The state of the forum?

[lonestar]

It's gotta be a joke.... It's gotta be a joke....

[TAC]

Nah, I think Bosk was serious. Hoping he'll post soon.

[Anguyen92]

Yeah, I know Central Perk from Friends, but I didn't know the restaurant from Seinfeld is called Tom's Restaurant.  They always remove the Tom's part when they switched to it.

Edit: Wait, it's actually called Monk's in the show?  That's the name I always know of.

[KevShmev]

Wait, if this is Cheers, who is DTF's Cliff Clavin?

I think we all know that TAC would be Coach...

[Cool Chris]

Was hoping Tom's Diner was the name of the diner from the film Diner. Had to look that one up: Fell's Point Diner.

[JayOctavarium]

Yeah Reddit's format has always been a massive turn-off for me.

Their website is shit. I almost have to use a 3rd party app to navigate most of the time.

[TAC]

Wait, if this is Cheers, who is DTF's Cliff Clavin?

I think we all know that TAC would be Coach...

I'll have you know that Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) and I went to the same college.

[KevShmev]

I'll have you know that Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) and I went to the same college.

Ha, that's kinda cool, actually. 

[TAC]

Yeah, they had just built a new student center on campus before I got there, and there was a giant TV room that was called Nick's Place. Spent many nights watching Bruins games there while in school.

[T-ski]

Yeah, I know Central Perk from Friends, but I didn't know the restaurant from Seinfeld is called Tom's Restaurant.  They always remove the Tom's part when they switched to it.

Edit: Wait, it's actually called Monk's in the show?  That's the name I always know of.

It’s Toms Diner in real life, Monks on the show.

[HOF]

Just saw this thread because I accidentally clicked on this forum. I’ve been a part of various message boards since high school, including various DT related boards for most of that time. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but those just aren’t structured like a message board and really can’t replace the type of community there is here and in other dedicated boards. When the MP forum went under, I had a chance to kind of unplug for a few years and that was good, but those other formats just didn’t offer the kind of place to discuss things that this one does. I lurked here for a while and then decided to jump in, and it’s really been pretty much like where the MP forum left off for me.

I am looking for a new (used) car right now, and to my dismay pretty much all of the new models do not have a CD player. I can still get something recent with a CD player, but it struck me that this is pretty much the end of the line. The next time I’m in the market it will be Bluetooth or bust, and that really sucks as far as the way I consume music. But times and technology change.

Being on an internet message board in 2020 is a lot like still listening to music on a CD player in my car. I’m about the youngest person still doing it, and in 5-10 years or so I won’t really have a choice. Pretty soon I expect all of the forums that exist now to go under as platforms evolve and people stop updating the software these things run on. We’ll find other places to go or things to do with our time, but it won’t be the same. Alas. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

[Orbert]

I just thought I'd pop in here in see what's going on.  Okay, now I'll go.

[Cool Chris]

I am looking for a new (used) car right now, and to my dismay pretty much all of the new models do not have a CD player.

I posted this before, but I bought a new car in 2017, took it for a test drive, then we took it out again for my wife to drive it. I liked it, so I bought it. My first time out with it, I grabbed a CD, and when I started up the car, I thought "where the hell is the CD player?" I didn't realize there wasn't one until I got it home. I had just assumed there was one, it didn't occur to me to even check.

And I don't use reddit ever, but thought I would check out the DT page there. Man what a horrible interface!

[King Puppies and the Acid Guppies]

Most every one of the last few posts (other that Tim re:reddit) completely align with how I view and use DTF. It’s my hangout ... my Cheers, my Central Perk, my Tom’s Diner if you will (maybe all of them wrapped into one) - but with 100+ regular characters, not just 8, or 6 or 4. I can always come in here and find a conversation or discussion topic to jump in to, or continue, or start.

Unless it’s a WildRanger thread. 

This hits the nail on the head perfectly for me. As did your comment about new people joining and fitting in almost immediately. That's exactly how it was when I first joined. People like you and TAC, Cyril (aka Parama), Kattelox, Stadler, Ariich, Cramx3, Chino and so many others made me feel right at home here. I've made a lot of good friends here that I find many things in common with from music, to video games, to movies and TV shows.

I'd hate to see this place go, and it looks like for now it's not going anywhere, but I would be willing to do whatever it takes to keep it around.

[wolfking]

That's a nice overview, Bart.   I know for me, once in a while I will put a question out there, but on any given day, I don't come here to talk "Dream Theater", or "Trump" or "Derek Sherinian".   I come here to talk with Bart, and TAC and Chad, and Mike about whatever.  Sometimes about just THEM as people.   I guess I haven't spent enough time there, but "reddit" to me is more like a wikipedia-type source where I go occasionally for information.   I avoid Facebook like the plague (I had reason to sign up - Marketplace - and they delayed my acceptance to Marketplace long enough where it wasn't useful; in the meantime I did a little searching and there's nothing on there that I feel obligated to be a part of.)

All of this.

