The Positive Post Campaign - Mike Johnston

Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with the main point of Mike's argument - i.e. Don't Be a Dickhead - I also think that on the whole the world would be a slightly nicer place if we all just turned The Comments Section off.

To use the example he gave: if I were that hypothetical 8-year old child's parent I would be happy for him to send a video to his teacher, or even friends and family and I'm sure that the right kind of encouragement that they would (hopefully) give would help to spur him on; and these days one can use things like Facebook in order to make such videos exclusively available to a selected handful of known friends.

What I don't think is a good idea is allowing a child (or anyone who is not emotionally equipped to deal with such things) to post a video on the internet and then invite random yahoos to have their say about it. Even if the comments are benign I don't see what particular use they would be. Either someone makes a shitty comment and the kid's confidence is crushed or someone makes a nice comment and suddenly the kid is concerned about the approval of not just a handful of close-knit family and friends but THE WHOLE WORLD.

Put it this way: Little Jimmy puts up a video of him playing along to Mustang Sally and he gets 2,000 views and 100 positive comments and he feels pretty good about himself. Two weeks later he puts up a video of him playing along to Sweet Home Alabama and for no apparent reason he only gets 500 views and 20 positive comments. Of course Jimmy is not wise enough to appreciate that there was nothing wrong with his second video, it's just that people have no attention span these days and so rarely stick with anything beyond its debut. Or maybe it was just chance that more people saw his first video. Maybe Jimmy's friend Bobby also put up a video of Sweet Home Alabama and that got 3,000 views and 200 positive comments. Either way Jimmy now feels pretty bad about himself and doesn't really know why.

The problems with having a running commentary for every single thing that seems to happen in the world these days reach further than being a nobber on YouTube; but as far as encouraging young and beginner drummers go I'd argue that raising someone to expect feedback - whether positive or negative - from total strangers as though it were everyone's birthright to receive attention for commonplace activities is utterly dysfunctional.
 
Put it this way: Little Jimmy puts up a video of him playing along to Mustang Sally and he gets 2,000 views and 100 positive comments and he feels pretty good about himself. Two weeks later he puts up a video of him playing along to Sweet Home Alabama and for no apparent reason he only gets 500 views and 20 positive comments. Of course Jimmy is not wise enough to appreciate that there was nothing wrong with his second video, it's just that people have no attention span these days and so rarely stick with anything beyond its debut. Or maybe it was just chance that more people saw his first video. Maybe Jimmy's friend Bobby also put up a video of Sweet Home Alabama and that got 3,000 views and 200 positive comments. Either way Jimmy now feels pretty bad about himself and doesn't really know why.

Little jimmy needs to be whacked up-side the head and told that nobody owes him anything and that Mustang Sally sucks.
 
I absolutely agree with Mike Johnston, what's the point of taking the micky out of someone in a negative, insulting way or destroying the content of an uploaded clip wherever it might be, YouTube, FaceBook, Soundcloud or the "Your Playing" section... nothing, it just kill the motivation, makes people sad and feeling inferior.

Not every drumming video is a spotless performance, but you can still reply positively by offering advice instead of insults and mockery, hopefully, it will take those who upload their stuff to reach a higher and better level, and they'll be more likely to listen to what you have to say, and if you think it is that bad, just pass on and say nothing... at least it's better than taking someone down.


I also agree about the lack of view on some threads in the "Your Playing" section, it takes a lot of balls to post a video of yourself playing drums in a drum forum were thousand's of drummers from all over the world will dissect you playing and eventually comment on it, and unless you're one of those gifted members here, it's an intimidating experience.

I did not upload much of my playing for that very reason, but the feedback I received here on Drummerworld has been simply fantastic, way beyond my expectations, it came as a shock the first time, lol. Now imagine I had those bad comments Mike's talking about, would I ever upload any more vids? Probably not, would I think I'm an OK drummer? Probably not either, it's not an end in itself, we somehow know were we're at at any given stage in our drumming journey, but any compliments or positive advice go a long way in anyone's life.

