Future of On-Site DCP Posters

[rkfdPRphan]

I used to try to post my thoughts to DCP readers from every drum corps show I attended.

NOT ANYMORE!

I use my iPhone to post my thoughts 'live' from my vantage point in the stadium, but I stopped doing that about half way through the season. Why?

First, because the 'spelling & grammar police' rip you to shreds each time you misspell a word! Try to type a quick recap of a show on a phone - any phone. You'll get some mistakes. Why throw so much hate at the poster!

Second, heaven forbid if you don't like something about a show! I don't like most electronics and I do not hide that fact. Get over it! Instead of starting a reasonable discussion about the corps that just finished the thread goes into a tyrate about hating this and that.

I joined and often read threads on DCP to get a feel for what a drum corps is doing during each show. At the end of this season, because of the things I listed above (and probably other reasons too), some shows had NO ON-SITE POSTERS.

I know there are many parents and corps homers who read the posts to get some information about how the members are doing, so why are we 'killing' these on-site posters off? Is tweeting more important? Would it work better posting in tweets so we can leave DCP to other purposes?

Of course it is very hard to tell who is posting from on-site, who is posting insights from watching FanNetwork and who is just jerking our chains with entirely make-up posts....but is the era of on-site 'live' posting gone?

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Hey! Those of you who used to also post 'live' from the shows you attended, WHY did you stop?

Do you plan on going back to posting next season?

[Toby]

I had no problems posting updates of the Murfreesboro show from my phone on here. I just make sure I'm getting the words correct before I send. Depending on your phone's OS, it may have a predictive text program that can help make sure you're getting the correct spelling in.

[skywhopper]

Some jerks will complain about spelling and grammar no matter what. If those people caused you to quit posting, that's too bad, but you shouldn't put too much stock in their comments.

As for people reacting poorly when you criticize a show, that happens for sure, but I believe a lot of that is in your control. If you take care in how you criticize, you can head off a lot of complaints before they come. Yes, it's a pain to have to pull punches to save other people from reacting badly, but it's a good skill to work on.

Personally, I don't like to post or tweet during the performances because I feel like I'm missing things. I used to tweet once or twice between performances, but I tend to be pretty wordy, so I would always run out of space to say anything meaningful. So I quit doing that as well.

I've started posting post-show reviews to the Review forum for shows I see live. I realize that doesn't really address your issue here about live info from the show while it's happening, but I think long term the long form reviews are more interesting, and for myself, they give me a chance to really reflect on the show rather that just tossing out my first thought as rapidly as possible.

[rkfdPRphan]

Some jerks will complain about spelling and grammar no matter what. If those people caused you to quit posting, that's too bad, but you shouldn't put too much stock in their comments.

As for people reacting poorly when you criticize a show, that happens for sure, but I believe a lot of that is in your control. If you take care in how you criticize, you can head off a lot of complaints before they come. Yes, it's a pain to have to pull punches to save other people from reacting badly, but it's a good skill to work on.

Personally, I don't like to post or tweet during the performances because I feel like I'm missing things. I used to tweet once or twice between performances, but I tend to be pretty wordy, so I would always run out of space to say anything meaningful. So I quit doing that as well.

I've started posting post-show reviews to the Review forum for shows I see live. I realize that doesn't really address your issue here about live info from the show while it's happening, but I think long term the long form reviews are more interesting, and for myself, they give me a chance to really reflect on the show rather that just tossing out my first thought as rapidly as possible.

Good thoughts!

I can't seem to remember what I wanted to write, so for me it has been easier to type some ideas while the show is going on. My thoughts would be greatly 'tempered' if I waited until the show was over.

But, this year it has been difficult to post much 'live' because the shows have been so good I just don't want to miss anything - like you said.

But the tweeters don't hear much, if anything, negative about their tweets. Mis-spells are expected and its time consuming to tweet back your objections to their tweet.

I just hope that show threads don't become what many of them did at season's end this year - with no one posting from the show. I believe many parents read these threads to find out what their kids are doing!

[skywhopper]

I believe many parents read these threads to find out what their kids are doing!

Good point. So we just need to get Mike Boo and Kevin Gamin to split up the schedule and cover every show minute by minute!

[Liahona]

I used to try to post my thoughts to DCP readers from every drum corps show I attended.

NOT ANYMORE!

I use my iPhone to post my thoughts 'live' from my vantage point in the stadium, but I stopped doing that about half way through the season. Why?

