Ideas for Metal Academy
See, this is the kind of thing where all the fibers of my body keep poking at each other until I say, "Challenge accepted."
There's a common phrase that says "Jack of all trades, master of none" & I think it pretty accurately describes my position on the topic.
I have top 100s of hard rock and prog rock entirely made up of five-stars. It took ten years to do that while I was working on other genres, too. I think I got two of those in the bag.
If you want to go the academic route then let's work together to create courses with lesson plans, rubrics, and tests, and if you pass the test you get the certification. That would accomplish everything you say you want to do, and if somebody is able to pass 9 courses, then they can get the nine clans. Set standards and award the people who are willing to meet them. You clearly have expectations about what you want from site membership. Put it down in concrete terms, and let's make an academy then. I've been an educator for 15 years and counting, I have all kinds of free time this summer. If you want to create and academy then let's create an academy.
A multipotentialite is someone with many interests and creative pursuits. Although multipotentialite is a modern term, the idea of someone with many passions is not new. Any student of history often hears mention of polymaths or Renaissance people. Multipotentialites have, indeed, existed as long as human societies.
"A human being should be able to change a diaper, plan an invasion, butcher a hog, conn a ship, design a building, write a sonnet, balance accounts, build a wall, set a bone, comfort the dying, take orders, give orders, cooperate, act alone, solve equations, analyze a new problem, pitch manure, program a computer, cook a tasty meal, fight efficiently, and die gallantly. Specialization is for insects."
— Robert A. Heinlein, Time Enough for Love
Very interesting. Here's some of my own facts ZeroSymbolic7188:
1. The only two people that have ever argued for more than four clans have had minimal participation in their existing clan's activities so it's unclear what they'd even gain from it.
2. The three clan challenges you've completed so far have only suggested that your taste profile isn't broad enough to cover your existing clans, let alone being ready to expand into additional clans that you're supposedly a little less fanatical about.
3. You're trying to convince Ben & I that we should change the entire basis for the passion project we've been pursuing at our own cost for over six years in order to satisfy your own personal agenda.
4. We've already stated numerous times that we have no intention of making the changes you're requesting.
I'm sorry for being so blunt but how about we move on from this topic now because it's not gonna go anywhere positive or constructive. If you're enjoying the site as it is then I hope you'll continue to enjoy it in its current configuration.
"4. We've already stated numerous times that we have no intention of making the changes you're requesting."
This is the first time you have outright stated this. I promise you that starting now I will not make any more suggestions. I do very much like the site in it's current configuration, I just saw more. If you don't want to pursue more that is fine by me. I even said as much earlier in this thread. I am available to you if I can be helpful in any way, but I will not bring my ideas to the table going forward-only if explicitly asked by you or Ben to do so. I only respond to this item, because it renders responding to any of the others a mute point.
I think that it is time that we collectively update the clan challenge lists.
Recently I have browsing the clan challenges page on this website and noticed that the "modern era" lists are starting to become dated. Most of the playlists peak at the year 2019, which does help to perpetuate a feeling of nostalgia farming. This isn't anyone's fault specifically, since most of these lists were likely updated five years ago. I think that it would serve as a huge benefit and eye opener for Metal Academy as to potentially bring in more active contributors in addition to more engaging forums.
In my spare time I have been looking through the Infinite clan and see what kind of changes I would like to see made. If this sounds appealing to anyone else I would love to be able to talk more about it in DM's
I certainly hope we do just that. There are many brilliant albums that came out in the last decade or so that should be represented.
I've noticed a lot of the more recent Metal Academy members abandoning the site and leaving on the albums that they've set to "currently listening to". I personally find that confusing because no one would ever just keep listening to a single album for a longer time than a week, like a month or even a year. I think there should be a hidden timer for the "currently listening to" feature, so after one week (7 days) for each album set to "currently listening to", it is automatically removed from that setting. Can we have that implemented please?
I've noticed a lot of the more recent Metal Academy members abandoning the site and leaving on the albums that they've set to "currently listening to". I personally find that confusing because no one would ever just keep listening to a single album for a longer time than a week, like a month or even a year. I think there should be a hidden timer for the "currently listening to" feature, so after one week (7 days) for each album set to "currently listening to", it is automatically removed from that setting. Can we have that implemented please?
Sorry Andi, why does that matter?
I just think it's a little confusing to look like someone's currently listening to an album when really they disappeared months ago and never removed the album from the "currently listening to" setting, Vinny.
But who is looking at that? I mean, each to their own Andi but this seems a tad minor.
Nobody is going to look at a user profile and go "this person has not been active for weeks and is still listening to something according to this. What a rubbish website!"
You say you find it confusing but then what is to say that an active/current member keeps that section up to date (they won't, because it doesn't matter).
I wonder if it would be possible, at some point in the future, to implement a "Collection" button on a release, which would enable us to add it to a record of our own personal record collections. I have been updating my collection on Discogs and RYM, at least for The Fallen initially, but I would really like to see it here on Metal Academy, because I think it is aesthetically much more pleasing. For now I have been making a personal list of my Fallen-related physical releases, but this is quite time-consuming and I encountered an issue with the list when I got over 350 entries which saw many of the entries disappear and which has seen me having to split it into two halves.
Anyway, here's a link to the first part of my Fallen Collection list for anyone who is interested to see what a sad geek of a record collector I am:
I wonder if it would be possible, at some point in the future, to implement a "Collection" button on a release, which would enable us to add it to a record of our own personal record collections. I have been updating my collection on Discogs and RYM, at least for The Fallen initially, but I would really like to see it here on Metal Academy, because I think it is aesthetically much more pleasing. For now I have been making a personal list of my Fallen-related physical releases, but this is quite time-consuming and I encountered an issue with the list when I got over 350 entries which saw many of the entries disappear and which has seen me having to split it into two halves.
Anyway, here's a link to the first part of my Fallen Collection list for anyone who is interested to see what a sad geek of a record collector I am:
Also, how about a similar ability to tag something onto a "watchlist" or, more accurately, a "listen-to list" so that we can tag things that may pique our interest but we haven't time to check out just at that moment. I would much rather keep track of both of these things here than on RYM.
I like these ideas and will investigate adding them in the next batch of updates. I'm strapped for cash at the moment while the cost of living / interest rates are so high in Australia, so I'm afraid it won't happen quickly.
I like these ideas and will investigate adding them in the next batch of updates. I'm strapped for cash at the moment while the cost of living / interest rates are so high in Australia, so I'm afraid it won't happen quickly.
Just a couple of ideas for the "back burner". The economic situation is a real downer for so many people at the moment, isn't it. Hopefully things may start to turn around as we get further removed from Coronavirus, etc.