ShadowMusic - future of this website and the thinking so far

[hiffclall]

Regarding Jim's FB suggestion; I don't find using facebook anywhere near as easy to use / navigate as a dedicated forum with proper thread management but if this forum is to close and Jim is willing to create a FB page then I will happily support it and join and contribute. Thanks Jim

[alewis41]

Hi, Ian,

Thanks for your thoughts on this.

You are quite right. In my other FB Groups (the curated ones dealing with Shadows 45s, EPs, Albums, plus one dealing with the venerated Bell Musical Instruments catalogue), I gratefully accept the assistance of others, including Paul Wray here in the UK and Ian Kershaw in Australia. I also help out on a couple of other groups , including one dealing with TV theme tunes which is bombarded from time to time with off-topic posts.

I would envisage seeking the assistance of several existing ShadowMusic Community members if I were to launch the Group I have currently called "Provisional ShadowMusic Community".

My current thinking on the operation of such a group is that there would be just one discussions forum (taking account of the reduced traffic here these days), plus a series of references to archived discussion threads within this Community. If you are offering assistance, I would be eager to take it! Coverage on both sides of the world is very helpful!

Best wishes,

JN (currently six hours behind GMT).

I support Jim’s proposal and would be happy to provide ad hoc Pacific Time Zone assistance.

Andrew

[barryg]

It's now confirmed that Shadowmusic will become an archive and have no further current active posts (from a date to be announced). I suggested opening a Shadows Facebook Group to enable the Shadows community to keep in touch about Shadows related topics and day to day events. Love it or loathe it social media is here and it is has it's good points and some not so good but as I said before if the group is set up and managed properly it can be a good thing. It will take several people to manage the page on a daily basis to keep away the nasties and unwanted posts but it's easily done and it's very effective when the management gets it right.

For anyone not on Facebook, you can open a Facebook account quite easily and only use the link to the groups you want to see and you don't have to bother with the daily FB posts that circulate if you don't want to but there's a lot of information about The Shadows, instrumental music and '60's music and more on FB which is interesting to guitar players and music lovers.

Jim, I admire you ability to manage all those Facebook groups and I know you do it well and if you need an administrator for the new Shadows group I would be willing to be part of the team. I have a guitar group here in Bournemouth and I have a FB page for that and I'm admin for another well known group and those FB groups run very well.

Barry

[abstamaria]

To memorialise the name and if administrators here agree, why not use ”Shadowmusic“ in the name for the new Facebook page, Jim?

If it is a private Facebook page, with only admitted members allowed to see content and to post (such as the members now on this site), then there should be little errant posts.

I have a medical problem that prevents me from volunteering at the moment, but would have been happy to assist you on the FB page. Jim

Andy

[JimN]

To memorialise the name and if administrators here agree, why not use ”Shadowmusic“ in the name for the new Facebook page, Jim? Andy

That is already in train, Andy. At the moment, the Group (there is a distinction within Facebook between groups and pages, with the former having members) is titled "Provisional ShadowMusic Community". When up and running, the first word will be removed.

If it is a private Facebook page, with only admitted members allowed to see content and to post (such as the members now on this site), then there should be a little errant posts.

That would militate against wide membership, I fear. Robust stewardship is the key to what is desired, I think.

I have a medical problem that prevents me from volunteering at the moment, but would have been happy to assist you on the FB page. Jim

Andy

Don't worry, Andy, when you are well again, I am sure your contributions will be highly valued.

[Alan Taylor]

That's great news, thanks Jim and team ShadowMusic.

[pjr]

Is there a timeline for the termination of this forum does anybody know? I need to set up some sort of alternative for the North Notts Club.

Cheers,

Pete

[Iain Purdon]

Is there a timeline for the termination of this forum does anybody know? I need to set up some sort of alternative for the North Notts Club.

Timeline

We cannot yet give you this. The alterations we are planning require some programming behind the scenes which can only be done by the owner of the site. We are planning to do it the way he has suggested and as soon as he is able to give us dates for completing the task we will pass them on without delay.
We will include a transition period in order to give everyone a chance to make whatever arrangements they need.

[Iain Purdon]

To avoid clutter I have deleted some contributions to this thread, arguing the pros and cons of Facebook. They are worthy opinions but they belong in a separate thread. They are off topic in this one because they do not relate to the future of this site, which will stay where it is and eventually become a locked, searchable, public archive.

Jim Nugent has offered to create an interactive Facebook Group for any members here who might wish something like the way this site has been over the years. It will be a separate entity and, I am personally confident, both excellent and safe — but additional and, of course, optional.