Gaming World Forums
Archives => GW Blog => Community Content => Blog: Community => Topic started by: Wash Cycle on March 09, 2008, 12:21:34 am
-
(http://www.avalanchestudios.net/ds/sigs/music_banner.gif)
#music. The best channel on the Whahay IRC network? Some certainly think so... I'll let you decide. As for me, I'm stickin' with the facts bucko, the facts that you should know. Regardless, #music was formed sometime in 2006 -- the best evidence says "in the middle"... but what does that mean? Regardless, Jeff founded the channel due to an increase of music related chat in other Whahay network channels, thus giving the music community on GamingWorld its own little IRC home.
Shortly after the founding of #music it became one of the most active channels on Whahay. The first moderator aside from Jeff was DragonSlayer, and the rest is history. Long-time Music Forum moderator, HybridZero, was next, followed by the channel's first half-op, MrArtichoke. Additionally at that time, much of the traffic of #gwradio was funneled into #music, and many would consider this period to have been the golden age of GWRadio. For this reason, Mike was given half-operator status as well. All was well, but tt became apparent after a few months that the channel needed more moderators, due to its increasing size and activity. Moriason and Wash Cycle were added to the staff to fill out the roster, as an operator and half-operator respectively. Not long after that, the channel began to regularly see at over 30 active users at peak hours, so DarkPriest was given an operator position, along with Koji-Kabuto gaining half-operator status. At this time, ATARI replaced MrArtichoke.
While music does not exclusively dominate the topic of conversation in #music, it tends to take up a big portion of the lines every day. Many of our users are also very interested in politics, history, music creation, video games etc and tend to talk about these things as well, especially during peak hours, when more than just the core music community folks are present. When the conversation does turn towards music however, there are a few talking points that one ought to be familiar with: A) Most people in the channel like rock music B) A lot of the people in the channel like Porcupine Tree C) A lot of the people in the channel have very strong feelings about their taste in music... err... no more points I guess -- anyway -- that wasn't going anywhere. Many of the users in #music have varied tastes, with music collections running up into the tens of thousands of songs such as Jeff, or some people who are very serious about a smaller number of artists such as DragonX. Generally though what brings the #music community together is a common desire to discuss what they do and don't like about new releases, or any release for that matter, and to find new material to broaden their musical horizons. As always, however, some people for whatever reason remain close minded, and the channel frequently erupts into (sometimes serious) argumentation.
Throughout its storied history, #music has seen its fair shares of battles and brawls. Much the way that the Music Forum was a continuous battlefield, so too became #music a proving ground for those with a bone to pick or a stick up their ass. The combatants fought valiantly over subjective issues such as taste, aesthetics an talent. Many lives were lost, but for those who survived or did not participate, these pitched contests were a constant source of amusement. Long time operator HybridZero admits that even he is "pretty sure you could write a full article solely on the conflicts I've had with #music members". One of the most memorable was a longstanding disagreement with MrArtichoke that eventually boiled over and left MrArtichoke an burnt vegetable.
MrArtichoke was the informal leader of a large contingent of GamingWorld users who could now in retrospect be referred to as the "Steven Wilson" fanboys. They would clog the channel with their incessant fawning over the man and his music. Many were inclined to agree that Porcupine Tree, Blackfield, No-man, Opeth and all the other groups that Wilson has collaborated with are excellent musical groups, but MrA and his cohorts often took it too far. On one particular evening, chat in the channel was runnings its course. Somehow, as it invariably does, power metal became the topic of discussion. Rather than participate like most other members, MrA decided to be snide, uttering the fateful phrase "lolpowermetal" to which HybridZero countered "lolpt". "lolpt" became a sensation. MrArtichoke quickly became a laughing stock of not only #music, but of the Music Forum and eventually the entire community as well. He faded from the community stage and little has been heard from him since.
Another amusing conflict was more of an inter-channel affair than an intra-channel ruckus. The conflict with #trivium is one of the most defining moments in the history of #music. Just the simple mention of Trivium -- in any context -- will bring about a flurry of quotes and inside jokes that have become obligatory as time has passed. Apparently, #trivium co-existed in peace with #music for some time, until of course, a few people from #trivium stumbled their way into #music and began to preach the good news: "<john> Trivium is the best band in the world". The members of #music weren't fooled. Many of the users were aware that these same people had perpetrated similar annoyances in other channels on Whahay. After a lengthy conflict with the Network operators and much ban-dodging and general disregard of all things good and honest, #trivium was finally destroyed. Even though the channel no longer exists, its legacy remains as a large part of what have become #music's memes and inside jokes.
As I mentioned before, a common occurrence in #music is to create a clusterfuck of quotes and other amusing slogans. These draw their inspiration from a number of sources, but the conflict with #trivium and on-going mockeries of such artists as Luca Turilli and the internet in general fuel these bizarre sloganfests. Many of these slogans are accompanied by bright colors and ASCII style depictions of Eagles and other patriotic American motifs, but here are a few of the gems:
<CrushingTheChristianCreed> There is more to metal than musicianship.
<CrushingTheChristianCreed> I'm pretty sure most thrash metal bands weren't all that talented
<john> Trivium is the best band in the world
<CrushingTheChristianCreed> Technique means nothing.
"The power of the dragonflame will burn brighter than ever before," says guitarist/songwriter Luca Turilli.
Producer Rick Rubin agrees about Linkin Park, "They really are reinventing themselves, it doesn't sound like rap-rock. There's very strong songwriting. It's very melodic...a progressive record."
« dragonslayers must think beyond normal »
!!!CUNT PUNCH!!!