First, because the 'spelling & grammar police' rip you to shreds each time you misspell a word! Try to type a quick recap of a show on a phone - any phone. You'll get some mistakes. Why throw so much hate at the poster!

I used twitter and linked my cellphone to the twitter account to send basic text messages. The second thing I did was prepare a minimum of one test message per corps by using the corps name and added the #drumcorps tag. I then saved all the text messages in my drafts folder prior to the show. It was real easy to then tweet with this small preparation.

Second, heaven forbid if you don't like something about a show! I don't like most electronics and I do not hide that fact. Get over it! Instead of starting a reasonable discussion about the corps that just finished the thread goes into a tyrate about hating this and that.

If you tweet you don't have to watch any of that non-sense. I noticed that some of my tweets were cherry picked for the show thread. When I got home I took all my tweets and posted to the thread for the record. I always make one comment on EVERY corps. The most annoying thing to me as a a reader of tweets is when someone's bias is clear by their tweet about only certain corps. Personally someone who tweets on all the corps holds better credibility in my eyes...even if their tweets are not necessarily positive.

I joined and often read threads on DCP to get a feel for what a drum corps is doing during each show. At the end of this season, because of the things I listed above (and probably other reasons too), some shows had NO ON-SITE POSTERS.

I know there are many parents and corps homers who read the posts to get some information about how the members are doing, so why are we 'killing' these on-site posters off? Is tweeting more important? Would it work better posting in tweets so we can leave DCP to other purposes?

I re-tweeted probably the most this season of anyone else. I also did not discriminate in my re-tweeting posts. There were a few times I didn't care for a particular tweet about my favorite corps...but felt it was only fair to report all the news for everyone...good bad and the ugly.

Of course it is very hard to tell who is posting from on-site, who is posting insights from watching FanNetwork and who is just jerking our chains with entirely make-up posts....but is the era of on-site 'live' posting gone?

I was able to easily discern the tweets from people who were not at the show. I could tell by the comment, the actual timing of when the tweet was broadcast, and some other factors. I am sure maybe a few tweets got posted that were complete BS. For the most part I think people are honest. Besides I included their real name with the tweet as that is how most people have their twitter account set-up. It is public record. I had one re-tweet request from someone this season to have their name removed and I gladly did so upon their request.

Am I the only one who feels this way?

Hey! Those of you who used to also post 'live' from the shows you attended, WHY did you stop?

Do you plan on going back to posting next season?

I tweeted the Lawrence show this year. I choose not to tweet Allentown on the fly because I actually was more engaged in conversation with the person I was sitting next to and we were talking about the shows in between corps. It was so awesome talking about the shows this year.

Edited August 17, 2011 by Liahona

[SDBassCreature]

I live-tweeted the Sioux Falls, SD show and Liahona was kind enough to pass along my tweets to the show thread. When I got back later that night and read the thread it seemed to be mostly positive feedback towards my tweets(both positive and negative) about the shows. Now the Sioux Falls show was only 8 corps so I felt comfortable enough to post comments without killing myself. I was also at the Minneapolis regional, Prelims, Semis, and Finals this year but during those shows if I tweeted it was only something that really struck me, and I did not tweet for every corps. I just wanted to enjoy the shows (especially Finals night).

Now if I had a gig like Kevin Gamin, or Mike Boo where I had a laptop to "live-tweet" or even post live reviews I would be all over that. I love talking drum corps and I know how many people follow the show threads for any scrap of updates they can get.

[N.E. Brigand]

First, because the "spelling & grammar police" rip you to shreds each time you misspell a word! [...]

Instead of starting a reasonable discussion about the corps that just finished the thread goes into a tyrate about hating this and that.

Must ... resist ... shredding ... stop typing ... don't hit "add reply" ... restrain myself ----- ahhh!

[N.E. Brigand]

Seriously, you make some good points, and I'm sorry you encountered rude responses.

[skewerz]

Good thoughts!

I can't seem to remember what I wanted to write, so for me it has been easier to type some ideas while the show is going on. My thoughts would be greatly 'tempered' if I waited until the show was over.

But, this year it has been difficult to post much 'live' because the shows have been so good I just don't want to miss anything - like you said.

But the tweeters don't hear much, if anything, negative about their tweets. Mis-spells are expected and its time consuming to tweet back your objections to their tweet.

I just hope that show threads don't become what many of them did at season's end this year - with no one posting from the show. I believe many parents read these threads to find out what their kids are doing!

Get a voice recorder and put your thoughts on audio so you can collate your what you want to post later

You can talk very quietly into one and still here everything on playback so you shouldn't bother other fans