MI threads Hall of Fame

[Mooncat]

Grateful for this site most of the above you've listed are completely vacuous. Reddit maybe an exception but no sense of community. Zero discussions on insta/facebook - all emojis and likes. Endless pictures of vinyls etc "Friday Night Spins" "This Banger" "Out for a Pint" and a photo of a pint blah blah. I actually come here as a first port of call 99% of the time.


I'm surprised there's the odd forum myself but there's still a place for them I think. Just that MI was brought up it would be great if there were some reviews here, I do miss them the way they were done on MI, I think on the whole they were objective* and sparked discussion. It wasn't just Ciaran Tracey either, I thought the standard of writing across the board was excellent- I know it was floated before here and there wasn't much uptake but maybe things have changed for people timewise?

*Except that one time the first Steel Tormentor album inexplicably got 5/5 from Herr Tracey. He was so sparing with 5 star reviews, that fuckin thing had tuning/timing issues etc.

I remember he also gave Prong - Power of the Damager an absolute rave 5/5 review too and it was such an average album  On the whole I enjoyed his reviews though, and everybody else's. Came across a live review of Sorrowfall (with Devilmakesthree) right after their album had come out. That one took me back.

With regards to forums, they were mainly killed off a good decade ago, but there's a surprising amount of them that still seem to be thriving. There's a number of guitar related ones that are still as busy now as they were back in the day. I wouldn't be surprised if forums start to make a comeback as people crave community. Online tear-down culture is stronger than ever so I'm sure you'd get your fair share of 'classic' threads too...

[Mooncat]

Speaking  of CT, there were some posters only too happy to boost his ego.  I remember  when he had his alter ego, some posters  reacted as if he was a comedic genius. I also remember the time he declared black metal dead after listening to  Rotting Christ's  latest release  at that time. It was pure attention seeking on his part.
 It's one thing to be grateful to him for the site  and all it did for local bands in particular, but the fawning by some posters was off putting . The way he ended the site abruptly didn't  surprise me, because it was always about him 

What alter ego? I don't remember that. Though I agree there was a bit of brown-nosing went on. He was a key figure in the scene at the time though so I get why young bands would do that. A bit of MI hype could boost your status in the local scene for sure. I can remember going to Rock at Katy Daly's most Saturday afternoons and if there had been a particularly glowing or scathing local review (or a particularly hyped thread), everybody would be talking about it.

[John Kimble]

The alter ego was the Speckled Pig or something along those lines. It was mildly amusing at best.
On the topic of forums, yeah I think social media killed a lot of the interest but I was surprised to see that some are still going strong. Would have posted on the People's Republic of Cork and Boards back in the day and both seem to be still relatively active. Couldn't be arsed these days getting into political back and forths, so prob why I avoid stuff like the Donald Trump thread here.

[Bürggermeister]

Boards is a ghost town these days. They've got a funding appeal going or it's going to die

https://keepboardsalive.com/

[John Kimble]

Good. It was a horrible site. Same as PROC. Had a quick check there today and the most active thread seemed to be one about Immigration. And before anyone jumps to any conclusions about what side of the fence I sit on, like most things I'm an unashamed fence-sitter and believe that any debate calls for a bit of nuance and appreciation of both sides of the argument, something that is next to near impossible on the Internet. Hence why I just couldn't be arsed.

[Mooncat]

The sheer daftness 

[Emphyrio]

 

[Pagan Saviour]

The auld classifieds section used to be the business for picking up a bargain

[Eoin McLove]

The sheer daftness 

I forgot about Tommy. And what about Brush  I got a laugh out of The Speckled Pig. Was it ever actually verified that it was CT? There was a sense of nuttiness to all of those characters that added some fun to the place alright.

I think that most posters here who were around in the 00s and 10s on MI are past the endless youthful cynicism and cuntery that made MI such a hoot in its day. The endless flaming of poor eejits seems a bit undignified when you're in your 40s 

[jpm4]

Brush was the business - remember him trying to audition for Pagan Riot/Shiot? 

[Mooncat]

The auld classifieds section used to be the business for picking up a bargain

Going way back here, but remember that guy Tcat (think it stood for Thin Lizzy Cat) who was this pure Delboy character on the forum, always wheeling and dealing? Talking about how he could hook you up 

[Pagan Saviour]

What about the Me Wana Banana guy

[Mithrandir]

I'm terms of killing forums, obviously Facebook was a big thing but I think discord has actually had a bigger part to play than anything else currently.

[Mithrandir]

The site definitely helped foster a sense of community or make the scene more active. I met loads of people off MI but have never heard anyone ask if you were on MW. That said I'm only at a fraction of the gigs I was at in the MI heyday.

That's true actually, at its peak I would be drunkenly chatting shit to strangers in the smoking area at gigs and nearly always ask them their MI username, because nearly everyone was on there. Rarely did anyone say they didn't at least have an account they didn't use much. I was very invested at the time and MI was the law. I'm crimging now looking back but I met a load of people from it and it pretty much shaped my listening habits. I essentially grew up on MI. Which is why I probably why I sound a bit bitter in regards to CT even though I appreciate his effort.

**My Hexxed comment wasn't a sly dig, I actually didn't rate them as high as people seemed to praise them

[The Butcher]

I'm terms of killing forums, obviously Facebook was a big thing but I think discord has actually had a bigger part to play than anything else currently.

Never got the move across to FB groups in the early 2010s - always thought they were designed for the quick hit, disposable, list type posts "who here likes Metallica? Give me your top 3 albums!" etc - the strength of forums still holds true, can pick up the conversation easily through threads and re-read past discussions easily.

Sure, everything has it's moment in time but I don't think it's just different social media mediums that kill off forums like this, it's music getting devalued over the past 20 years - younger demographics prefer to use their time elsewhere, be it gaming/other apps/internet etc - music is just a footnote, some background noise, if they do focus on listening to music and nothing else then they are a clear minority. Niche music forums are kept alive by the older demographics, eventually MW will go the way of MI (hopefully not in the same manner) and I don't think there will be a new one to replace it at that stage considering the trends and I still haven't seen anything else to convince me otherwise. Let's enjoy the final ride straight to hell, hopefully we pick up a morax or downcoil along the way