suggestions

A box which looks like a clone of a cheap unit usually going for about £40 (on ebay, if mint, when they sell) and missing two keys is worth at best a few bucks, at least to the selective eyes of experienced collectors -- the ones that are supposed to attend this site. So I should not even write the following.

The fact is, it bothers me to see that so far MRmObile has posted thrice, always about the same box, directly or indirectly asking for its market value, directly or indirectly advertising it.

I am not bothered neither by the fact that he may or may not be the ebay seller, nor that the forum rules are circumvented (not being a supporter, he couldn't sell until he reaches 250 points -- to date he has 1). If neither the mods nor the board are concerned, why should I?

In fact, I am bothered by the boombox collector agony on stereo2go. Nobody seems to notice or care, and the new blood (new members, or old/new members, this apparently being the case) are more interested in getting information about value than in "making classical boomboxes happy again".

(Classical boomboxes, what I am talking about? I wonder why I bother at all, if not even the logo shows the shade of one?)

 

Given time I will post more of my old and new pictures to here in either thumbnail and or full size depending upon the detail I feel is needed for the group or thread that I would be posting into as ( Boombox Tech ) would be my group to post the most into. Last night I tried and was successful in posting my over the limit in data size ( pictures taken with my Canon EOS 70D DSLR) to the media section. I have not taken too many picture with this camera as I am not well skilled with using it yet but I am learning.

 

I do agree that the boombox side has died somewhat. On the Walkman side it's definitely boosted which is great but I've largely stopped posting boombox stuff on here as no one comments on it. I do it on Boomboxery instead. And I was one of the most frequent commentor on the old S2G site (think I was ranked 7th).

I don't think it's the fault of those running it that the boombox side has withered though, it's just one of those things...it's a shame though

But as I said the Walkman side is definitely prospering which is ver positive

 

Well I am having issue's in life here /// Give me some time and I will fill up the boombox side of here with at least of what I have and or also never posted as I never have had a real good architecture of my data in all my drives but I am working on renaming all of it so that I can find it better and once I have it compiled correctly then - well you can then see via my zillions of pictures.

 

Agree with comments that the boombox side of things has died a death here, can it be coincidence that this happened to be when the new site launched.
I have little inclination to post long and detailed posts about fixes, repairs, sales or ideas when that discussion is among 3 or 4 people at the absolute most. Might as well do it via another method.
Shame really.

 

hi WalkmanArchive,

thanks for opening this thread. It goes without saying that I fully acknowledge your efforts to build up a great forum almost single-handedly, and I am well-aware of the great work you do every day in order to maintain it clean, spam-free, and efficient. I appreciate all of this, like I guess everybody else on stereo2go.

Quick clarification: the post that opens this thread was originally written in answer to another post, and it was elsewhere. So I think that a few words of explanation are in order; otherwise who read will not understand what's going on in a thread that I didn't conceived in the first place, and which I would have not entitled "suggestions" (in passing, here I'll mention MRm0bile, whose only three posts since his registration repeated time and again the same question -- mind you, each time answered -- in brackets).

1) I never wrote about an agony of stere2go. God forbid! I can see myself that a lot of new people register every day, and I'm happy to see that both the walkman and the new media sections are very active. I am extremely interested in them, like everybody else in the boombox community. I am also happy to see that some of the great old walkman threads are being restored btw; starting from sotza's pure gold thread on walkman designers.

2) In fact, I wrote of "the boombox collector agony". And I was not referring to the end of individual contributions, of course. I had in mind a collective phenomenon, which used to be very lively and now seems to be almost extinct. Hence, Cassette2go may be temporarily out of commission and I do not doubt that he'll come back soon. But already both Northerner and Docs seem to confirm my view: the boombox collectors are less and less active. Except for BoomboxTaff's wonderful thread on Hitachis --already a few months ago -- and Nickeccles's excellent restoration threads --now temporarily discontinued--, there has been very little to speak of on this department.

3) Honestly, the logo is the last of my concerns. Yet it has a symbolic value. I find it bizarre, to say the least, that no iconic bombox is portrayed in it. I am not talking about brands; I'm talking about iconicity. In the old logo you could recognize a Sharp CT 6001 ("The Searcher"). Neither the most acclaimed brand, not the most sought-after unit; yet a very iconic specimen, with chrome dustcaps and all. By contrast, the Sonys and Aiwa walkmans in the present logo are both iconic and brands. The Panasonic boombox -- definitely brand -- is definitely not iconic. One only needs to take a look at any of the Panasonics shown in Cassette2go's recent uploaded pictures to appreciate the difference. Some time ago deech suggested that he and his sister were working on a new logo; he also suggested a contest of ideas on this subject. That may be fun, either connected with a poll or not. But the proposal seems to have fallen into a void.

