It used to be fun and exciting: check out what's new, what a favorite artist has uploaded, what other people are listening to... make some bumps, add some music, gain some points... oh, I leveled up, cool!

Removal of browse>newest took away our ability to easily see what had been recently uploaded, but we dealt with it and found ways to still find new tracks.

Artists got limits on number of uploads. Many (listeners and artists alike) felt it was too restrictive, but again, we dealt, initiating campaigns to help stuck artists reach a new level, with a side benefit of building a community.

This week brought new changes. Listeners speak of fewer points than normal being received, artists find their levels changed: in many cases, levels reduced to the point where artists who were ready to upload new music cannot.

Listeners and artists alike go the the forums for answers, but little is revealed. Artists are mystified. At least one decides to delete enough tracks to be able to upload something new.

Even activity by several (comparatively speaking) long-time listeners seems to have diminished.

It's just not feeling fun right now.

I am thrilled with the new music and new artists I have found here, and am willing to give it some more time while things settle, but without the fun factor, I am not sure how long I will stay. I hope I find it again.

sam and james, thank you for all your work here, and thank you for listening.

Agreed. This site is quickly becoming nothing more than a portable music player.

I've tried to stay impassive on this recent change, but Dotish is right. This is no fun, without a community I don't see what sets t61 apart. That community feel is fast disappearing.
Personally I trust James and Sam to do what's best to achieve their vision, it may not be the same as everyones own desires but then it's their baby, they have the right to see that it grows as they wish. That said it needs to be understood that retrospective rule changes, especially without warning, have been a constant source of conflict and bad feeling. That needs to be sorted.
We'll see how things go. Remember the life we had before t61? There's always that to fall back on.

Ag ag ag!

I just found Midwestern Blues by Nathaniel Carroll, and managed to bump soren vinson to the top of the activity page for a short run (maybe success next time).

How can anyone say this site's no fun anymore?

The whole gnashing of teeth boils down to a desire for greater information and greater access to music. Hopefully those have been heard. I hope that further changes get both more warning and detail to the affected sub-communities, and I hope the the upload limits are under re-examination.

But I would caution us all against fickleness. The net is a reactionary place.

That's the point iyzie. Changes are one thing but the kind of poor communication that upsets much loved artists leaves a bad smell. Bad smells are no fun.

I haven't left, I haven't given up, will not be fickle. As I said above, I am willing to give it time, and I hope I find the fun again.

James, I am encouraged today by seeing you responding on some of the forums. As I am sure you have heard loud and clear the last few days, communication is key. I appreciate your taking a few minutes out of your work on the site to let us know that you are working on changes to artists' upload limits. I think much of the unhappiness of this week might have been avoided with more timely communication, but that's bygones now.

A question which I have not seen any official response to is that of listeners' points. Has there been a change to how we earn points? Many of us have seen a drastic decrease in number of points earned the last few days, especially on older songs.

Now I think it's time for me to go see what my friends here have been listening to today. I know I'll find something good. Who knows, maybe I will even have fun doing it! :)

I apologize. It is wrong of me to say that the site is no fun but it used to be much more fun.

I have to say that I agree. I'm checking the same pages that I did before, but I'm having a really hard time finding songs that I like, whereas I used to be flooded with great music. Why put a limit on the songs that artists can upload?

Maybe the site is still fun for some, but I'm increasingly turning to other sources to discover new music. Something's changed in the past few weeks. I hope you guys will turn it around. I'm still checking once a day in the hope that it'll happen, but I no longer spend as much time on here as I used to.

It has been less fun for me too ... for all the same reasons that dotish mentioned. I think I miss browse new the most. When I was gone for a few days, it was always the best place to catch up. Also with the limited number of songs an artist can upload the site is forced to recruit new artists which does not seem to be happening as much as it used to. It seems like most of the recent artist "activity" has been blog scrapes.

With the artist recently being burned by upload limits and vanishing songs, they are less likely to invite their friends to use the site. With listeners recently feeling burned by changes in how they can affect the music they like, they are also less likely invite friends.

I'm having too much fun, because I'm spending too much time. I love the game, I love my wall, I love to figure out how other listeners play, I love to comment on songs, I love the forum, I love my playlist, I love to check out my own stats, I love to first bump a song every now and then, I love the music a lot, but most off all I love the combination of all these aspects.

I wonder what made the fun fade for some listeners. It must be something that happened right before my time.

The only thing that really interrupted my fun was the Second Life horde that's been trying to impose their world on this site. I love the fact that they're passionate about their world, but I can't help but feel stifled. Things have slowly gotten better (possibly due to the recent changes?), but this is the only thing I can think of.

Back to the fun. =p

Cheers to that, lucy. Plus, I need more better music coming in and it has nothing to do with upload limitations for the artists. Guess that's the downside of being a frequent and somewhat long time user. There's less to discover.

Anyway, the only fun I'm having is seeing the various guinea pigs and bagelmobiles :-)

Vroom! I'm still surprised by all the piggies.

Maybe we should remember that the piggies, and the 'Race to Zero' was us as a community - making our own entertainment when things got boring, and we were feeling a bit jaded and frustrated by it all. KosmikRay's wall scrambles, wall crawls, and upload parties are another good example. I'm all for creative in-jokes and community led sideshows to bring some life to proceedings. And for the site, it builds user loyalty and return visits. So without re-opening the debate which has raged over the last few days in these forums, I'd ask J&S; to be more careful with any planned changes that upset that balance, and talk to us.

And I think that the community aspects of this site could be enhanced by easier inter-user communications - better tuneboxes, address books - oh and discussion forums that enable us to talk about music, share our bumping campaigns etc.

On the Second Life question - it doesn't bother me, and if anything it looks more like there's a separate SL ghetto than a SL takeover. But I'd ask whether - in some cases - are you guys bumping avatars out of tribal loyalty, or is it always about the music? And are you hearing the non SL stuff here with the same open mind? Just asking, not criticizing.

We have a forum. www.maxbumps.net/forum

SL Avatars make my life easier. I just don't listen.

And here I was feeling mildly guilty for being snobbish about the avatar/icons. No more!
But my snobbery extends to furry avatars (minus gpigs), names that include the number 69 in it or bodily fluids (you know who you are).

Oh and to get back on topic, I'm not watching the uploads like I used to because you're right, it doesn't seem as fun anymore. I was trying to remember what had changed a bit ago. Thanks for reminding me. It was removing the "newest" option from browse and making it so you could see undiscovered or new tracks before the hour was up.

SO MANY PIGGIES!!!

The Piggles Rule!

I must say it's the community that kept me here over the last week when I was so tempted to abandon the site. I'm now going to persist in trying to get my points back up to 3995 like they were before the race.

Sorry to be a naff but I actually quite agree with the decision to get rid of browse > new. I'm sure it was wearing out many F5 keyboard buttons over the world.

Hmm...can someone tell me what the difference is between Second Life groups getting together to bump songs & maxbumps doing it is? Seems to me like different people playing the same game - am I missing something?

And BTW - simply writing off someone because they came here via Second Life seems presumptuous to me. There's good & not so good all over this site, including Second Lifers. (Personally, anyone who upload a dance mix over an hour long gets the automatic axe from me...)

@willow- I'm not personally commenting on getting a group together to bump songs. Everyone is welcome and invited to maxbumps.net btw. Second Lifers included. I just don't listen to the songs with the avatars.
Could I be depriving myself of good music? Yes.
Do i hate the avatars? Yes.

You can call me presumptious if you want to but I'm just not getting on that train.