Thatās unacceptable and Iāve flagged your post.
@stitch
No youāre not stating facts, youāre twisting facts.
Over 700,000 is the number who have signed up for an account.
200,000 is the number who have visited the community. (99.9% arenāt active)
90% is not my figure, itās somebody elseās.
I said it could be less if this community could find a way of attracting them and helping them.
And Iām not trying to stop you from posting.
We should all be trying to work together to make this a successful community for everyone.
I donāt know anything about Justinās other platforms and Iām not interested. Itās this one or nothing for me. If we canāt make this one work, then Iāll make do with nothing.
2k active users in last 30 days
Ideas are great and encouraged but Iād rephrase that from āsuccessfulā to ābetterā
Youāre better than that sort of remark David. Thatās below you in my books.
I often get the impression thay sometimes comments from first posters is that they think they are leaving a comment to Justin via the main website comment pages.
I hope not as Iāve still got a hell of a lot to learn from you.
Is that not the number of people that have created a JustinGuitar account rather than visited the forum?
Make the community more prominent on the main website and app.
Absolutely and the way I see it that is how it currently is by being very welcoming, understanding and supportive to everyone.
Youāve suggested trying to find a way to get more foot fall but you havenāt said whats not working. As far as Iāve experienced it is working. The majority pay it forward by supporting others in their learning by helping to answer questions and give moral support.
Edit: @DavidP maybe worth moving all this chit chat on grade specific posts to a separate topic.
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I actually squeaked once, in real life when a mouse ran across my kitchen floor in Virginia. I always thought those cartoons with squealing women were fictitious till then! My husband thought it was hilarious, BUT I have to say, it was a startled squeak, NOT a frightened one. I have bested many a mouse since then. 
But getting back to the current subject,
I agree with @stitch , donāt be shy to pop in and say something. I was like that my whole life, and I have to admit in a few forums I was burned by those I now consider selfish, self-important Dufoses but made me leave those forums. (one was about growing roses, of all things!)
However, newbie that I am, since January, I have not encountered any real animosity by anyone towards anyone. This Community is just Fantastic. And even when I donāt have something I would consider important to say, Iāll sometimes throw in a weird little anecdote like I did above.
Getting back to the topic of learning songs, I am also just a newbie, but even as the more advanced players have said, for me, itās just practicing over and over. And it really helps me if itās a song I already know from heart just singing along to the radio over the decades. Yup, Iām one of those Old Dogs. Iāve been trying to learn Wonderwall and Good Riddance lately because of the chords I need to perfect, and I am having a horrible time because I just do not know the songs at all. I suppose I should find actual recordings by the groups that wrote them, Iām currently using the App only. But Iāll keep plugging away for now, maybe Iāll have a small epiphany in the near future.
But when I get frustrated, I go back to playing a song I do know. I may not be great at it, but it makes me feel good and bale to keep on going.
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@BurnsRhythm @jacksprat @sequences @Socio
I have cleared the flag. I did contemplate an edit to remove the comments that cross the line in terms of Community Etiquette but that tone has not continued so my choice is to leave it and just emphasise our Community Etiquette.
Every now and then the chat does end up at a point where people have different opinions and ideas. That is fine but please letās always maintain respect, keep to topic, and not get personal.
And Michael, point taken, we now have a separate topic. I probably shouldāve taken the time to create the new Topic when I made my first reply. But being busy at work I didnāt and the conversation developed, though that is not always the case.
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Iām late to how this thread went, but I read this and go: huh?
This is a successful community/forum. Itās not giant, like reddit, but thatās not the point. Itās accessible to anyone and easily discoverable by anyone doing Justinās lessons on his website.
Also creating topics is like creating folders on a computer. Any of us can do it. Why would it somehow attract more people if the mods create a place to put comments rather than anyone? Thatās rhetorical. It makes no difference.
Seems like a misunderstanding of how forums work. āChange the status quoā. lol. Anyone can create a topic.
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I will share this back with the Team. We do have conversations about the user experience. Our aim is try to keep the structure as simple as possible to enable the Community to be user-friendly. The structure is implemented through the use of Categories and Sub-categories.
To playback what I am understanding ā¦ there are two points under consideration. Firstly, the means within the Community to enable general conversation about learning at each grade level. I think this could be achieved by just starting a General Topic. While easily done, the specifics could easily be lost over time. Alternatively we could create a Sub-category for each Grade for General Topics. I think that would be easy to do and something to consider.
The second point is making this visible from the website. I am less knowledgable on how the website is put together. There is a Discussion tab on each Lesson but not on the pages that present a Grade or Module. If we do something in the structure to enable the general Topics then worth considering how to link to that from the website.
Stepping back a bit, members can start Topics already as people have said. And if for example somebody started a Topic that was generally about learning in Grade 1 it would be easy for a Mod to edit the Category and Sub-category.
I donāt actually know how many registered users there are on the website. And have no idea of the level of activity nor how many are registered on the Community (I stand to be corrected but believe this is a separate action).
