JC Dobro - Posted - 03/15/2024:  07:44:44

Hardly any traffic anymore...that's too bad. Has everyone headed to the private Facebook page? That's not good for the instrument or its community. FB is where people go to post photos of the grandkids at the beach. And a private/members only page?

Only silver lining is the archives here are a very good resource for those exploring the instrument. Hopefully those remain intact.

Maybe it's just a dry stretch.

hlpdobro - Posted - 03/15/2024:  08:15:47

Anyone can join the "private" groups. It just means that the groups have a definition, visible to all but not accessible to most hackers, etc.



The FB groups are active, popular and many discuss a much wider range of topics, especially about playing/theory, depending which group you latch on to.



I'm particularly fond of Rob Anderlik's "Square Neck Journal" for playing discussions.

h

Edited by - hlpdobro on 03/15/2024 08:17:57

resotom - Posted - 03/15/2024:  08:38:55

Change is always inevitable. But the "SEARCH" tab on this forum is irreplaceable in that anything you want to know about anything in the reso world is here !
There is no other resource like it !I always post to the newbies in this group to access this tab and scroll through it to find the answer they are looking for. If it's not here, it doesn't exist.

JC Dobro - Posted - 03/15/2024:  08:43:27

OK, my loss then. I gave up FB probably 12 years ago. (You do need to be logged on FB to see private group content, of course).

Myself aside...young people in particular have abandoned Facebook in droves over the past 10 years, especially in the US. A Pew study showed teens dropping FB usage from 71% down to 32% (from 2014 to 2022). Posting a link is off topic, but it's easily searchable.

I maintain that migrating to private FB pages as the primary community resource for current/aspiring Reso players is a setback.

But good to see there are alternatives that are evidently thriving.

hlpdobro - Posted - 03/15/2024:  09:17:25

Squareneck Journal - 2,200 members



Dobroholics - 8,500 members



Resogat - 643 members



Beard Guitars Owners Grou - 773 members



There are others. These are the groups that I monitor.



direct video uploads, audio links, it's all there.



fwiw

Edited by - hlpdobro on 03/15/2024 09:19:37

WGale - Posted - 03/15/2024:  10:02:55

I do the same as Howard. A lot of groups to join and follow on FB with a lot of information being shared.
There is a lot of valuable information in the archives of this forum, it would be a shame to see it get lost for lack activity here.

JC Dobro - Posted - 03/15/2024:  11:27:52

Thanks all. The alternate forums listed are all private Facebook forums. Guess that goes back to my earlier point with regards to the platform...get on board w/ Zuck, or lose the ability to participate in resonator community activity. Again, there are segments of the population that don't patronize FB. I don't know how to say this gracefully, but those who are "in the know" on social media trends know that FB is an...umm... aging platform.

I hate losing truly public resources. But that's just me. Onward...

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/15/2024:  19:16:37

When Reso-Nation, owned by Brad Harper of North Carolina was still around we had people who visited that forum along with this one. Reso-Nation as I recall preceded the hangout by about four years.  At one point some years ago Brad began losing interest, and though there were a number of us who posted on a regular basis on Reso-Nation, it was getting the same rap - someone would sign on, then come over to the hangout and post that there wasn't much going on over there. But those folks whowere  complaining that there wasn't much action on the Nation  were often the ones who wouldn't start a thread, or reply to one - they might just stay in "lurker" mode. 

Part of the problem was when Brad was no longer paying attention as he did in the earlier years,  new people were having problems trying to enroll on Reso-Nation, so it was lacking in "new blood." Eventually Brad decided to shut it down.

I've written the following here - and on Reso-Nation - in the past. The internet forum model like Resohangout is truly an online community where one's "vote" can really make a difference. If you put in the effort and come up with interesting topics, or participate in threads, then hopefully like the film Field of Dreams it can be like "build it, and they will come."  

All other FB b.s. aside, the platform isn't as organized as a forum style site like this one. Archives are difficult to use in terms of finding something in the past which might be germane to a discussion. I like the Dobroholics site on Facebook, but I prefer a forum like this or The Steel Guitar Forum. It's just better organized.

