I think i read this when Housequake closed and then nothing happened.

I think it might be interesting to separate all the like-dislike/gossip/blah-blah threads from the "technical" ones. Wouldn't it be cool to have a forum with threads dealing only with recording sessions, versions of songs, exact releases informations, collector's stuff and other things such as Scififilmnerd's lists and articles?

I just think it's weird to have the informative/technical/research threads mixed with all the other threads.

What do you guys think?
[Edited 4/16/10 14:07pm]

Like an Ask the Xpert 4um?

I like the idea. But I think someone suggested recently that there should be a Prince - The Man and a Prince - The Music split instead of Prince - Music And More. It seems like "And More" could be called "And Madness" most of the time.

Is this a viable option Mods?

Oh lawd no!!!

squirrelgrease said:

I like the idea and have passed it on. Ultimately it is up to Ben and if he wants to modify the site.

The question would be how to mod a "specialists" forum.

It would be a major task to weed through those that actually know and those that just THINK they know.

Thanks a lot for relying the idea Mars, and luv4u i liked ur feedback even though i don't understand why not

Well, i guess i used the wrong word: i should have said "research" instead of "specialists" maybe. By that i meant a forum discussing/asking about "technical/recording sessions/historical/discography/concerts content/etc." issues weither the people doing it are "specialists" or not: there is a great interest on research by many people here i think, and it's really sad sometimes that threads about that are lost between opinion threads or anecdotic threads that might be of little interest for people who are into research. Don't misunderstand me: there is no pride about claiming being a "specialist", it's just a hobby and there are different levels of interest (for exemple i'm quite good with recording issues and official releases but i don't know much about live concerts except for the most famous live boots), so i wasn't thinking about creating a sort of "elite" with some people being allowed to post and others not being, just a forum focused on research and data as opposed to opinions and gossip.

I understand that in some case a "i love [song]" might end-up in someone explaining how [song] was recorded and that it might make the "wrong forum" issue hard to determinate, but at least it might avoid a "how was [song] recorded" or a "why wasn't Eric Leeds at the Small Club concert" thread into becoming flaming between Orgers about weither [song] or Small Club are good or bad or about Prince behaving like a MF or a nice guy in some recording/live situations. This and the fact that one looking for info only would find it more easily than lost in the mess that the "M&M" forum sometimes is (no offense meant: debate is part of a forum's life as well but it's a different thing than research).

Maybe it'd also allow to bring (back?) some people on the Org or have some ex-Housequakers come here as well, and it would be very informative for new fans anyway.

I don't know who suggested this when the news of Housequake closing hit the Org, i could almost swear it was a mod if not Ben himself, i just didn't make that up: i got this idea from someone posting it here back then.

These were just a few thoughts anyway. Thanks for thinking about it no matter the final decision, anyway.
[Edited 4/17/10 13:05pm]

squirrelgrease said:

That was kind of the idea even though i think of it more as a "Prince: opinions" and a "Prince: facts" split.

sosgemini said:

Yeah except that many people can be expert depending of their different knowledges of what's asked.

databank said:

Not that I would ever take part in such a place but it would be cool to have an "xpert" level orger who would answer questions. Peeps could create a thread and the top twenty vote getters are assigned. Or, you could have a committee of seasoned orgers, old and new mods and ben nominate and vote on twenty. It might actually bring about a different (and much needed new) tone to the prince forums.

The number would always stay at a set and once one person drops off the remaining 19 vote on a replacement who serves a lifetime (unless they resign). Obviously, Ben could remove anyone at anytime for any reason.

sosgemini said:

I don't think it needs to be split along such fine lines as technical and session information and the like. I think some of the subcategories are already a bit too splintered in some respects, or at least some mods are too quick to move certain things when it comes to the Associated Artists forum and others. Perhaps a split between actual discussions/conversations about the music and the brain damage inducing crap like "what's your favorite song that starts with the letter L" or "post a picture of Prince's elbow" relegated to some crap forum.

I think the problem with getting Ben to go along with it is that, theoretically, both the FAQ's and the Princepedia are supposed to cover what this thread is requesting. The only problem with that is the FAQ's need to be more detailed and whoever it is that would be filling this "ask an expert" feature (or whatever) are the people who should be contributing to the Princepedia.

errant said:

"what's your favorite song that starts with the letter L" Yeah that's what i was talking about, too

I think the princepedia has been totally given up ever since this Princevault.com site started to build. Now there are many online and books sources, not just the Princevault. And as for the FAQ it covers only basic questions and isn't supposed to be an encyclopedia.
[Edited 4/19/10 7:36am]

Interesting ideas ...

databank said:

sosgemini said:

Sorry i didn't mean to mock you: since you said you wouldn't take part in it i thought you were being cynical. No offense meant

databank said:

Mob Wars (on facebook) has an Ask The Expert Forum. I love it. I through that disclaimer out cause I have too much fun on this site to do anything other than be a participant. That and well...well, let's just leave it at that.