Without getting into the detailed stats, no doubt the ratio of active members vs registered members is a low number.
And as has been said, the Community still feels busy, there are enough new Topics and Replies posted that make it near impossible to read everything (at least for me).
Nevertheless, providing a more user-friendly and supportive environment to support learners that results in people having a better experience and staying with it, is still something that is often discussed by Justin with his team.
I shanāt say more than, keep watching the space for innovations. For example, the live session in support of Practical Music Theory subscribers. There will always be more to come and in keeping with Justinās ethos, more for all, not needing any subscription.
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Iāve just got one little thing to add to this for those who think that this idea would increase the number of people participating in the community, very simply - you can take a horse to water but you canāt make it drink!
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@DavidP
Thanks for the very detailed response David.
Thanks also to the team for giving these ideas some consideration.
A thought which has just come to me is that it could be a way for Justin to interact with his students a bit more. He could pop into a grade thread to say hello and a few words of encouragement.
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Iāve popped a mail off to the Team. I expect weāll chat in the week. And Iāll share feedback.
We do often discuss this with Justin. In a nutshell, his busyness is the blocker. Between content lessons, song lessons, initiatives like the PMT live lesson, interaction with Musopia, general work with the fulltime team, it is interaction with the Community that is on that brdige too far.
As Mods we try to serve in his stead, offering encouragment, answering questions, and in case of Richard and Lieven even adding additional learning material.
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Agreed and to me this is the key factor. Iād far rather be a member of a community where I āget to knowā other members. Receiving and giving advice/opinions. Listening to other peoples AVoYPs. A bit of chat and banter. Of course we need to keep attracting new members as new people are the life blood of any community but what we donāt want are the people who post once and then donāt even reply to all the responses they get to their query.
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You forgot to mention Justin has a daughter, a wife, a dog a couple of cats and a life.
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I moderated a.large forum with a similar number of users for several years, and the level of interaction there was similar, if not worse, than here.
Iāve observed a similar thing with other large forums Iāve been a member of, as well as other groups (Facebook groups, Google+ communities and Groups, mailing lists, etc.).
I donāt think itās a failing of the group. I just think itās human nature. In practice, a lot of members of groups like this are transient: they may only visit once or twice and then never return.
Maybe community isnāt for them, maybe theyāve given up guitar (or never even started), maybe they are too busy practicing.
I would also be willing to bet that a large number of them are potential bots and spam accounts. In the forum I moderated, we spent a couple of days trawling accounts and removed tens of thousands of dormant accounts which were obviously originally set up for spamming purposes. And that was just the tip of the iceberg.
In my experience, this is one of the most vibrant and inclusive forums I have ever been part of Iām struggling to.see why anyone would classify it any other than successful.
That being said, any initiative which encourages more students to join and interact is not a bad thing.
Cheers,
Keith
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I think in lieu of creating a personal interaction with a few posters in a specific topic, Justin chose to have his monthly in per zoom class on music theory.
Brilliant. I think it reaches this community and more in a very personal way. I even felt it a more personal lesson/session than his normal lessons when I couldnāt participate live. I think it succeeds better than he could in the forum.
Also, I kind of appreciate his hands off position here. It is cool when he does poke his head in. It reminds us that he is there and cares, but here we have a lot of knowledgeable members and amazing moderators with their own perspective and approach.
We shouldnāt get caught up in the numbers game. What percentage of people who pick up guitar with intent to learn stick with it for very long? It isnāt that many. I suspect many here are on the more committed side and hopefully this oasis will help us keep with it. I have seen a number of people enter the community only to disappear after a scant few months. Sad really. If I would want anything better here, it would be some way to help those people stay involved and stick with guitar.
(Myself included. I have no intention of letting this personal project lapse, but who knows what the future brings? I definitely hold this community and forum as one of the factors that encourages me onward)
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And it was in my mind to mention that JustinGuitar is not Justinās sole focus every waking hour, Rick, and I did that annoying thing of not transferring all thoughts to the keyboard. I can add to that, thereās also Brazilian Ju Jitsu and general training.
I guess that hits the nail on the head David. I suspect other people take that opinion about the community.
I donāt do any social media as it holds no interest for me, I prefer doing it how we do it here. Iāve tried social media, didnāt like it. I found the forum as it was back then when I signed up to Justinās website. It wasnāt hard to find, it was what I liked so I stuck with it.
Itās all horses for courses. Some people come and some people go depending on what it is they are looking for.
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Thanks for your comments guys.
You both make good points and I feel you can both see the big picture.
My idea is an attempt to address your correct observation Joshua, of people coming here and disappearing after a short while and your point Keith about getting more students here joining in.
David has seen enough good in the idea to put it to the team for consideration. It may come to nothing, but Iāll risk getting shot down for the cause of improving the big picture.
Rick tells us that the popularity of forums is on the wane.
Can we, the JG Community, buck that trend?
We wonāt if we donāt try!
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@SgtColon
Right there with you Stefan.
I tried social media and didnāt like it either. Nor am I a big fan of texting. I use it but Iād rather make a call.