Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!

Subject: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: wysiwyg
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 12:39 AM

Using the BS: filter to sort threads, I would have missed ALL of these:

BS: Whats on in Hereford-Powys-Shrops Border

BS: Some old Salty-Dance Remix

BS: Yippee! I won!

BS: Words to Frosty Morn Jingle

BS: Busker's competition - £1000 in prizes!

BS: Travelling Folk Song & Ale (UK)

BS: Fiddle Featival next weekend PEI, Canada

BS: Cleckheaton Folk festival

====================================================

That's just ONE DAY'S worth!

Please, do not title music threads as BS threads! Sheeshe! There's enough to do a Thread Name Game just on these!

Thanks,

~Susan

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 01:24 AM

The CURRENT mission statement - as voiced by innumeral MudCat MEMBERS, is that Forum and Chat at the top left of each page outweigh Lyrics by two to one....

Therefore, we should label LYRICS - BS and leave the chatty kathy's alone...and stop annoying them with this music shit...it is public forum....IF you want it read...label it BS.

WYSISYG you've been around long enough to learn the norms of new MC!!!!

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Jack the Sailor
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 01:53 AM

Much ado about nothing. If it weren't for arguing about this many would have little to say. Let people title as they want. Who cares???

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: GUEST,novice
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 02:25 AM

please forgive my ignorance, but what exactly does BS mean, and when should/shouldn't it be used???

Subject: BS Filter
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:20 AM

At Mudcat, "BS" (bullshit) means non-music discussions and personal chit-chat. Those who have sensitivities can call it "breeze-shooting," I suppose.

If you don't want to see the non-music discussions, you can bookmark and use the BS filter:
http://www.mudcat.org/threadsnot.cfm?Title=BS:

I go through thread titles every day or two and drop or add the BS designation and other thread title tags as appropriate. I dropped the BS designation from most of the threads listed above.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:22 AM

Why isn't this thread labelled BS?

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Hawker
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:25 AM

WYSIWYG, I posted my Yippee I won thread as BS 'cos it didn't really fit any of the other titles, sorry if this annoys folks, but how about a title up there of music other or something!
Cheers, and thanks for the congrats,
Lucy

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Hawker
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 08:23 AM

OK, OK I get it ( I am a little slow sometimes), I just don't prefix at all!!!!
I'll remember that in future!
Cheers, Lucy.....

Though my husband, who is totally underwhelmed by the fact that I won, would say it is a BS thread!

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: GUEST
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 01:00 PM

Net Nanny alert.

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Clinton Hammond
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 01:43 PM

Even better.. don't filter...

*poof*

Problem solved...

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Bee-dubya-ell
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 03:47 PM

Is everything really so black and white? Are categories to be so rigidly enforced that the opinion of the thread originator is to be completely ignored?

I labeled the thread "Words to Frosty Morn Jingle" BS instead of Lyric Request because I thought it was far more likely that someone might get a chuckle out of the content than that someone would actually know the words. I reasoned that if I labeled it Lyric Request most folks would not read it since nobody knows the words.

IMHO prefixes should be left as the thread originator intended unless there is a blatantly obvious error.

I believe Mudcatters are, on the whole, above average in intelligence, creativity, and command of the language. Let us make the decision as to what "caregory" the content of our posts belongs.

Not Mad, Just Hurt *G*

Bruce

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 08:01 PM

Bee dubya ell, we do have the option of not prefixing a heading at all. That way, the BS filter doesn't bar it.

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: Joe Offer
Date: 11 Jul 02 - 08:25 PM

Well, Bruce - the text of messages is generally left alone, but we use the titles of messages and threads for indexing, to help people find their way around. Indexing demands a bit of uniformity. If people title threads in ways that don't work as well as we think they should, we add to the title a bit so the thread can be found more easily.

The Why Me, O Lord thread is a case in point. The thread has information that is quite interesting, but Lord Buckley fans wouldn't be likely to find it until I added (Lord Buckley) to the thread title.

I realize (with some dismay) that some people view Mudcat as simply a chat room, in which case there would be little value in indexing. I see it as a valuable resource of folk music information, and I do my best to see to it that people can find that information here.

The BS or No BS on your Frosty Morn thread was six on one, and half a dozen on the other. You didn't get any responses when it was labelled "BS," and it was dropping to the bottom of the list, so I thought it was worth changing it to a lyrics request. Besides, it's not just BS - it's something a musician might have some fun with. Your thread asked for "words to" Frosty Morn - but then your thread wouldn't turn up if somebody did a search for unansweered lyrics requests.

-Joe Offer-

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: SharonA
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:19 AM

I've started to get into the habit of changing the Subject heading of posts I make to other people's threads, when I feel that the thread title doesn't reflect the song that is its subject matter or if the thread has drifted into a discussion of a song. I figure that if someone does a Forum Search on said song, they'll find that hidden discussion once they open the thread on which I'd posted (since the Forum Search of a Subject looks for keywords in Subject headings of each post on the Forum, not only in thread titles).

Case in point: IanC's BS: Yet Another Alphabet Quiz, which segued into a chat about one of the songs on the quiz, Hughie Jones's "The Ellen Vannen Tragedy" (and its spelling of "Ellan Vannin"). So I entitled one of my posts there as follows: "Ellan Vannin" aka "Ellen Vannen" & "Ellen Vannin"

In this case, another poster (Wolfgang) decided to start a new thread on the subject and copy posts to it from the Quiz thread, but that doesn't always happen, and music chats often get buried in BS threads along with some interesting music info. As has been said SO many times, the line between music chat and BS is intentionally blurred on the Mudcat Forum, so I think that the practice of changing Subject headings (to help people retrieve information in the future) should be encouraged.

Subject: RE: Busted: Music threads mistitled as BS!
From: IanC
Date: 12 Jul 02 - 10:25 AM

Thanks Sharon

I always mark my quiz threads BS though they're always music and there's often some useful information comes up.

I've always felt that people regard quizzes as essentially BS (rather than Bullshit) and might not want to look at them. They have the choice.

:-)
Ian