I occasionally try to steer people on FB to Resohangout, but with limited success. Because of its sheer size, FB simply gets a lot more visitors in specialty groups. I think the format is a little dumbed down compared to a well organized forum style site. 

Then you have the other FB owned platform, Instagram, where it's dumbed down even more, and that's where a lot of the younger folks hang out along with  sites like TikTok. I check out Instagram once in awhile, but I rarely post there.

They seem to be thriving because of Short Attention Span Syndrome. Sign of the times. But smart business people know that Instagram is a good way to keep your name and face out there - like Beard Guitars and Asher Guitars. They post quite a bit on Instagram when I'm scrolling through and share quite a few short videos.

Edited by - MarkinSonoma on 03/15/2024 19:18:03

hlpdobro - Posted - 03/16/2024:  08:28:40

This is very much a private forum. We signed up and agreed to terms and conditions. If the day comes that it goes away you may/may not have access to the archives. Depends on the site owner and search engine gods.

Stuff changes. Anyone here recall the glory days of resoguit-L? Mike, Jerry, Tut & Rob all had their eyes on it.

Carry on

h

Lounge Primate - Posted - 03/16/2024:  09:10:54

Jamie, you might check out Steel Guitar Forum also as a “non social media/facebook/instagram” web forum.

The non-pedal sub-forum section is for lap, reso, weissie etc players. It does not have the depth of reso-specific posts as this site, but on the other hand, it has a lot of good info (music theory, alternative tunings, electronics) from to time to time. There are a lot of serious pro players (like Howard) that visit there, and the depth of knowledge of pros that have been playing for many years (mostly pedal steel) is really deep.

I tend to bounce back-and-forth between this and Steel Guitar Forum and find plenty to occupy my interest.

JC Dobro - Posted - 03/16/2024:  09:45:58

quote:

---

Originally posted by Lounge Primate

Jamie, you might check out Steel Guitar Forum also as a “non social media/facebook/instagram” web forum.



The non-pedal sub-forum section is for lap, reso, weissie etc players. It does not have the depth of reso-specific posts as this site, but on the other hand, it has a lot of good info (music theory, alternative tunings, electronics) from to time to time. There are a lot of serious pro players (like Howard) that visit there, and the depth of knowledge of pros that have been playing for many years (mostly pedal steel) is really deep.



I tend to bounce back-and-forth between this and Steel Guitar Forum and find plenty to occupy my interest.

---

Thanks.  I did recently enroll in the SGF...hadn't broken the ice yet with posting.  Good forum from what I see, although as you state, not as deep/specific on reso.  As with this forum, it's nice that all that info is available to anyone with or without a membership.

I'm contemplating a jump back in the pool on FB.  Not my preference, but seems the writing is on the wall.

At the risk of being repetitive, I do find it unfortunate that much of the action is migrating to "non discoverable" pages.  I'm sure lots of newbies lurked here for a bit...searching the basics...before diving in.  No FB membership necessary - which is good for the many (including most young 'uns) who don't use FB.

All that said, hopefully there's some life remaining in this forum. :)

Edited by - JC Dobro on 03/16/2024 09:46:12

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/16/2024:  10:39:44

I wasn't there at the beginning, but I was on Howard's resoguit for many years -  kudos to Howard for "carrying the torch."

Then it was many years on what was originally the Jerry Douglas Bulletin Board which morphed into the Jerry Douglas NeighBROhood Forum. 

We had a lot  of fun with that one, and some of us made life long friends because of Jerry's site, but 7-8 years ago he got tired of "riding herd" on that forum and decided to shut it down. 

It's a shame that these things after shutting down, where a lot of great information was exchanged just sort of disappear into cyberspace. I've attempted to use the Wayback Machine a handful of times to track down old info from these forums, but I always come up empty. It's either that I'm not smart enough to go about doing the research, or they just don't exist in the database. Last time I checked the home page at Wayback it stated that there are over 11 million topics in their database. 

