RIP to WATMM Discussion thread

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:28 AM, usagi said:

Discord is not really a replacement because of the instant communication aspect, which is not the same as the chill vibe of a forum where you can more easily control your level of engagement. also there already exist multiple WATMM-adjacent discords.

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I mean, I agree that keeping a forum going would be better - but again, Discord channels in a server can be completely configured with forum style posting rather than live instant chat. I realize most servers don’t use that capability so maybe you’ve never seen it, but it’s there and works.

Committing to an existing Discord server would be fine too but I’m not sure any have really been configured to be a full replacement. 

  On 1/30/2025 at 1:36 AM, roasty said:

 

 

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Oh, no!!

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:40 AM, sherkaner said:

I mean, I agree that keeping a forum going would be better - but again, Discord channels in a server can be completely configured with forum style posting rather than live instant chat. I realize most servers don’t use that capability so maybe you’ve never seen it, but it’s there and works. 

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I haven't! that might be the next best option if this can't be saved.

Guess it's my turn to say something.

I joined at about the halfway point. I admittedly made mostly cringey posts my first few years. But in more recent years WATMM has grown to be the closest thing to an online sanctuary for me, and being able to share it with like-minded fans has been a blessing. And it was kind of surreal meeting some of you in person during Ae's last North America tour back in 2015, but it was also a time I'll never forget.

We're all aging, artists and fans alike. I feel an increasing sense of estrangement towards contemporary times, and I'm probably not alone. We hold more tightly onto the things in life that made us who we are. The sense of impermanence is setting in like never before. And now we see the sun beginning to set.

So, I guess we'll carry on with the four months we have left here. Doesn't mean everything is doom and gloom. But at the same time nothing lasts forever. Maybe our community will take on some form of new life later. Who knows. (I don't mean as a subreddit though. Fuck Reddit.)

Now I've run out of meaningful shit to say. But I can promise at least one more dank dump in the interim.

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:40 AM, sherkaner said:

Discord channels in a server can be completely configured with forum style posting rather than live instant chat. I realize most servers don’t use that capability so maybe you’ve never seen it, but it’s there and works.

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This is new information to me.

One of the drawbacks of vanilla Discord is the lack (as far as I am aware) of an acceptable "quote" feature. Does the forum-configured Discord still suffer from this drawback? Without a quote feature that is similar to WATMM's, I cannot view Discord as a good alternative. 

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:28 AM, usagi said:

I think this is going to have to be a bunch of people working in concert, like an action committee.

the primary hurdle is convincing Dad. second biggest: funding, third: manpower/technical. second and third are manageable insofar as people invest the money, time and effort to keep things going for as long as they want to keep this alive. which, judging by the turnout in this thread, is a lot - certainly a lot more than I reckoned.

Discord is not really a replacement because of the instant communication aspect, which is not the same as the chill vibe of a forum where you can more easily control your level of engagement. also there already exist multiple WATMM-adjacent discords.

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yeah, as I already mentioned, the faction of watmm that mainly hung out in the live chat (chatmm) went our own way when that feature was disabled in 2017]

we're here https://discord.gg/dE343a8N

but obviously yes, a livechat is a very different pace and feel to forum posting 

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:58 AM, joseph said:

This is new information to me.

One of the drawbacks of vanilla Discord is the lack (as far as I am aware) of an acceptable "quote" feature. Does the forum-configured Discord still suffer from this drawback? Without a quote feature that is similar to WATMM's, I cannot view Discord as a good alternative. 

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there's at least three different reply/quote functions on discord 

Still got a toxic taste in my mouth about this. ( sucking papa peepee?) I still buy tons of music, so the argument that the featured artists don’t release music is irrelevant to me. If joyrex wants to walk away he’s free to do so. I know we should be thankful for what he has done. And continuing without him might result in complete trash. But at least give people the opportunity to try. You don’t have to go Putin on us. Watmm can live without its father. There comes a time when your kids become independent and you have to set them free. 
 

Thank you, J for all you have done

but also: this is a d*ck move

yo

  On 1/30/2025 at 4:59 AM, hello spiral said:

there's at least three different reply/quote functions on discord 

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Can all of the functionality of WATMM's quote function be emulated there, or only some of it?

I have in mind the facts (i) that WATMM's feature does not require an app download; (ii) that to quotatations are attached the names of the quoted user; (iii) that quoted posts are fully visible right within quoting posts; and (iv) that items (ii) and (iii) can be accomplished with one mouse-click. 

I'm in the process of building a website for people to browse the original IDM mailing list. If it's possible, I'd be willing to try to do the same for WATMM.

idmarchive.movFetching info...

Jesus can't imagine the internet without WATMM. 

Edit: Neither can I

Regarding the Discord/Reddit debate: an alternative might be Lemmy which is a fediverse Reddit.

We could create and host a whole instance which would allow members to create as many subreddits (ie, subforums) as they want. We could have a superstructure that could be isolated from other instances if you're not interested in other types of communities. Imagine a Reddit front page, but with 100% of "watmm" content.

Yes it still has the downsides of the Reddit system, but at least we wouldn't be limited with only one subreddit which would be flooded by so many different discussions.