I try to remain as positive as possible when I comment on someone playing... but l'm guilty of not checking the "Your Playing" section often enough, and admittedly, I more bound to check the playing of the regular posters on the forum than the others, it's not intentional, it just happen.
 
I absolutely agree with Mike Johnston, what's the point of taking the micky out of someone in a negative, insulting way or destroying the content of an uploaded clip wherever it might be, YouTube, FaceBook, Soundcloud or the "Your Playing" section... nothing, it just kill the motivation, makes people sad and feeling inferior.

Not every drumming video is a spotless performance, but you can still reply positively by offering advice instead of insults and mockery, hopefully, it will take those who upload their stuff to reach a higher and better level, and they'll be more likely to listen to what you have to say, and if you think it is that bad, just pass on and say nothing... at least it's better than taking someone down.


I also agree about the lack of view on some threads in the "Your Playing" section, it takes a lot of balls to post a video of yourself playing drums in a drum forum were thousand's of drummers from all over the world will dissect you playing and eventually comment on it, and unless you're one of those gifted members here, it's an intimidating experience.

I did not upload much of my playing for that very reason, but the feedback I received here on Drummerworld has been simply fantastic, way beyond my expectations, it came as a shock the first time, lol. Now imagine I had those bad comments Mike's talking about, would I ever upload any more vids? Probably not, would I think I'm an OK drummer? Probably not either, it's not an end in itself, we somehow know were we're at at any given stage in our drumming journey, but any compliments or positive advice go a long way in anyone's life.

I try to remain as positive as possible when I comment on someone playing... but l'm guilty of not checking the "Your Playing" section often enough, and admittedly, I more bound to check the playing of the regular posters on the forum than the others, it's not intentional, it just happen.

Perfectly stated Henri.

I'll need to dig for some of your playing in the archives. I don't think I've ever seen a clip in my short time here.

I'm petrified every time I do an upload of what may come about. Believe me, no one needs to tell me how much I suck. No one knows how much I do more than me. I do it only because some folks here (like yourself) express an interest in what I'm trying to learn and as a result, I try to share the best I can offer. If it's terrible, then telling me how I rot isn't going to help. Offering helpful guidance gives me something to go on.

There's one posting I did here within the last several months that didn't draw much response. Not that I'm look for a great deal - believe me... My conclusion was, outside of the few that seemed to enjoy it based on their response, I guess it wasn't really that good to draw in others. Albeit, the solo I posted was very uncommon for the person I covered as the solo dated way back to an era where that person played within a context outside of the usual norm.

Sometimes I don't post any feedback because I'm unqualified to do so. Even in those cases though, I try to find something positive to say. Other times, it's because I'm so freaking busy with work that I just don't have the time to check in for any length of time to watch / intently listen and respond. I'm like a "drive-by" poster during those periods.
 
I'd argue that raising someone to expect feedback - whether positive or negative - from total strangers as though it were everyone's birthright to receive attention for commonplace activities is utterly dysfunctional.

I agree, but I think that many people don't realise that strangers can/will view videos that are intended to be viewed only by certain people.
 
..............but I do like his post on this and if we all just said ANYTHING positive,then maybe this forum and the internet as a whole,would be more of a positive experience.

Mirror,Mirror on the wall.....

Steve B

+1............. it would be nice
 
"What the world needs now is love, sweet love..."

It's true.


Peace and goodwill.
 
Whilst I wholeheartedly agree with the main point of Mike's argument - i.e. Don't Be a Dickhead - I also think that on the whole the world would be a slightly nicer place if we all just turned The Comments Section off.

To use the example he gave: if I were that hypothetical 8-year old child's parent I would be happy for him to send a video to his teacher, or even friends and family and I'm sure that the right kind of encouragement that they would (hopefully) give would help to spur him on; and these days one can use things like Facebook in order to make such videos exclusively available to a selected handful of known friends.