I was on FB Dobroholics recently and the subject came up about how Gibson put out some shoddy Jerry Douglas and Phil Leadbetter signature Dobros. I commented that Jerry posted on his forum in 2013, about a decade after his Gibson endorsement ended regarding his frustration with that company.

Mike Replogle ran OMI Dobro for Gibson in Huntington Beach in SoCal after the purchase from 1993-1997. When Gibson shut down the shop and moved everything to Nashville, Mike declined to make the move because he wanted to stay in California. Mike and I grew up pretty near each other in the San Jose area, so we have some things in common aside from guitars. 

Mike asked me about Jerry's take on his Gibson experience, so fortunately I had copied and pasted Jerry's post to Reso-Nation in 2013 and later I did the same thing here and it's in the archives. I sent the link to Mike so that he can read it for himself. 

Again, a lot of good info perhaps irretrievably lost after online forums are shut down. Though he didn't post there very often, sometimes luthier Bobby Wolfe would post on Reso-Nation. Bobby is also one of the great dobro historians, and he would come up with some gems that I wish I had the ability to track down, that is - provided they're not gone forever. 

Pablo - Posted - 03/17/2024:  16:19:03

so happy to see Howard and MarkinSonoma posting replies!
I have such great memories of the lively back-and-forth in Brad Harper's forum, and so many characters there — some reappeared on Jerry Douglas's board.
Everything you guys say here is true: about what makes a community lively and useful.
Right now I'm racing off to play with some people in person. But seeing this thread will def. bring me back to Reso-Hangout.

docslyd - Posted - 03/17/2024:  21:12:54

As long as there is a need, RH will serve a purpose. Perhaps the collective enthusiasts looking for specific information and willing to execute a search, is a shrinking group, I don't know. It seems to me that there is no shortage of newcomers and they may be interested in other platforms but us old guys still have a lot of work to do. As long as I've been around Dobros, I still find that I occasionally need advice from those who know more than I do.

Dobrojan - Posted - 03/18/2024:  11:13:34

ResoGat is a private group but is pretty easy to join the group.

MarkinSonoma - Posted - 03/18/2024:  11:37:04

quote:

---

Originally posted by Pablo

so happy to see Howard and MarkinSonoma posting replies!

 

---

Good to see you here Pablo! Come around more often, nice to see one of the "old guard" posting. 

James Mayer - Posted - 03/21/2024:  08:08:47

Well, I just joined so hopefully it's not really dying.

WGale - Posted - 03/21/2024:  11:09:15

quote:

---

Originally posted by James Mayer

Well, I just joined so hopefully it's not really dying.

---

Welcome James!

Biggfoot44 - Posted - 03/21/2024:  17:28:12

I'm with J.C. , I don't do Facebook, etc .

I think there's some incomplete discussion going on here in regards to semantics regarding the word * Private * . I just switched windows to double check .

Dobroholics is " public " to the extent that a search will lead you to a public page that confirms that the group exists . But you can't see any of the posts or content without first joining fb , and then the ( group , site , whatever they're called on fb ) . To me that's private , not public .

Any number of random people are searching for information/ introduction to a subject , etc . On here , and most fora on most topics , they can read all or most of the content without posting.

Perfect example from another angle . Just about 24 hours ago , In one of my regular fora , saw a post with a link to a forum I hadn't previously been aware , dealing primarily with a subtopic of my main forum.

I clicked there . Read the specific linked post . Then started digging in to it in more depth . Check if discussed an interest range of topics , the general tone , were the discussions mostly rational , and reasonably intelligent. Liking what I saw , I signed up . I wouldn't have done that blind .

JoeF - Posted - 03/22/2024:  19:39:41

Plus, never mind that FB is run by a corrupt oligarch and steals your private data to generate profit. Not important, right?

hlpdobro - Posted - 03/23/2024:  08:17:02

I'll probably regret this post. Here's my take on things:



Leaving aside Facebook "politics".



There are, imho, 2 reasons for the relative inactivity here.



