RIP to WATMM Discussion thread

  On 1/29/2025 at 6:36 PM, dr lopez said:

guys - and i'm being 100% serious here - i might kill myself if i have to read boomkat copy for new releases 

too real

  On 1/29/2025 at 7:29 PM, aencre said:

All you guys are obviously reacting to a announcement I can't find nor have received, but I gather @Joyrex is closing down the shop, after further fatigue and financial stress I'd assume. I'll echo the same sentiment as everyone : there's a positive, special reason we're all hanging out here 25 years on (!).

But my question is — and sorry if this has been adressed in a text I can't see — before we scatter out in discords and subreddits (which both function differently and will provide a vastly different experience), a diaspora were we loose what's been our own space, is there a possibility of us buying back the shop, so to speak? That we collectively self-run this forum, with open accounting of server costs, instead of relying on the gracious (but opaque) upkeeeper?

I've repeatly asked, when Joyrex talked about putting up ads or making the forum pay-only, for the actual numbers to be made public, so that we could actually access the situation. I've managed online communities before, would I really be the sole one?

Expand  

  On 1/29/2025 at 7:29 PM, aencre said:

All you guys are obviously reacting to a announcement I can't find nor have received .... 

Big red bar at the top - https://forum.watmm.com/announcement/67-the-future-of-watmm-please-read/

I used to visit the Bad Science forum - when the owner closed it the punters set up a new place and most posters moved there

On WATMM's very last day I'll post so many photos of breasts of all sizes.

  On 1/29/2025 at 6:36 PM, dr lopez said:

guys - and i'm being 100% serious here - i might kill myself if i have to read boomkat copy for new releases 

gonna get a job at boomkat to save your life

  On 1/29/2025 at 7:27 PM, cern said:

That is super weird with Discord and I have really seen that everywhere. 

Like "We are Trans here so u know" everywhere like okay good to know ehh 

yeah it's totally odd. not a fan of that

  On 1/29/2025 at 7:34 PM, Squee said:

On WATMM's very last day I'll post so many photos of breasts of all sizes.

If i don't see that plus 10000 boc leaks the day the site goes down i'll  be disappointed 

i am personally quite mixed on this place but i had enough good times for the past 4 years to say that

yeah im gonna miss this place for sure

ill especially miss the New & Upcoming Releases threads, i had barely listened to any of them but so much of what you have posted looked quite intriguing and great

Found so much good stuff through this forum, still do every now and then. I'll miss reading all your bullshit. Not handing the reins to someone else just sucks big hairy balls. Sad to this little community go.

ae subforum must live!

Even though I've only ever really lurked on here, this place has really impacted me on not just my music taste but in so many different aspects of myself, right down to my sense of humour. Find it hard to believe I won't be able to continue searching through old threads for someone's facetious opinions of some obscure late 00s techno past June. I understand the potential headaches in allowing the operation to change hands but surely it's better than the alternative which is losing hundreds of thousands of hours worth of posts. Is it too hyperbolic to use the term culturally significant yet?

I joined 15 years ago and definitely lurked here before that, it's really only come in to focus now how attached I am to this place even though I'm in no way a regular poster.

A WATMM Discord isn’t such a bad idea, but I will miss the ability to make actual threads/topics. It’s so easy to miss things on Discord channels. 

  On 1/29/2025 at 7:50 PM, Squee said:

A WATMM Discord isn’t such a bad idea, but I will miss the ability to make actual threads/topics. It’s so easy to miss things on Discord channels. 

Discord supports channels, subchannels, and threads inside channels. It would be possible to create a very similar structure to what we have here.

discord is not the same as a public forum

a subreddit is not the same as a public forum

a mastodon server is not the same as a public forum

they hold different places, encourage different types of posts and discussions, and offer different avenues for interest and discovery…but they don’t hold the same deep well of time as we have here (even with all the warts of WATMM)

Aw man I always loved scrolling through threads looking for music.. Lots of discussions here felt like hanging out in the pub at the end of the internet. Will definitely miss WATMM, only website I really frequent nowadays. May be time to say fuck it and just stick to journalism and music on the net anyways. Discord and the like aren't my thing, WATMM on mastodon sounds like at least some reform but I imagine it more like a post-apocalyptic forum waiting room.

