Author Topic: Forum CPR  (Read 35224 times)

smirnoff

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #10 on: May 12, 2014, 06:33:37 PM »
Once you accept that film is subjective it leaves a lot less to discuss. I think maybe we're all at that point. :))

oldkid

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #11 on: May 12, 2014, 06:35:50 PM »
Once you accept that film is subjective it leaves a lot less to discuss. I think maybe we're all at that point. :))

I've wondered that too.  I mean, serously.
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pixote

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #12 on: May 12, 2014, 06:41:58 PM »
If there was one thing that is causing the forum to whittle down, I'd say it's the podcast advertising Letterboxd and not the forum.  All new blood is going there instead of here.  It's their podcast, they can do what they want and I have no right to tell them otherwise.  But I've always felt that this was a part of the Filmspotting universe and I feel a bit abandoned.

By the same token, there are plenty of times when a week's Show Discussion thread nets maybe one reply tops, so it's possible the podcast felt abandoned by the forum before the opposite was true.

I agree, though, that the current activity level of the forum has less to do with who doesn't post here anymore than with the dearth of new blood to replace any losses. The podcast-forum relation is no doubt a big part of that, as is the stretch of time when forum registration was inadvertently closed or broken. (I forget the details, and might just be imagining things, but I think it lasted more than a few months.)

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Junior

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #13 on: May 12, 2014, 06:43:50 PM »
Once you accept that film is subjective it leaves a lot less to discuss. I think maybe we're all at that point. :))

I've wondered that too.  I mean, serously.

This is why I try to talk about form as much as function in my reviews. It's not the only way, certainly, but it works for me.
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Bondo

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #14 on: May 12, 2014, 06:50:32 PM »
There used to be dissenting opinions on every topic.

No there wasn't. #ArgumentClinic

I think I did about 5000 posts each in 2010 and 2011 and have taken over two years for the next 5000. My pace of film watching has declined in similar measure. Demands of life. I imagine if many people are having a similar decline, the actual effect for the forum is almost exponential because those posts then don't inspire other replies.

oneaprilday

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #15 on: May 12, 2014, 07:03:00 PM »
Things I did like about it was the ability to click "like" after reading someone's review. That's something I would enjoy having here, but instead of "like" just "read". Inevitably some reviews and long posts come and go with no response, and I assume a lot of that is/was lacking the time to respond in a meaningful way, and thus not responding at all. That's so often how I feel after reading a good review, but not really having anything to say. Nevertheless I would still love a way to acknowledge that I've read it, given that someone took the time to write it.
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Jared

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #16 on: May 12, 2014, 07:07:45 PM »
Discussions and arguments seem like something that will fall into place with the various projects moving forward right? It's one thing when some misguided soul gives a movie you like a bad review in their private marathon...but when it happens in Brackets or Filmspots those are consequences that are taken to the grave and must be dealt with.   >:(

I think that's the reason the Top 100 project runs so well. Its one of those things that merits a response from another forum member. I sure felt obligated (in a fun way) to respond to people the month I was in the drivers seat.

sdb_1970

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #17 on: May 12, 2014, 09:11:54 PM »
@Smirnoff:  I hear you on the letterboxd.   I'm still not sure what "like" means.  I have my own meaning for that word (i.e., I "like" a "review," even if I don't agree with the rating, if it informs or entertains me).  But I don't know what other people mean when they "like" something.  Whenever the half dozen or so people who frequently "like" one review of a series I put up at one time, I am then left wondering why they didn't like the others.  On the one hand, I seem to have a good number of people who like a review, but never follow me; and on the other, I have a number of followers who follow everybody (because, if only a fraction of those reciprocate, then they too will have thousands of friends!)  I did recently switch to "Pro", which allows for filtering out certain activities by others, which is nice.  From your comments though, perhaps I could be a lot better about posting a response - even if it's just to say I read something and I care.  (I'm not being sarcastic.)

Yes, film is subjective, but that shouldn't stop the discourse.  For example, I really did not connect with No Country for Old Men on an emotional level the first time I saw it; but then I had coffee with a good friend a week later, and from that conversation, my own perspective changed entirely.  In that case, it was about the sharing of the personal experience of the film.  It had nothing to do with whether and what aspects of the Coen brothers' mise en scene was consistent with this or that prior film or prior director - not any more than who won a Kurosawa v. Ozu smack down has much relevance other than to provide external validation (which we all need, I suppose, but is not really that enlightening).  From my own perspective, the least interesting writing on film (many by those who fancy themselves to be great film writers) are by those who consider themselves so well-versed in the language of film (read: "look how many films I have watched and developed non-mainstream fetishes for") that they have sublimated their subjective experience of it into what they sell as objective.  By contrast, I am a fan of those who write about film as argument within the context of their own genuine interests, biases, etc. - i.e., the reader comes to know the film while also coming to know the writer.

@Steve:  For my own account, I do remain active in the Filmspots part of the thread (the one aspect of the forum where the weight of opinions is objectively measured), but I have definitely noticed that unlike in prior years, it is May and there is no FYC thread for 2014.  This is not intended as a knock on the busy moderators, but more of an observation that not many participants seem to care.

I also post here occasionally - sometimes links to my blog, sometimes mini-reviews, and sometimes responses to the half-dozen or so people who care (whenever I remember).  But those people tend to make up a minority of a critical mass of a two or three dozen who really account for most of the activity here.  Most of that critical mass (and I am not talking about trolls) either (a) have nothing to say to anything I have to say and/or (b) have nothing to say to anything I have to say but short snide/contrarian/dismissive/didactic quips - none of which is conducive to the kind of discussion I prefer.  I would post about a film, it would get ignored, and then a week or two later, someone else would make a shared observation I made about the same film, and it would be frickin' brilliant.  Or I would post a question or comment in reply to a review and would be the only one not to get an answer.  And then there are these consensus opinions of the cabal that seem to emerge that I just cannot fathom, much less agree with (e.g., it's definitely fashionable on the FS forum to hate all things Christopher Nolan).  To put it simply, if the FS forum is a "community," then I'm simply not one of the cool kids.

For the last year and a half, my blog has been a far more gratifying outlet - even without any "promotion" (other than links on here or letterboxd), some pretty cool stuff has happened.  In turn, I try to keep up on a half dozen or so blogs of people with whom I can have fruitful conversations with about film.  I don't really have time for anything else anyway.  That said, there's really no substitute for actual conversation about film (not podcasts), and I do miss my film meetup group from 6-9 years ago.
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oldkid

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #18 on: May 13, 2014, 12:01:41 AM »
sbd, I would definitely disagree with you-- you are certainly one of the "cool kids".    I've always loved your work and you provide an important viewpoint. Community isn't about agreement, but about the ability to discuss, and you've always had that.

Actually, it was looking over your set of reviews on Letterboxd that was the final bit that stirred me to begin this discussion.  Your reviews are so good and I kept thinking it was a shame that they weren't here for us to discuss.  Mind you, that wasn't the only thing, but I miss your regular voice.
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Bondo

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Re: The Death of the Forum
« Reply #19 on: May 13, 2014, 12:26:02 AM »
Don't worry sbd, the anti-Nolan forces here aren't as strong as you may think, just as wrong as you think though.

 

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