I come here now to talk to people I know and have formed friendships with.

[calamitycrush]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...
But yeah agreed, it would be a shame to see this place go. This forum just has a really nice atmosphere to it, it feels a lot more like a little community than a lot of other places online.

And I can't speak for the DT sub-reddit in particular since I haven't been there, but I could just never get into reddit in general. And I think (at least in the case of bigger subs) the voting system doesn't work as well as classic forums do to allow discussion and disagreement, it just sort of allows a set of 'accepted' knowledge/opinions about the topic to crystallise, and anything new or which deviates from that just winds up ignored at the bottom of threads.

[MirrorMask]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Oh, and welcome! 

[ariich]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Yeah seriously.

[clinks63]

what's happening? don't like to look up this on web archive dot com..

[Elite]

Nothing is happening!

[calamitycrush]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Oh, and welcome! 

I wasn't being entirely serious with that line, I kinda went for the Airplane! reference and missed.

[ariich]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Oh, and welcome! 

I wasn't being entirely serious with that line, I kinda went for the Airplane! reference and missed.

Surely you can't be serious.

[calamitycrush]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Oh, and welcome! 

I wasn't being entirely serious with that line, I kinda went for the Airplane! reference and missed.

Surely you can't be serious.

I am serious... and don't call me Shirley!

[ariich]

Well, looks like I picked the wrong week to quit lurking...

You didn't - it has been stated more than once in this thread, and even in the message by the admin that prompted this thread, that at least for the foreseeable future, nothing's gonna happen to the forum, but people are still posting like we have a month left of activity 

Oh, and welcome! 

I wasn't being entirely serious with that line, I kinda went for the Airplane! reference and missed.

Surely you can't be serious.

I am serious... and don't call me Shirley!

Roger.

[jingle.boy]

Wait, if this is Cheers, who is DTF's Cliff Clavin?

I think we all know that TAC would be Coach...

I'll have you know that Coach (Nicholas Colasanto) and I went to the same college.

Was he your tutor? 

And yeah... I forgot that Tom's was actually Monk's in the show.  I'd seen/read something about it being Tom's irl, and guess that's what I pulled out of my mind yesterday.  But yeah, ya'll got the point.

[Chino]

If this place went under, I'd be incredibly sad. I've been around since seeing DT on the TOT tour back in 2004. There's a few of you that I've now known for more years than I haven't.

+1 on forums disappearing. I hate it. All of my my RC clubs used to have dedicated websites and their own forums. Every. Single. One. has made the transition to Facebook groups. I can't stand it. The formatting and search functions suck, and there's no way to have a "build thread" if you're doing something cool over a period of time. Maintaining my connections to my hobbies is the only reason I still stick around on Facebook.

[Polarbear]

I'll say this, it will be a sad day when this forum comes to an end. Good to hear that it's not any time soon!


I joined around the time ADTOE came out, and I stalked around for a while before that. I check this forum pretty much very day. Even though I don't venture into the DT side much nowadays, there is still lots of interesting threads to check out. I come here to read my music news for example, and then discuss those news with all of you guys and gals. And weirdly enough, I feel like I know a lot of you people, without really knowing anybody. Not even your real names..

I'm sure this community finds a way to exist in some form after the day the forums will be gone, but it just won't be the same..

[krands85]

Glad to hear this place isn't going anywhere and it's nice to see how much it means to a lot of you as well. It would be a real shame if the forum disappeared. I'm a background character at best, but I love coming on every day and reading peoples thoughts, participating in polls and finding great new music. This place has always been one of the best I've used in terms of the number of assholes/wums/trolls - I barely remember any!

As for forums in general, I've been using them for over 20 years. Maybe I'm a bit set in my ways, but I agree with many of you that they're still a far better format for things like this than Facebook and Reddit - though I understand their appeal too. It's a pity the popularity of forums is waning these days, though they do still have their place.

Another forum I post on had been basically ignored and left to rot by the owners for quite a while, so the members decided to build their own one that worked properly. Many of us chipped in and raised over £8500 and now we have a working forum with funds to sustain it for quite a while. So clearly these little communities are still important to people.

[Stadler]

Just saw this thread because I accidentally clicked on this forum. I’ve been a part of various message boards since high school, including various DT related boards for most of that time. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but those just aren’t structured like a message board and really can’t replace the type of community there is here and in other dedicated boards. When the MP forum went under, I had a chance to kind of unplug for a few years and that was good, but those other formats just didn’t offer the kind of place to discuss things that this one does. I lurked here for a while and then decided to jump in, and it’s really been pretty much like where the MP forum left off for me.

I am looking for a new (used) car right now, and to my dismay pretty much all of the new models do not have a CD player. I can still get something recent with a CD player, but it struck me that this is pretty much the end of the line. The next time I’m in the market it will be Bluetooth or bust, and that really sucks as far as the way I consume music. But times and technology change.

