[ogeva]

Ok.
So I joined this forum about 2 weeks ago, and frankly - I haven't seen any action on it.
I asked one question to which only Manos responded (and several times).
And 2 or 3 new member intruductions.
Is this all the online presence of flamenco guitar enthusiasts on the web?
I mean, delcamp forums are 100 times more active.
I wonder why is it. I can't imagine that classical guitar music is more appealing to that many more players.
I believe flamenco is more known/recognizes than classical guitar playing all over the world.
How come the forum (which is still one of the best sources of information on flamenco guitar I have found) so inactive?
How can we work to make this a more lively community?
Oren

[SamC]

Oren, Classical guitar is much more popular worldwide than traditional flamenco. Forums that deal with modern flamenco and flamenco fusion are much more active than this one. Being a traditional flamenco forum and having a stricter code of conduct, we don't have the activity of the forums where anything goes. As Tomas Jimenez once said, "we are like the tablao in the part of a Spanish pueblo where the tourist don't go." We are just a quiet bunch of people that like the old time flamenco sound. Many of our members are flamenco professionals and don't have much time to get on the internet. Some are busy practicing and many have other jobs and limited time for forums. Many of our members prefer to read and don't post much. Also many of our members are active on Facebook because they can control who sees their information and share with whom they choose.

[Bob]

I agree with Sam's comments above. Classical guitar playing is orders of magnitude more common than flamenco playing. Furthermore, much of the music that is commonly classified as flamenco nowadays is only vaguely similar to traditional flamenco, and this board is devoted to traditional flamenco. The traditional flamenco guitarists who participate here are therefore a small subset of a small subset of "Spanish Guitar" players.

How come the forum (which is still one of the best sources of information on flamenco guitar I have found) so inactive?

Another reason for the difference in activity levels here compared to activity levels at certain other flamenco forums is due to a difference in quality verses quantity. Some posts at any public forum have little or no value to anyone, but as you observed in writing "still one of the best sources of information on flamenco guitar I have found;" the density of useful and interesting information posted here compares in stark contrast to the enormous amount of immature and often vulgar rubbish posted elsewhere. If you had a way to delete all the nonsense posted at certain more active flamenco sites and you then compared what was left to the information here, the "useful-activity" level at this site would compare favorably. Not only that, but you are able to find valuable and interesting information here without having to waste time reading through and excluding the large overburden of rubbish.

How can we work to make this a more lively community?
Oren

We don't want a high volume of posts, unless those posts are valuable and interesting, because we are all busy and have better things to do than to read through rubbish, but a higher volume of useful and interesting posts would further increase the site's value. That can be accomplished in two primary ways. One is by more active participation by each existing member. Activity tends to stimulate activity, because members are much more apt to comment about a topic being actively discussed than they are to start a discussion topic in a dead forum. The second primary method is by existing members inviting, by various means, other like-minded people to join. We all have opportunities occasionally to do that in personal conversations, email exchanges, by placing links at related websites, and by other means.

-Bob

[el frances]

I guess many people interested or curious about flamenco may have been kind of disappointed by the low volume of posts on this forum but as Bob and Manos Lentas said, this little paradise about traditional flamenco (that some others call also "puro") eventually attracts the happy few who still get moved by ancient way of playing or singing or dancing.

As a matter of fact, flamenco just like every form of art can be, shows different aspects through a very rich history. Ignoring this side of flamenco is just ignoring the essence of flamenco : there are different styles, different periods and all of them touch people or not. Here, for example, I haven't read any scornful post about Paco de Lucia who is obviously a modernist but also a great guitarist. It's just not the place to talk about him. But since he is (unfortunately?) the only world wide known guitarist beyond the frontiers of flamenco universe, any new comer in search for this kind of flamenco will be inevitably disappointed here.

This forum is a great opportunity to discover another aspect of flamenco, another way of feeling it and playing it. A side that is unfortunately more and more prey to the traps of oblivion...

[Alan Green]

What I like about this site is that I can dip in or out of it at leisure, look at what's new, catch up on some video or mp3 stuff, and take part in an intelligent conversation >if I want to< without having to wade through 700 posts a week that want to know how to change a set of strings, or what strings to buy, or whether to play something free stroke or rest stroke.

I'm a member at Delcamp too, and a Forum Moderator at Guitarnoise.com and wouldn't be without either of them - I just don't think you have to have a thousand posts a day to have a successful site.


Alan

[byron]

I agree with the comments others have added. I'm also on Delcamp and most often find that wading through the many active threads and current posts just too much.

That said, I've also been one of those who has read more than contributed. So, I wanted to at least post my presence and thanks for the forum participants who are active. I'm a relatively new player and the vast amount to learn is daunting as well as engaging, and when you're at that stage it's hard to know how to add anything to most dialogues here. But we also learn by just listening.

My teacher is "old school" and between his nudging and my own inclinations I have gravitated toward the older players and styles. Along the way I found this forum.

Thanks to all those who keep the forum alive.

Byron