Despite its early promise, the channel only sustained itself for about a year before entering a period of relative decline, where the daily userbase dropped from a maximum of 30 to around 15-20 people. After a few months, and the return of several key members, activity began to increase again. Jeff did a bit of restructuring of the channel, demoting Mike and Koji-Kabuto from their half-operator positions, in their stead promoting Teloch and dom. It was around this time that DragonSlayer was scheduled to leave to serve his Fatherland in the military, so HybridZero was promoted to fill the protected operator slot and ATARI filled HybridZero's place as a regular operator. Either as a result of this newly rejuvenated staff or just coincidence, the channel became as popular as ever, increasing its daily activity and ultimately overtaking #gwsoldat as the second most popular channel on Whahay after #gamingw. Throwing chronology out the window, now it is time to discuss more recent events.
A large group of regulars in #music are... how do we say... drug friendly? These particular members so often hijacked #music with their discussions of all kinds of mind-bending experiences and general "druggie" conversations. Eventually it became somewhat of a problem, and from the hours of 3 to 7 P.M. on most weekdays thanks to Lars, GoldenRatio, WashCycle, Moriason and the odd extra or two, it was impossible to talk about music unless it was music in context of "the drugge". Eventually, to alleviate this issue, Moriason and I created joke channel #ganjaw, the official Whahay channel for the discussion of drugs and everything related. Eventually the joke got old, and a new, more permanent channel was established. Moriason christened it "#drugs" in reference to the popular nickname for #music during this time period.
The most recent escapade involving #music regulars, it came to the attention many in the channel that the most common emoticon in use was :(. It began to wear on Jeff after a while. He eventually began complaining about "emo ways" of the channel and threatened the members with "serious action" if the trend were to continue. Later that week, it was reveled that use of the :( emoticon had more than doubled since the previous week. This prompted Jeff to commission DragonX to make a script that kicked anyone from the channel who used :(. Within an hour or so, this had escalated to temporary banning and then to an antagonistic cycling of members between regular user and voiced status with +m mode turned on. After a while, ATARI, dom, and Untitled protesting loudly, pasting multiple lines of :(, being de-voiced, then re-pasting them again when they were re-voiced a few minutes later. In the end, DragonSlayer returned from his inactivity and banned Dragon_X who was accused of being a Nazi, despite the fact it was Jeff's idea. Afterward, Jeff proclaimed that the three rebels had "completed a communist revolution" and established himself as dictator of the channel, de-oping everyone and saying that "now there is a classless society, thanks to the valiant efforts of ATARI, dom, and Untitled". The general members of #music were unsurprisingly not pleased by these developments. The end result of the revolution was that :( usage was higher according to Rift that week than it had ever been before, and the experiment was labeled as a utter and complete failure.
Here's a chance for you to rate the faces of the mods of #music from most handsomest to least handsomest
(plus lars (you must do it(do it)))
Dom
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/dom.jpg)
ATARI
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/atari.jpg)
DragonSlayer
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/dragonslayer.jpg)
Lars
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/lars.jpg)
DragonX
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/dragonx.jpg)
Moriason
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/mori.jpg)
HybridZero
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/hz.jpg)
WashCycle
(http://www.gamingw.net/pubaccess/30225/wc.jpg)
So yeah, #music is the place to be. Go there.
-
no one in #music likes actual good music its sad :(
-
no one in #music likes actual good music its sad :(
I beg to differ
but yeah uhh.. I just had to.. trump up the porcupine tree aspect of it to make it funny, plus I didnt feel like it fit in the article to go into a long winded recounting of everyone's tastes and what everyone's favorite band is lol
-
maaaan I've seen serious discussions of Trivium and Twilightning in there, what you talkin about.
-
maaaan I've seen serious discussions of Trivium and Twilightning in there, what you talkin about.
alright yeah some people in #music have bad taste, but the same goes for any group of people that get together in one place at one time heh
-
only person with bad taste in #music...
is furret.......
-
and you.
I've seen the music you talk about dragon x you can't diss furret for nothin.
-
and you.
I've seen the music you talk about dragon x you can't diss furret for nothin.
hey man, I might listen to "bad" music sometimes, and enjoy it, but thats just..a guilty pleasure....I listen to "good" music..
but furret only listens to bad music, bad bad bad bad bad music like paris hilton
-
I'm not going to say that there is a huge variety of tastes within #music, but there is definietly a lot of diversity that is brought to the table.
Anyways good article. It's hard to summarize a community like this into an article, but you did it justice I believe.
-
i've seen exactly zero conversation about hiphop.
then again my table is at the back of the bus (two can play at the simile game)
-
holy shit that DS photo is awesome
also hybridzero looks exactly like UPRC, is that supposed to be the joke???
great article. makes me want to be on #music more often, but then again I don't really visit IRC too often in the first place :(
-
im sorry steel but we like the best music as the banner implies
-
*listens to bad music*
boy i wished i listened to good music :(
-
jesus christ i am attractive
-
Woah Atari looks about 16.
-
does dx have a wonky eye?
good article btw.
-
I've tried to be a part of #music but it's not for me. NOBODY in #music has any taste in music that is remotely similiar to anything I listen to, so it's impossible for me to discuss it which just got boring/frustrating because I did try. And it all eventually just turned back to Porcupine Tree and that was dumb. But thanks for trying.
-
The pics are pretty misleading. DragonSlayer looks like one hell of an admin but he actually does nothing besides forcing Porcupine Tree into your hard drive.
-
does dx have a wonky eye?
good article btw.
yes I do
thanks for pointing it out where everyone can see, dick(o).