Being on an internet message board in 2020 is a lot like still listening to music on a CD player in my car. I’m about the youngest person still doing it, and in 5-10 years or so I won’t really have a choice. Pretty soon I expect all of the forums that exist now to go under as platforms evolve and people stop updating the software these things run on. We’ll find other places to go or things to do with our time, but it won’t be the same. Alas. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

Sidebar:  I will sometimes bring CDs with me when I travel, as I do a decent amount of driving.  It's a great way to listen to CDs I just bought, etc.   There has been more than one occassion where I'm walking through the Hertz parking lot peeking in windows to see if the car has a CD player or not.  More often than not, NO.   That blows, man. 

[Indiscipline]

It's settled.

We're a merry bunch of CD player lovers gathering in this one-of-a-kind automotive rally; they may stop producing CD's and CD players, we still have huge collections, the skill to fix our cars, and lot of things to talk about.

[HOF]

Just saw this thread because I accidentally clicked on this forum. I’ve been a part of various message boards since high school, including various DT related boards for most of that time. I’m on Facebook and Twitter, but those just aren’t structured like a message board and really can’t replace the type of community there is here and in other dedicated boards. When the MP forum went under, I had a chance to kind of unplug for a few years and that was good, but those other formats just didn’t offer the kind of place to discuss things that this one does. I lurked here for a while and then decided to jump in, and it’s really been pretty much like where the MP forum left off for me.

I am looking for a new (used) car right now, and to my dismay pretty much all of the new models do not have a CD player. I can still get something recent with a CD player, but it struck me that this is pretty much the end of the line. The next time I’m in the market it will be Bluetooth or bust, and that really sucks as far as the way I consume music. But times and technology change.

Being on an internet message board in 2020 is a lot like still listening to music on a CD player in my car. I’m about the youngest person still doing it, and in 5-10 years or so I won’t really have a choice. Pretty soon I expect all of the forums that exist now to go under as platforms evolve and people stop updating the software these things run on. We’ll find other places to go or things to do with our time, but it won’t be the same. Alas. Enjoy it while it lasts I guess.

Sidebar:  I will sometimes bring CDs with me when I travel, as I do a decent amount of driving.  It's a great way to listen to CDs I just bought, etc.   There has been more than one occassion where I'm walking through the Hertz parking lot peeking in windows to see if the car has a CD player or not.  More often than not, NO.   That blows, man.

My work occasionally requires me to drive throughout my state, and having what can be up to a six hour chunk of time to listen to CDs is one of the highlights of my job. Sure, I could stream most of what I listen to on CD in the car, but the car is kind of my last solitary place that I can still just put a CD in and press play with no distractions or interruptions. I also have to plan ahead what CDs to bring, and that often affords me a reason to pick some stuff that I haven’t heard in a while, or sometimes I’ll listen to a chunk of an artist’s catalog in order. If I just relied on streaming from my phone, the options are almost overwhelmingly unlimited (I’ve added so much junk on my Amazon account that I might have checked out once but it’s still there) and I don’t know that I would have that same incentive to carefully plan ahead. There’s also more temptation to skip around to something else. When all you have is the CDs you brought, you’re committed to listening to just that.

[TAC]

We have literally made three dozen car rides to Disney over the years. The choosing of CD's basically became a ritual, as I have had some of the most important musical listening during those times. My wife used to get upset that I'd have my headphones on, but she qrealized that that was my vacation/wind down time.

I'll be honest, the iPod made it so much easier.

[Indiscipline]

No CD has ever returned unscathed from a car trip of mine.

Indestructible my arse

[Chino]

I'm not even sure if my car has a CD player. I know my Mini Cooper did, but I don't think I ever used it. I have enough clutter in my car, I don't need CDs thrown into the mix.

[KevShmev]

My work occasionally requires me to drive throughout my state, and having what can be up to a six hour chunk of time to listen to CDs is one of the highlights of my job. Sure, I could stream most of what I listen to on CD in the car, but the car is kind of my last solitary place that I can still just put a CD in and press play with no distractions or interruptions. I also have to plan ahead what CDs to bring, and that often affords me a reason to pick some stuff that I haven’t heard in a while, or sometimes I’ll listen to a chunk of an artist’s catalog in order. If I just relied on streaming from my phone, the options are almost overwhelmingly unlimited (I’ve added so much junk on my Amazon account that I might have checked out once but it’s still there) and I don’t know that I would have that same incentive to carefully plan ahead. There’s also more temptation to skip around to something else. When all you have is the CDs you brought, you’re committed to listening to just that.

I get that line of thinking, but the advantage of the iPhone is the unpredictability.  My iPhone has about 5,000 songs uploaded from my iTunes (all HQ mp3's), and once I plug in my phone when I get in the car, it automatically shuffles and starts playing something before I have a chance to pick something, and more often than not, I will leave on what it picks, or maybe I will hit skip if that particular song isn't appealing to me a lot at the time, except on the days when I have my heart set on listening to something specific, and I often get on kicks with bands that maybe I wouldn't have planned on listening to that particular day, and that is always fun.