ro5's forum posts 21

And consider grouping variants... I can't imagine the Behringer TD-3 and RD-6 being popular in colors other than the original silver or acid yellow...

That would help...

And if the issue is bad ranking by too many low value entries. Start identifying the worst entries and contributors and find a way to address that root cause. Send a message that their entry will be deleted in 30d unless they can link it to an artist, shop, another user, review, youtube...

Well just use stats or analytics to select the gear that is not linked to any artists, is only in one persons gearlist, is not reviewed by anyone and not viewed in the last 12 months and delete it from your DB.

Select the people who posted this gear which has little financial value to the EB founders, send them an email that they should only post gear which is deemed valuable or desirable (explaining your logic) and monitor their posts in the next 12 months. If they keep posting this type of gear, prevent them from adding more gear.

None of the above. I noticed that the feature was disabled when I wanted to add the new EHX Memory Man Nano. It's not yet in Sweetwater or Guitar Center nor Reverb.

I already did. I love EHX!

Great! You can be the one to remember to link it to the Sweetwater page once it's shipping, lol :)

Now why would I do that? So you'd get a small comission?

Now we are getting to the real reason why we can only add gear with links to big commercial sites...!

@ro5, what bothers you most re: the new system?

Is your #1 concern that it will complicate your ability to add rare/obscure/boutique gear to artists?

...or are your concerns more about restrictions to what you can add to your own Equipboard and wishlist?

None of the above. I noticed that the feature was disabled when I wanted to add the new EHX Memory Man Nano. It's not yet in Sweetwater or Guitar Center nor Reverb.

This seriously limits the usability and value of Equipboard which should be community driven and not driven and limited by big commercial companies...

I understand your concern about data quality issues but I bet most data quality issues are caused by some specific type of users/contributers. And now you are punishing all users/contributers for the bad behaviour of some. Why wouldn’t you disable adding gear to new users, only enable it for users with a specific "IQ"-score? Or implement a rating/scoring system and users which add too many gear with bad score get blocked from posting new gear? Or perhaps you could create some "ambassador roles" who need to doublecheck or approve each submission in their area? E.g. in this case I might volunteer to verify all EHX, Behringer and TC Electronic guitar pedals... All the solutions above are better than just preventing users from adding new gear...

You could look into analytics/statistics to detect data quality issues or gear that is only added to one user. And start cleaning up like this?

One other suggestion is to use variants. I noted the concern that users would post a guitar with a slightly different or a custom color. And therefore you'd prevent users from adding it. Well, with the current rules I can easily add the Behringer TD-3 or RD-6 in all 10 colors which is exactly what you'd like to prevent with these new rules. Oh, it's already done: https://equipboard.com/search?search_term=Behringer%20td-3

So the new rules are really defeating the purpose and there are better ways to achieve you goals.

I understand the data quality issues caused by a specific group of users but the solution you proposed is even worse. Why don't you shut down equipboard completely to prevent data quality issues at all?

Or perhaps implement a rating system? New comers can't submit new gear. If they have a minimum IQ they are enabled to add new gear. But if someone introduces data quality issues, and other users report incorrect data, you simply remove the entry and give the person a strike and prevent them from posting new gear again (for a while)?

http://equipboard.com/items/dave-smith-instruments-tempest-analog-drum-machine

http://equipboard.com/items/tempest-dsi-analog-drum-machine

http://equipboard.com/items/nord-lead-a1-keyboard

http://equipboard.com/items/clavia-nord-lead-a1

http://equipboard.com/items/nord-lead-a1-analogue-modelling-synth

http://equipboard.com/items/flavian-nord-lead-a1

http://equipboard.com/items/nord-lead-a1

http://equipboard.com/items/clavia-nord-lead-synthesizer

http://equipboard.com/items/nord-lead-1

It does seem to work but I had to click a lot because I added my favourite gear first :-) So I tend to agree with your proposal but after adding a new piece you should re-focus the screen as well because else people might think adding a piece did not work and will try again...

Are you sure the button to choose between small and big pictures works in the widget?
It seems that it's always the same size...

To select which gear you want to showcase... This might not always be your latest three entries if it's a guitar tuner a midi interface and a freeware plugin...

Great idea! All that would be required is an optional start an end date for each piece of gear that you owned... The standard home page should only show the ones without an end date or with an end date in the future...

This only seems to be an issue on my iPad with Chrome...

Can't change categories of existing gear anymore. The first two categories always seem to default back to their original value. i've been trying to change the emagic amt8 to MIDI interface iso audio interface

Thanks but the first thing I enter (Roland TR-8), it comes back that this is already submitted.

I'll keep reporting duplicates when I encounter them.

English is probably my fourth language but nevertheless...

It's unlikely the vast majority of "Pro's" would actually be updating this website. If they would actually update any website it would probably be one of the classic social media website, not some nerdy gear website. Why would they spend any time on sharing where they get their mustard from, encouraging copy cats that could be better, while they could be shagging groupies or begging for some beers. :-)

Therefore it's up to users to contribute and validate data (based on provided evidence).
Data being for instance: 1) Creating new users/artists/bands 1) Proposing if a user/artist a "Pro" or not 2) Gear a specific "Pro" is using.

From an IT perspective, I see two "object types" here with a N-to-N relation: users/artists and equipment: One user/artist can have many equipment, one piece of equipment can be used by multiple users/artists. The fact that a user/artist is a "Pro" is merely an attribute of the user/artist object type which can change over time.

Maybe if the admins would read this thread, they'd understand what I'm after.

I think I still did not make myself clear.

I DO think this site should clearly distinguish between users and "pro"-fessional users. And this should be done on arbitrary, objective and verifiable criteria. The main purpose of this website is to be able to check which gear is used by your favorite artists or to see which artists have similar gear to you.

The only difference is that I see "pro" users as a sub-set of "users" with a specific "attribute" (Pro) which could be set (or unset) if it meets the arbitrary criteria specified above. Users should obviously not be able to trigger this attribute themselves. Users should be able to propose a new "Pro" based on evidence which should be validated by others.

Nevermind, I assume you've got more knowledge about music than about computers and IT ;-)

Jim, thanks for taking the time to respond I think I die not make myself clear and you actually seem to confirm my statement.

Some of these "children" here might one day become a "pro" who would make most of their money by composing and/or performing music. Others might currently be a "pro" (or semi-pro, like yourself) but might, at some stage in life, become a regular user again for various, legitimate reasons.

All of them are users (or even artists) but being a "pro" is merely an attribute that could change over time (in both directions).

If you look at it from that point, the data model for this web application should be easier to implement and maintain as well. It should also be easier to categorise the equipment of normal, non-pro users...

Would like that too...

I do not really see a big difference between users and artists anyhow, except for more "likes" in soundcloud etc... And I suppose most users hear would like to become an artist one day... When & how would you transfer from a user to an artist on Equipboard?

Why don't you make artist an "attribute" of a users which could be enabled/disabled depending on arbitrary criteria?

I note a lot of duplicate gear. How could I merge them while not losing the references and attributes (artists, users, scores...)?