If there's any chance "I think it's time for WATMM to go offline" stays a thought and there's a way to change the financing model (amongst other things?) I would be delighted but I understand that it's ultimately Joyrex's decision. Big up fam

I just biked in to say...

Ahh jeez. An end of an era. I've been here in one form or another for ... 20 years? Can't believe it's been that long. WATMM saw me through the loss of a parent. I got married, had a kid, lost pets, gained pets, transitioned through many jobs. Had a kid. I remembe Zelah and Leah and Sneaksta (RIP) and our conversations about the Dark Tower, McGriff, Kaen busting through the drywall. I miss Vitriolic (Pete) and Martin (S. Piano) - folks I've connected with over the years and lost touch with. The group I'm releasing music with came about from this place, and it's been such a blessing in my life. Lol, I have Joyrex's PS5 I bought from him sitting on my mantle at home. 

Knew this day would come at some point but that doesn't make the hit any harder. This has been not exactly a second home, but absolutely the apartment of one of my bros that I always knew I could just drop in hang out on the couch, smoke and watch David Lynch films and have great conversations. Laugh. Share life. Sometimes cry. 

And so it goes, and so it goes... 

Cheers WATMM, thanks to Joyrex for the many, many, many years. It's kept me sane (and sometimes pleasantly insane). Love you all! 

im angry about this 

i dont want to talk about it yet

the net doesnt need LESS places liek this

I also kind of agree that the "artist output" thing is a load of BS. I mean, twoism is hanging on and they haven't had any significant news for 12 years (granted the financials for both are completely unknown to me). 

I really hope that either this site can exist without JR, or that a new site/offshoot can crop up (maybe by invite only at first, and then it can open up). I also think that WATDD is a great continuation name haha

  On 1/29/2025 at 8:01 PM, colunga said:

the net doesnt need LESS places liek this

yeah indeed.. It's like everything is about to force us into join X, Spotify and shit just Feeding the billionaire tech bros with your money and let the algorithm pick everything u listen and read. Brain rotten stuff really 

  On 1/29/2025 at 8:10 PM, cern said:

yeah indeed.. It's like everything is about to force us into join X, Spotify and shit just Feeding the billionaire tech bros with your money and let the algorithm pick everything u listen and read. Brain rotten stuff really 

Yes absolutely, this place has felt like a little sheltered corner of the internet, that has remained mostly wholesome, bringing together a bunch of music nerds having conversations greater than the sum of their parts. Also @chronical your comparison the the pub at the edge of the internet hit the nail on the head.

  On 1/29/2025 at 8:08 PM, YELLOW said:

I also kind of agree that the "artist output" thing is a load of BS. I mean, twoism is hanging on and they haven't had any significant news for 12 years (granted the financials for both are completely unknown to me). 

I really hope that either this site can exist without JR, or that a new site/offshoot can crop up (maybe by invite only at first, and then it can open up). I also think that WATDD is a great continuation name haha

 

Expand  

We are the double Ds?

Fredd-E seems to be a lot more involved with Twoism than Joyrex is with WATMM at this point. And I mean no offense, just what it looks like to me. Shame the torch can't be passed on. Browsing WATMM until I'm old as shit was a pretty fun thing to imagine.

SAVE THE CLOCK TOWER!

This couldn't happen at a worse possible time. 

Others have already said it: 

This place is special and unique in an otherwise toxic internet landscape

Main artists are still in fact very active (most of them) and still plenty of discussion to be had, particularly Autechre 

Member fees should have been mandatory a long time ago, lots of us have been paying all along.

Past threads are still a huge wealth of information (and entertainment).

This place is legendary and should be salvaged however possible.

 Others could step in and take over for Joyrex. 

I really hope we can find a way