 

I agree with everyone there should be more boombox related stuff on here...there are only a dozen or so decent walkmans out there, the rest are mickey mouse to me anyway when there are dozens of wonderful boomboxes, I don't think I need to add much more than has already been said, cheers

 

here is an ultra rare one for you guys, same as in the stereo2go logo but a grundig

 

WOW! Reno shared a picture ( Clapping )

 

To be honest I wasn't going to waste my time with this but I've thought about it and decided I have the right to reply too.

A lot of this sounds like trumpet blowing of the highest order, largely to the detriment of listening to a very intelligent person who is seeing a decline and is offering help, just to be ignored. I would recommend you listen to people who are gently providing you with good advice.

I'm delighted the walkman threads have picked up and there are more contributors, it's just a shame that the nature of the owners has impacted the boombox lovers which used to be on the site. This is in contradiction to the state of the boombox community, you should try and see why...

Glossing over most of the drivvle in the post, which of the owners loves boomboxes? and what are you talking about the logo not being important? you need to start listening to people who care otherwise people stop following. It's as simple as that. Noone likes a dictator in life, especially in a community of our beloved hobby.

 

A non-existant discussion will drag nobody here who would have been interested, whereas a discussion, be it with "only" 3 or 4 people, will be seen by those interested as long as the site lives, and that's IMHO the great strength of forums over other medias on the net. That's what made Stereo2go so interesting to me when I joined. I don't know how to put enough emphasis on the usefulness and power of the site's history, photos, threads and database, which are all what makes Google lead newcomers here... Beyond the immediate interest of the discussions "in the making", there is something like sowing the seeds of the future interest for each of the subjects.

My two cents about the logo: I can feel indeed why the lack of one or some iconic boombox(es) --ie I guess the ones that most traditional boomboxes collectors feel the urge to have in their collections-- can perhaps be perceived as a sort of "segregation". For me it is obvious that it was never the will of Hugo, who put all his talent in each of his photographs and especially those of the logo, and who actually had in his personal collection several iconic Walkmans, while --I suppose-- he had only one boombox at his disposal, which, although presenting all the qualities of appearance and functionality that would have attracted his own attention, is not considered by traditional collectors to be as iconic as some older models.
I suppose it would then be useful for boombox enthusiasts to agree and list a small handful of boomboxes that they consider worthy to be on the banner to represent them...
I also assume that once this list is established it would be necessary to take pictures of these objects while respecting the high level of quality of Hugo's photos: either one of the collectors can make those himself respecting the style of the banner, or he'd have to put them at the disposal of Hugo for him to express his photographic talents.

 

I personally don't have any problem with the logo/banner, don't think it really matters.

And I agree that having a back history of threads builds up a good database for the future. Especially important since we lost the massive wealth of info we'd built up when the forum changed.

But, and it's a big but, it's a lot to expect the half dozen of us who seem to be left on the boombox side to build this back up again with negligible interest from anyone else at the time, just on the hope that someone will appreciate it eventually. But equally without this it will likely not pick up membership. So it's a catch 22 situation.

If the previous forum content was reinstated this would attract people, improve membership, increase comments on threads, and therefore make people more likely to go to the effort of posting a new thread in the first place.

Just my opinion, I'm not criticising anyone or suggesting anything has been done wrong, just commenting from hopefully a positive point of view

 

I have always admired Ball000's enthusiasm and partecipation in both the old and the new forum, and I appreciate his --well, your! -- contribution to this thread a lot. I agree that starting a discussion is alway the best thing to do. However you must admit that putting a lot of energy in projecting a thread, taking pics, writing a text, documenting a process (such as that of restoration, for instance), providing technical information etc. without a feedback that is worth this name, results in frustration -- to say the least.

Motivation is paramount in every human activity; all the more so, when people with family work and little spare time volunteer to share valuable information. Here a lot of oldtimers who used to do a marvellous job along the above lines are progessively stopping doing so precisely because of lack of motivation. Docs made this point so clear that I do not need to add a single word to what he has already said. Incidentally, also Northerner -- hi Si! -- has just discussed precisely the same points I have been trying to make so far (with an additional reference to the DB, one of the eternally recurring topics on which I promise I'll stay silent for the time being, having already said too much elsewhere):

In addition to what Si writes, I wish to add that, out of this site, the boombox community is as alive and kickin' as ever: a boombox meet has just been organized in the UK, a second will follow next Spring, the classic German meet will take place on August 19th... and then there's the Vegas convention... and then the Australian guys... and possibly the Canadians.... Can anybody see traces of the ongoing organization process here? Nope, cause the only documentation concerning these events, so far, has been after the fact. How come, since so many valuable German and American and Australian and Canadian boombox people have enthusiastically registered here?