The first is technical, of which we can't do anything about. The reason why FB (and InstaG, YouTube, etc) is so (so) popular is the ease of sharing. Uploading audio, photography and video outstrips the capabilities of many web based forums, including the hangouts. Web based forums saw their heyday in the late 90's-early 00's.



Artists, builders and other vendors have prioritized their presence on the "socials" because interaction is easy, instant and flexible and doesn't require a programmer, as a website would.



The second reason that the specifically  Reso Hangout seems to be lagging is....US. The members.



It's all about content, as they say. If you compare the newer Reso to the older Banjo Hangs (ignoring the membership number disparity), the range of topics is much, much broader. Sure, you'll see topics about instrument mods, strings, picks and instrument collections.



What you'll also see are a much more significant portion of discussion on actually PLAYING the instrument and making MUSIC with the instrument. Deep discussions on style, technique, THEORY, players, the neck, etc. These are, for the most part, topics WE have a tendency to avoid. Why? Dunno.



I sorta understand why this is as the guitar is understandably the bond we all share. The "lowest common denominator".



Talk to players though and you come to understand that "hardware" is rarely discussed. It's all about "software", the intangibles. "How'd you do that?" "Hear what she just played"?



Probably a somewhat unpopular opinion but, that's what I see.



I'm heading back to social media to see what's playing, being discussed..



Hopefully, I'll learn something as I try to make better music.



hp

Edited by - hlpdobro on 03/23/2024 08:18:09

JC Dobro - Posted - 03/23/2024:  17:50:03

quote:

---

Originally posted by hlpdobro

The second reason that the specifically  Reso Hangout seems to be lagging is....US. The members.



It's all about content, as they say. If you compare the newer Reso to the older Banjo Hangs (ignoring the membership number disparity), the range of topics is much, much broader. Sure, you'll see topics about instrument mods, strings, picks and instrument collections.



What you'll also see are a much more significant portion of discussion on actually PLAYING the instrument and making MUSIC with the instrument. Deep discussions on style, technique, THEORY, players, the neck, etc. These are, for the most part, topics WE have a tendency to avoid. Why? Dunno.



I sorta understand why this is as the guitar is understandably the bond we all share. The "lowest common denominator".



Talk to players though and you come to understand that "hardware" is rarely discussed. It's all about "software", the intangibles. "How'd you do that?" "Hear what she just played"?



Probably a somewhat unpopular opinion but, that's what I see.



I'm heading back to social media to see what's playing, being discussed..



Hopefully, I'll learn something as I try to make better music.



hp

---

I share the same observation.  It's neither good nor bad, it just "is".  

 

So you're saying the private FB reso groups discuss more playing and music-making? 

one_horseman - Posted - 03/28/2024:  10:02:34

Well, I just joined. Probably because I have a few dobros to sell and thought I might find ideas on prices here, after a google and finding some sale ads on resohangout.
But, if there was an app for your phone, maybe, it would garner more traffic. Everything seems to have gone app, or has both a webpage and an app.
Wally Hughes

Dobrojan - Posted - 03/28/2024:  11:59:13

Wally, I have this on my phone....

one_horseman - Posted - 03/29/2024:  08:10:03

Hmm...is that an iphone thing? I can't find the app on google playstore.

Dobrojan - Posted - 03/29/2024:  09:04:04

Sorry Wally, I assumed it would be there. I have had the app since I joined and that was years ago. I will send Eric a message and see if he can make it available again.

I wish you could attend ResoGat again, there will probably be 100 reso players plus many other musicians.

Edited by - Dobrojan on 03/29/2024 09:07:18

Dobrojan - Posted - 03/29/2024:  10:48:07

This is Eric's reply....

"There's never been an app! Your phone probably just has a shortcut to browsing the Reso Hangout site...."

Eric is correct, I just checked my app list and it isn't listed. It performs like my other apps.
I am curious how many others have the "faux" ResoHangout app. I can't remember when I last signed in using www. etc. If it matters I use Apple devices.

Dobrojan - Posted - 03/29/2024:  14:23:51

I heard from Eric again and he said to visit the RH website then go to share>add to Home Screen!!
Thanks Eric!