Its been a bit quiet around here recently

[coliusuriah]

Something like competitions might be quite cool - Give people say, a weekend to bend something with particular themes/rules etc.

As someone who was away from the scene and has only recently come back, I can honestly say the scene seems to have shrunk over the last couple of years.

this is an amazing idea

[coliusuriah]

i think it would be great if there was an online network of benders contact info and links to their material.
im from the MIDWEST USA and circuit bending is still underground compared to UK. there are amazing sites like getlofi and casperelectronics, but still there in huge cities,

it would be reassuring if i could log in here and search all the registered members by location. then maybe i could find that group of benders thats been hiding under the radar but still in my backyard

just a thought and thanks for reading

[Circuitbenders]

Most people don't put their location into their profiles so a geographic search would probably prove a bit fruitless. Having said that, feel free to post a thread or two for events and contacts in local areas etc. I don't know how much response would be forthcoming but it doesn't hurt to give it a go.

[nochtanseenspecht]

=bump=

[Circuitbenders]

well, its probably fitting that this is my 2000th post on this forum and it might well be time to admit that its all over and the forum is dead. Its been just over 6 years since it started in October 2005 and as with a lot of forums i've seen recently, new posts seem to have ground to a halt and those that are made are mostly questions from people that make one post and never come back.

If anyone has some brilliant ideas on how to revitalise things then feels free to mention them, otherwise it might be time to call it a day............. 

[Dylan]

I definitely wouldn't call it a day. It's a great resource for new and old benders. I still get a lot out of this forum, even with the inactivity. This is just a lull, they happen. It'll pick up again.

[nochtanseenspecht]

yes thats what i think.. maybe not so active at the moment, but a great resource still,
i'm not posting so much, but often i make use of the search engine and find usefull info that i don't find anywhere else
Thanks Paul for providing this place and keeping it on the air 

[deb]

I'm new here and i love it!! Thank you all very much, there are a lot of interesting informations. Keep on with the great work!

[noiseybeast]

If anyone has some brilliant ideas on how to revitalise things then feels free to mention them, otherwise it might be time to call it a day............. 

Not brilliant, and not easy, but perhaps go archive mostly?  I love reading how tos and watching videos.  If maybe people commented on STUFF instead of posts it might be more relevant to how quick people want stuff these days?

[noiseybeast]

I meant "how quickly people are used to getting data these days"  Basically my idea is that maybe getting all of the how tos's, instructionals, videos, tips, whatever into one section as an info archive and then people can comment on new articles as they come up.   One section for questions instead of a whole bunch of forums.  If you start getting lots of specific questions about different products again, you can maybe then add different sections for different questions.

Like a blog combined with support forum?

Do you think that the CB forums are only dying because of social media or is circuit bending dying as a fad?

[electoyd]

Don't really think that an archive would help, the layout here is pretty good as forums go.  CB suffers from peaks and troughs like any other activity and equipment is stupidly priced by greedy people which doesn't help get people queing up to fritter their hard earned cash on a £100 machine that might die on it's first outing.   People ain't so keen to share their 'secrets' because they see people hawking their idea's for money on ebay and giving nothing in return.  The forums used to have projects on the go with everyone putting their tupence worth in to see how far these projects could be pushed, now it's just can anyone tell me how not to blow my expensive retro keyboard please?  then they (with a few exceptions) disappear.

There is not the same level of experimentation and sharing maybe because there is alot of info already on the site and they are quite happy just to copy the tricks but don't want to push the modifications any further.  Hope this doesn't sound well negative more just observations from a few forums. The only magic fix I can think of is delete all the info on the forum then people will have to dicuss it again 

[Circuitbenders]

I think thats kind of the point though, its more or less become an archive already, albeit a somewhat poorly organised one in archive terms. If people don't add new stuff then it might as well be a static source of information.

I think things might have become based a bit too much on the concept of answering questions from people who never come back, or who understandably want a quick fix and the topic never gets discussed any further, and not enough about presenting work that you've done or ideas that you've had. It becomes a bit of a downward spiral when people do present stuff they've done, but theres not enough people around on the forum to comment on it, so nobody bothers showing stuff off anymore.
Don't get me wrong, theres always space for questions as that's what forums are about, but it generally helps if they actually lead to a discussion.

It could be as electoyd suggests in that the beginners who come here find a whole lot of information already available and don't feel the need to post, but i'd also suggest that people who have been doing this a while have tended to move onto other areas like building modular synths etc. Maybe the name circuitbenders might actually be holding things back when it comes to a forum these days.

I'll have a think about a possible reorganisation, but i think that having all the 'how to's' etc in one place might just make it more difficult to find what you want in that section, and make it less likely that people will post. It could be that theres just too much information on here and we do need something more along the Burnkit2600 lines.

I think that a very large number of forums around the net have been slowing down or dying recently, and not just due to social media, but that is causing it to an extent. Maybe circuitbending has just reached saturation point.

[electoyd]

I must say though although there is not that much traffic on the site I do find all of the people pleasant, there is no trouble makers, people laying into each other verbally or scat clones.  Which I feel it's better to have that than the constant trolling that killed the yahoo circuitbending forum.  Even with the burnkitt 2600 site there is very little traffic, less than here but that doesn't seem to worry them, maybe you have to go with the flow sometimes if you try to change too much you kill the essence of what your trying to do. 

[tbone]

I'd hate to see the end of this site. It is full of great info and helpful people.
I haven't posted in quite a while as I haven't been working on anything lately [due to work commitments, moving house and a general lack of money/space to keep crap].
However, i do pop by and read posts fairly often when I get the chance.
In my attempt to help keep this forum going I shall endeavor to be a more active member!

[selfpreservation]

i think there are two problems with this site

id imagine that many people on here are musicians and are often away making music or giging and dont have the time to stare at a computer screen all day in the same way other different subject forum members do

i think like me a lot of people circuit bending is a means to an end ie a way of expanding thyere sonic palette and although i find it interesting im more interested in getting the job done  quickly cause every hour i spend with a soldering iron in my hand is a hour less spent in my studio

this leaves me with a dilemma because i feel like i mostly come on here when i want something and am not part of a community as such so i dont really feel like a proper member on here cause i dont really contribute because i dont have the knowledge to contribute id imagine that many members on here dont contibrute because they dont have the knowledge to help and therfore dont post anything thus making it quiet

also there is no middle ground here there are people with a lot of knowledge and there are people with little or no knowledge , this causes a void if a newbie like me asks a question usually the answer is so rediculously complicated or technical that we simply have no idea what to do with the information given and we move on to something different
i dont know what the answer is to these problems they are just observations but it is a valuable resource