What I don't think is a good idea is allowing a child (or anyone who is not emotionally equipped to deal with such things) to post a video on the internet and then invite random yahoos to have their say about it. Even if the comments are benign I don't see what particular use they would be. Either someone makes a shitty comment and the kid's confidence is crushed or someone makes a nice comment and suddenly the kid is concerned about the approval of not just a handful of close-knit family and friends but THE WHOLE WORLD.
.

Nailed it. Yes, we should all be nicer.

But what didn't register to me was Mike's comment about an 8 year old uploading playing to youtube just to show he's improved.

Why?

And why make such a thing public?

Youtube has privacy settings. Make such a video for your teacher, grandma, etc. and make the the settings for that. But making such a thing public makes ZERO sense. As a parent, I don't want videos of my kids public!! It invites way to much danger into the scenario.

And once it's public, there is nothing to prevent someone from downloading it, altering it, and putting it back up.

Little jimmy needs to be whacked up-side the head and told that nobody owes him anything and that Mustang Sally sucks.

And Jimmy's parents should be wacked upside the head for letting their 8 year old upload a public video!

One problem is that most trolling comments probably come from kids who are barely
older than the 8 year old poster themselves...

True.

.

Todd is right, many threads in the My Playing section go uncommented. Although often times that's because (my guess, and from my experience) people don't always have the time/mood to sit down and check out stuff...

A few years ago we had a thread just on this.

It came down to:
Lack of time - as you said, logging on for a few minutes here and there to catch up on thread is one thing, to sit down with headphones/speakers is another. Many people are logging on from work where they can't have speakers, or on their lap tops without headphones.

Drum covers - too many videos posted are just drum covers, Someone playing along to a pre-recorded drum track is not very interesting to many people. Clips of playing with a band (even a cover band), original music, live performance, in the studio, etc, are way more interesting.

SPAM - it seems like the majority of posts in the your playing section are drive by posters who don't participate in the discussions, and otherwise never post here except to drop off their latest youtube clip. It's the equivalent of spamming the board with advertising. It's saying "hey, take the time to look at me, but I don't want take the time to look at you!"
 
The latter point (spammers) really irks me. It's good to see that the moderators take a dim view of this as well. I remember a poster recently registering and within minutes posting a video in 'Your Playing' simply to persuade us to vote in a meaningless playing competition. It seems there are one or two competitions that give us this kind of bait every year and it's deeply irritating.

On the other hand, you have posters like Alessio Romano who post heavily in 'Your Playing' but contribute elsewhere and provide not only great playing but real insight and originality into what they're doing. If you haven't checked out Alessio's videos I urge you to because they are simply stunning. Sometimes 'Your Playing' throws up gems!
 
Agree with this completely , count me in. However, I've seen some drummers getting worse by the years, just my opinion.

I honestly think I'm one of them! 25 plus years, married with kids and a full time job later, my drumming ability continues to slowly weaken over the years. But that's life. I wouldn't trade my family for anything, even though drumming has been my passion. I used to play regularly and when I did, I feel I wasn't THAT bad. But from not having been in a serious band for the last 6 years, it has taken it's toll even though I still try to play every day to some extent.

But I was never one to say anything bad about any drummer, young or old, because I was always too busy trying to see if there was something I could pick up! hahaha. And most of the time, whether they were young or older, beginners or advanced players, I almost ALWAYS learned SOMETHING. I totally agreed with Mike's video and I hope it goes viral. Too many negative jerks on the WWW in general....
 
This is exactly why I love this guy he is soooo posotive and nice. I was able to meet him at a clinic he held at Sam Ash out here in AZ and it was AWESOME! I wish more people could be as posotive as this man.
 
I hate the comments section of youtube and wish they were somehow moderated.
I have never left a comment and generally will forward something I find interesting.
Thanks Grace; I will also post the link to facebook to spread the word as well.

Cheers,
 
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