I think we should ask why, especially in the light of what was going on even during the last months of the old site, when events were being documented in the making. Members will excuse me if I quote my own "Continental Trance" thread, which was extremely partecipated despite the unfavorable moment -- late Summer, when activity usually slows down, and a couple of months before we changed platform --with the impending ghost of closing forever. But unless I am totally misguided by narcissism, that was an example of a still extremely active boombox community.

One last note concerning the logo. For the sake of both truth and historical memory, I never thought that WalkmanArchive's use of his Panasonic was a measure of "segregation", for the simple reason that everybody thought it was a temporary solution. In the last days of the old site he said that it took him no more than 10 minutes to draw the logo; no surprise that he used what he had at his disposal. But once in the new platform, very soon deech started a thread on this subject...

http://stereo2go.org/forums/threads...es-wanted-for-the-new-s2go-logo.158/#post-657

and I myself refreshed the one I had already started in the old stereo2go:

http://stereo2go.org/forums/threads/logo.68/#post-606

Those threads are now in a state of suspended animation -- maybe rightly so, maybe not, but that's a fact. Whatever the fate of the s2go logo, I appreciate Ball000's suggestion on this point, but I don't think that any logo can be conceived like the Frankenstein's creature: in collage-like fashion. In order to be effective, a logo must be organicaly thought of from the beginning. But that's another story entirely, and I have already reverted to my wall-of-text mode of the old bygone days (inadvertently, I swear!). Hence from now on I'll be quiet for a while.

Post Scriptum. Ball000's supposition about the boomboxes owned by WA is twice wrong. He (WA) owns more than one, and at least one that matches my idea of a perfect boombox for the logo: his NIB Toshiba RT-S933 ("Bombeat X-01"). You can admire it here: http://www.walkman-archive.com/wa/2013/06/a-boombox-in-a-time-machine/

 

Some thoughts to share .
- I appreciate Walkman Archive's efforts (and anyone else for that matter) to run this site smoothly and it is done successfully.
- I equally appreciate Samovar's efforts so this place is more self conscious and alive which also is done successfully.
- Stereo2Go embraces walkmans and boomboxes, or boomboxes and walkmans , if you prefer, but not exclusively one or the other like elsewhere.
- Stereo2Go Walkman Archive's logo is the best as it can't be compared with anything newer and Samovar rightly wants an iconic boombox on the logo.

Ok ,I understand ....you have a couple of hours to rest !

 

I always read topics specially if anything posted by Samovar. He is a great member, and members like him make this site more valuable.
Please allow me to summarize the suggestions/ complains/ recommendations....

Boombox friends want S2G logo to represent them by having an iconic boombox picture on the logo. I think Hugo can consider this suggestion. Deech kindly offered working on some logo with his sister's help. Was there any outcome? did he post the suggested logo anywhere for members to see?? ( it is just a question since i didn't see the possible logo)

It is really nice to know about these meetings since I would love to attend.
I have a friendly question, Did you or any other member know about those gatherings in advance? I think if we know should post the news for other members.
apart from a logo change suggestion many times we heard members requested the previous S2G database to be recovered( even though it is possible to access the old topics and the help and guidance available, but members wanted to see those old topics easily accessible like the new topics) which i hope someday happens.

Now apart from logo and old database recovery what else is requested from senior boombox members?

If we look at the other side of the story, Hugo has been spending significant time managing this site. If you remember, This site was about to collapse and completely disappear and i am very grateful of people like Hugo (and other admin staff) who kept the site alive and running. The new S2G platform is much better than before.
If we are asking Hugo to do something we should have some form of contribution or suggestion, For example:
Deech offered to work on a logo, Did anybody else offered any specific help?? Do boombox fella have a universal suggestion on a specific boombox to appear on the logo?

 

Perhaps to have a contest for people really interested in a new logo for here to make one of all kinds of equipment spanning the interest of this site for people to get a glance of to fully understand what this site is about, ( In a Glance ) ?

 

Interesting, our saviour has something more than a 90's black box. Anyway, whatever, the very fact that this topic exists and is called suggestions and was not in fact created by samovar makes it a farce because noone is listening that can actually be arsed to make an improvement for others' sake. I give up.