Plus, the registering process is made a lot easier than other fediverse platforms such as mastodon, mostly thanks to high quality third party apps. I am thinking of Sync which was a very popular Reddit app, now dedicated to Lemmy.

It would also be a more "ethical" solution than Reddit and I think this is important for a lot of people, myself included.

what the h*ll is a fediverse, we got too many cinematic universes already

I've been devastated by this news all day. I am also heartened, through reading this topic, to read how much this place means to so many, and I'm absolutely down to help keep it going if we find a way to do that!

In 2006 I was a twoism refugee looking for forums with a broader musical focus. WATMM's rough & ornery exterior was a defensive measure that protected the warm and accomdating sanctum within! I have met many watmmites irl now, and you've all been wonderful. I count a few of you as my very best friends. PLEASE JOYREX let us work something out here!!!

I never thought xlt and twoism would outlive watmm but there you go  all good things must come to an end. Phobiazero and Cylob will be having a victory dance tonight.

Thank you very much James for the work you have put in over the years and the community you have built. It did feel a bit quieter these last few years but the amount of lurkers that have popped up in this thread to pay their respects has made me realise what a big and important thing watmm is to so many people, seemingly managing to swerve most of the culture war/rage bait shit that has infected the rest of the internet. Ive been on here since the Joyrex.com days, (first as The CIA) and I remember awaiting the launch of watmm with baited breath. Nothing made me happier when seeing a nice fresh thread with loads of pages for a new release and loads of hot takes to get my peepers into and lots of ms paint burgers that needed fixing. Its been great interacting with and watching artists like Wisp and EOD develop from amateurs to pros. It won't be the same on discord or reddit, those things already exist and don't really nurture the sort of slow burn longform discussion that forums tend to.

Im gonna miss you guys.

Oh well! Life goes on.

Pretty pissed off since yesterday, been lurking since I discovered this place 20 years ago, thanks to a link on a (long dead) french music forum during a discussion about the release of Quantum Transposition by Arpanet. I registered in 2014 during Syro promo run and I have been here pretty much every day since then, discovered a lot of great music, learnt a lot of things about AE, about music production, this will leave a big hole in my life. As stated by Lopez and a few others, I don't understand why this place should go down because of Joyrex loss of interest, there's got to be a way to keep this forum alive, and don't talk to me about reddit or shit like that... 

  On 1/30/2025 at 1:14 AM, Boxus said:

AAA alone is such a treasure trove (and I believe has already been archived in a spreadsheet somewhere?)

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Yup. here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1XAizLmKun4yF6oBVUhIrewYN-ZiY_9ORckmT-hF93Ho/edit?gid=0#gid=0

Been lurking longer than I can remember. Really sad to hear. Appreciate all the work and time you've spent @Joyrex. Hoping somehow the site can continue on under new stewardship.

I was thinking "hey I could register wewerethemusicmakers . com and run a little forum!" and then I thought "fuck, there's no way I want to be responsible for all the bullshit that goes on in a forum" and now I know exactly how Joyrex feels. He's totally within his rights to retire and he's totally within his rights to not hand it over to anyone else. He's kept this place running for 25 years for little or no reward and if between us we can't find someone else to carry that on with a different domain then it kindof proves the point of how difficult papa's role has been.

I suggest we have a pinned thread with a list of lifeboats and then over time we'll see which ones float and which ones dont.

  On 1/30/2025 at 9:28 AM, zazen said:

I was thinking "hey I could register wewerethemusicmakers . com and run a little forum!" and then I thought "fuck, there's no way I want to be responsible for all the bullshit that goes on in a forum" and now I know exactly how Joyrex feels. He's totally within his rights to retire and he's totally within his rights to not hand it over to anyone else. He's kept this place running for 25 years for little or no reward and if between us we can't find someone else to carry that on with a different domain then it kindof proves the point of how difficult papa's role has been.

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sorry but this is a failure to understand what makes this place a community. the site or platform owner does not make the community, they provide a space for people to come and build it up with their individual contributions and personalities, without which it would be nothing. yes, the often thankless work it takes to create and maintain that space deserves respect, all other things being equal. but saying that the community has to live or die on the unilateral decision of the owner is wrong, it demeans the place and devalues what makes the community special and worth having. especially going forward where everything on the internet is aggregated and click-driven and soulless and impersonal. these spaces are vanishing.

  On 1/30/2025 at 10:19 AM, usagi said:

sorry but this is a failure to understand what makes this place a community. the site or platform owner does not make the community, they provide a space for people to come and build it up with their individual contributions and personalities, without which it would be nothing. yes, the often thankless work it takes to create and maintain that space deserves respect, all other things being equal. but saying that the community has to live or die on the unilateral decision of the owner is wrong, it demeans the place and devalues what makes the community special and worth having. especially going forward where everything on the internet is aggregated and click-driven and soulless and impersonal. these spaces are vanishing.

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This, x1000

Watmm bout to get Terminally Slammed, adios and seeya later

  On 1/30/2025 at 1:36 AM, roasty said:

 

 

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I wish I still had the old one to do a side by side comparison.