate somehow? Maybe some free cookies and soda? And yeah maybe unban some people. I mean a life time ban seems a rather strict measure? Some drama and popcorn could be necessary sometimes. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikroMakro Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 I think it would be sad if the forum closed despite being used less. We cannot know or control the future, there is a chance there is a mass movement towards, not away from forums in the future. May I ask.. how come the gigging artists of the scene do not come an invigorate a forum that would be in their interests to invigorate ? Their absence is quite loud. We can all say we have no time. We prioritize and make time for what we like and what benefits us most, as is natural. Like many genre specific forums there are the fans side to discuss music and producers sub forum. I believe one factor for the production side is that making psy trance sound as a top level production is extremely difficult, we may as well not lie about this and it takes long term practice and dedication. It can be disheartening, I bet 95pct give up and even if you pay for the courses available it does not make a great track for you. Maybe some big producers will see this and they could spend a little time to engage and support something that will be missed if/when gone. Even just a little personal presence, not giving away their top kick and bass secret sauce. Just saying hello once in a while. In any event things go where they go, we cannot control all. In life a little spreading of bets is no bad thing. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyLight Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 @MikroMakro Yeah I mean that's one thing that has been quite noticeable over the years on the forum. The absence of the artists themselves. And when there were artists here, many were drama queens anyways. And got booted, so maybe that scared some away. Thinking it could affect their, reputation. One thing many of those who were on the dramatic side here had in common was how thin-skinned they seemed. So obviously that often lead to some drama, when this forum housed some pretty strong opinions/critique on albums. On the other hand, maybe it was a wise decision, after all. Better focusing on making music then risking beeing involved in some meaningless online drama. But it's still a bit intriguing, seeing that many of the Psy/Goa artists are quite active on social media posting memes and political blablabla and conspiracy theories. But yeah personally I think we should either close the forum down, or make it private. So the lurkers would have to login too. And I am all for embracing new technology, we could employ bots to ignite the news section. And yeah the bots could boot/mute people as well. No need for many active mods in that sense, more than to check what mess/wrong decisions the bots might've made every once in a while. We could set up some strict filters. So everyone would be banned in the end. Cursing? Boom banned, wrong opinion on a classic album? Boom banned. Nah just kidding, that would be like Instagrammy or Faceduck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikroMakro Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 I may have this wrong but it does seem many here are rather Goa Trance focused, be it classics or neo Goa etc. And that is fine by me though I like modern as much as old. Less people discuss modern trance. Maybe it is these 20-30 something that are on social media more. I suppose one can achieve greater attention on social media if that is what you need. Personally I find social media generally to be a vast drain of my energy and psyche so I feel much better not being on the usual platforms. People use it as a business tool as much as a personal share. I don't think it would be much to ask for a few movers and shakers to post a little. Thin skinned ? Well I suppose that might be an issue but surely people are a bit stronger than that. Scene success will surely overcome a few anonymous internet moaners. Maybe on social media say FB it is easier on artists as the only people who visit your page are people who like what you do. There you have to active seek a specific artist where as here it rather broader than a single page set up for yourself as an artist. Anyway you can only lead a horse to water as they say. Whatever happens I hope it stays online. I suspect a lot of artists come by for a look and never post. It will be, what it will be. Moderation is quite important, that cannot be denied it takes time to do that properly. i.e. allowing people to post opinions but without extreme behaviour which is a turn off for all. Moderation can make a forum a good place to be or a place to avoid. I would like to have hoped that there would be some mutual respect between members. It can be difficult with a mix of anon and non anon profiles, anons spouting their mouth off with little regards and with luck non anons representing their actual selves. With forums it can be a difficult mix to handle. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HolyLight Posted March 20 Share Posted March 20 3 hours ago, MikroMakro said: I may have this wrong but it does seem many here are rather Goa Trance focused, be it classics or neo Goa etc. And that is fine by me though I like modern as much as old. Less people discuss modern trance. Maybe it is these 20-30 something that are on social media more. I suppose one can achieve greater attention on social media if that is what you need. Personally I find social media generally to be a vast drain of my energy and psyche so I feel much better not being on the usual platforms. People use it as a business tool as much as a personal share. I don't think it would be much to ask for a few movers and shakers to post a little. Thin skinned ? Well I suppose that might be an issue but surely people are a bit stronger than that. Scene success will surely overcome a few anonymous internet moaners. Maybe on social media say FB it is easier on artists as the only people who visit your page are people who like what you do. There you have to active seek a specific artist where as here it rather broader than a single page set up for yourself as an artist. Anyway you can only lead a horse to water as they say. Whatever happens I hope it stays online. I suspect a lot of artists come by for a look and never post. It will be, what it will be. Moderation is quite important, that cannot be denied it takes time to do that properly. i.e. allowing people to post opinions but without extreme behaviour which is a turn off for all. Moderation can make a forum a good place to be or a place to avoid. I would like to have hoped that there would be some mutual respect between members. It can be difficult with a mix of anon and non anon profiles, anons spouting their mouth off with little regards and with luck non anons representing their actual selves. With forums it can be a difficult mix to handle. Yeah I feel ya, some similar observations over here regarding social media. I mean I really loved and love the focus this forum had and continues to have to some degree on everything Psytrance. Like you say, the social media platforms are like a barrage of "offtopic" constantly vying for one's attentions, so it a rather different experience for sure. And besides the algos there are very much working against whatever preferences one might have, I have followed soo many interesting artist pages there, interesting creative brands etc etc, still it serves me stuff I have no interest in. So yeah, this type of forum, is much more of a deliberate experience, more like reading a dedicated Psytrance newspaper/gossip, as opposed to the social media experience which is more akin to beeing inside a TV-commercial. As for the different styles popular here, I've always felt it had a bit of everything, I met lots of people here before who were into all kinds of Psy styles I had no clue about, and it was interesting for sure. Going to DarkPsy events, Swedish Forest music, some Suomi stuff, etc, Prog Trance, Full-On events, Neo Goa events sprinkled with some retro Goa as well. But yeah that was quite some time ago now. I'm sure the lurkers here represent a wider variety of styles. But I understand your impression, after all this forum was somewhat managed before by Suntrip peepuz, so it probably attracted a lot of Goa heads so to say. And Belgians overall seem very into Goa. I think there was quite a few of those here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anu Katariina Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 Saw the post and felt like commenting because it is important to have this place going. I remembered my old password🙃, it has been a while.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
psytones Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 Where else on the internet can one find lists / topics of Train related Psy/Goa-Trance tracks!? #) And Reggae, and so so much more 🙃 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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