I thought I would pick up on this as separate thread otherwise it would be off topic in BLIM.
Not a big deal but I was a little surprised like you about the addition to those who are on the BLIM Course by the inclusion of a symbol on their avatar
When you set up an account you can choose if you want an image or a letter you can then add what badges you want, all your choice, but the new symbol seems to be added automatically.
I suppose my concern that this marks people out as different to rest, is this not in a way against the ethos of the community.
There are perhaps good reasons for this change, such as excluding non BLIM members from certain parts of the community although this doesnāt seem to be the case at present, so why do it, is there a reason I wonder?
Hi Michael,
I understand your concerns and it seems a bit strange, but there is now also up and running a separate and therefore closed section on the forum, this is necessary because a lot of content will be shared between the BLIM group and videos are also shared ( parts of videos) that fall under the paid content of the courseā¦ and also other copy-write stuff
But of course you can argue about the desirability of the addition to the avatar ā¦ Iāll probably get mine tomorrowā¦you can also look at it as a badge deserved or something like that ā¦ I hope
Greetings
Agreed. It comes over that people on the course are special in some way. Why donāt those who pay for the PMT or SOS courses get additions as well?
But thatās only available to those doing the course, (which is as it should be) so why have the addition to the avatar. Perhaps @FannyJustinGuitar will know.
But seriously. This (edit:) `curses course cannot be compared to the other ones and is much more about sharing ideas and experiencing and learning from each other from the course during the course and learning and play together steal licks etc etc.
Hi Mathieu ,
the course and the closed forum section already ensure that you know who you are chatting withā¦ the āproblemā that is raised indicates that this is
not desirable and feels like a kind of exclusion/being treated differently ?
I hope it has been explained well by me , I will leave the rest to othersā¦greetings and have fun
Stuart @Stuartw
Roger @roger_holland
Interesting, so we do have closed group in the community. Are PMT and Strumming SOS closed groups, I donāt think so, both of which I have paid for.
Your point about people bypassing paying for the course is valid but iis using the community to distribute items of the course the right way to go rather the web site or dare I say Facebook.
Michael
PS I can see thread for Class 1 of the BLIM on community.
No, itās a choice in preferences. And to be honest if someone had a fingerstyle class 1 on their avatar Iād be more intrigued about the course the more I saw them and maybe consider enrolling in Class 2.
Thatās an open thread outside of the closed area.
I hadnāt thought about it being an elite thing. I was surprised that there were no other options as I was expecting to see it for specific class content. Maybe this is the first thing to be added. Iād hope other classes would have this as well, like āStrumming SOSā course and the beginner āClass of 23ā for instance. I am not seeing this as anything more than one would add to their profile by their own choice like displaying their guitar collection or pictures of another hobby.
It does seem to advertise the course effectively. I like to see who is going to be in the course. I can chat with them about it and it adds some excitement to see who you will be studying with.
No. I had to add it manually. We had an unintentional privilege escalation (now corrected), and when I went to look into that, I found it on my preferences tab and enabled it. I mentioned it in a thread and a day later it was everywhere.
I see where you and Stuart are coming from, because somehow members are āhighlightedā now. But rather than being bothered, Iām happy for them.
Itās neither making them something better, nor something worse. Itās just showing they are attending a very special class. Hereās the difference to PMT or SOS: Both are paid courses as well, but you can enter and leave both at any time as per your desire. Your not part of a certain group, but with BLIM, you go through half a year tightly together as a bunch of people. It will be quite an intense thing, I guess. So it is just kind of a sign of the folks belonging to that class, to easily find your classmates on the one hand, on the other hand, for peeps like me not attending (yet), it makes it easier to address members of BLIM to ask about their experience with the course, just as an example. Thatās quite neat for folks that were not sure, if BLIM is the right thing to do (now), so they can reach out and ponder, if Class 2 will then be the right time. Thatās also pretty much directing towards one point raised by James, a little bit of marketing.
I hope, this made sense. To me, itās nothing against the ethos of the community, but I do understand people feeling differently about it.
Interesting topic folks. I just switched my BLIM flair off, as I do not want to look elitist or special. Itās just me the same old Madman. As stated above with the closed group, you will automatically see who else splashed the cash, so no need for additional flags.
Iād encourage all frequent flyers who are doing the course, to encourage your fellow Blimmers to engage in the wider community. There has already been technical questions asked that have been covered for millennia here,
Although the city is getting bigger lets keep it inclusive.
I confess I had a similar thought to Michaelās. I donāt personally feel offended by it and donāt really care - I wonāt have the skills to participate in such a course for years, and (gasp!) Iām not currently attracted to Blues anyway. Iām happy this course exists for Blues enthusiasts! Obviously the cohort wants and needs a way to communicate among themselves, and it seems that has been facilitated. Still, with all the hoopla around BLIM, it feels a bit weird to be constantly reminded that some (most?) of us are not part of this special thing for whatever reason. As Michael said, it doesnāt feel in line with the welcoming and nurturing nature of the community.
, I will leave the rest to othersā¦greetings and have fun 
