The quality of this forum


William MG
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William MG
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11/27/2021 2:10 pm

The quality of this forum has gone down hill in recent weeks/months. There are continual posts from scammers and most likely phising going on.

GT must do a better job of actively reviewing it's member additions. This is not an unreasonable step. I have been here long enough to have a feel for how many new membership forum posts there are and it is not that many.

What is lacking is process. GT needs to make it part of the routine to regularly scan new members, view their posts - and remove anyone that is posting anything suspect - for instance members posting links for collaboration etc.

William


This year the diet is definitely gonna stick!

# 1
mjgodin
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mjgodin
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11/27/2021 2:56 pm

I feet that way too William. One thing I never understood is why doesn't GT do a full cleanup of the forum. Post from 20 years ago about how a band sucks is not relevant today and probably not back then either. Plus how many members are still here from then. A forum is nothing more than a databse of information. All databases need to be cleaned out from time to time. It's not that hard.


# 2
AustinUK___9teen70eight
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AustinUK___9teen70eight
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11/27/2021 3:59 pm

I find it difficult to use too lol.

GT should move with the times & create a FB group exclusively for members.

I feel that way there would be more activety between us all.

Could even post videos of our progress etc for support


# 3
jimk8882
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jimk8882
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11/27/2021 4:10 pm

I fully agree with all of the comments above.

Also, what is a "registered user"? If they are non-members, shouldn't the forum be a members only discussion place? From what I have seen, scammers are always in the registered user category. At a minimum, this category needs better controls.

Jim


# 4
john of MT
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john of MT
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11/27/2021 5:03 pm

First, this is the first time I remember disagreeing mjgodin. Put me down as firmly opposed to cleaning/editing/deleting forum posts other than those that violate the common sense good manners that prevail on this forum (e.g., the profanity recently posted in the "Korn sucks, right?" thread). Except...

Spam. To paraphrase Mr. Spock, it would be nice to see "some kind of" filtering to prevent spam and the newly registered 'members' that post it. That hasn't come to past but there is an after the fact control that works very, very well, i.e., report the spam to Guitar Tricks Admin.

I've been doing that for years and the spam posts I reported and that subsequentlly were deleted number serveral hundred... over a thousand if you count the hundreds of Asian language spams that were posted in very rapid succession a few years ago.

Admin's response is total and almost always quick. And, they send back a confirming thank you email.

Bothered by the spam posts? All of us can take action to quickly get rid of them. My tipoffs to Admin include the poster's name, the thread, the post number and sub-forum the spam appears in. BTW, when the spam posts are deleted, GT also bans the responsible poster.

john


"It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, because if you love it, that's what it amounts to. I haven't found any shortcuts, and I've been looking for a long time."
-- Chet Atkins
# 5
Rajkumari
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Rajkumari
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11/27/2021 5:15 pm

Spot on, i second this. But i also want to add if there is a section like lounge or humor or something like that then it would be great, i have come to this conclusion after having watched many other musical and educational forums where such things happen everyday.

Doing otherwise, i don't think, makes GT any better but vulnerable to such posters.

Atleast everyone must have a say.


Please teach me legato on facebook https://facebook.com/pragyashaleenbarua

Please teach me hammer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/pragya.b_

# 6
mjgodin
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mjgodin
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11/27/2021 5:20 pm

"First, this is the first time I remember disagreeing mjgodin"

Only the first time, wow I'm quite flattered.

I see your point though John. There could be some usefull info on older post I hadn't thought about. Perhaps deleting is a bit harsh. How about moving into maybe an Archived folder or section of the forum? I used to work in the computer business many years ago and I worked with Database Adminstrators whose job it was to purge the data to keep information organized and relevant. I guess that where my mind was going. To me the forum just seems a little sloppy. I've seen many instances where someone (usually a new member or a spam user) responds to a topic and doesn't realize the op of that topic isn't even here anymore or the subject matter just doesn't have any relevance to todays discussions.

Moe


# 7
snojones
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snojones
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11/27/2021 6:34 pm
Originally Posted by: AustinUK___9teen70eight

I find it difficult to use too lol.

GT should move with the times & create a FB group exclusively for members.

I feel that way there would be more activety between us all.

Could even post videos of our progress etc for support

I will drop GT if they shift to facebook. Facebook is not looking out for the rights of Americans. It whores it self out to anybody with enough money to to pay pimp fees to FB. It threatens to destroy our democracy, see Cambridge Anylitica or watch The Great Hack movie on Netflix . Personal information is sold to anyone with money through this outlet. We used to have a constitutional right to privacy, now, thanks to facebook and the other Data Mining pimps, we have the right to be whored out without our even knowing it. In fact I am upset that GT even have lessons on the FB pimp wagon platrorm. Until FB gets nationalized and our privacy protected I have no stomach for using their platform. NO FACEBOOK!!!!!


Captcha is a total pain in the........

# 8
AustinUK___9teen70eight
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AustinUK___9teen70eight
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11/27/2021 7:53 pm
Originally Posted by: snojones
Originally Posted by: AustinUK___9teen70eight

I find it difficult to use too lol.

GT should move with the times & create a FB group exclusively for members.

I feel that way there would be more activety between us all.

Could even post videos of our progress etc for support

I will drop GT if they shift to facebook. Facebook is not looking out for the rights of Americans. It whores it self out to anybody with enough money to to pay pimp fees to FB. It threatens to destroy our democracy, see Cambridge Anylitica or watch The Great Hack movie on Netflix . Personal information is sold to anyone with money through this outlet. We used to have a constitutional right to privacy, now, thanks to facebook and the other Data Mining pimps, we have the right to be whored out without our even knowing it. In fact I am upset that GT even have lessons on the FB pimp wagon platrorm. Until FB gets nationalized and our privacy protected I have no stomach for using their platform. NO FACEBOOK!!!!!

Each to their own, I'm in a few guitar groups on there & I get more response & guidance asking questions about things on here then actually on here, as there's other members of GT in there too


# 9
William MG
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William MG
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11/27/2021 10:43 pm
Originally Posted by: john of MT

... That hasn't come to past but there is an after the fact control that works very, very well, i.e., report the spam to Guitar Tricks Admin.

john

We should not have to do this John. That is the point I want GT to take from this. There are still moderated forums in this day and age.

I think it is also important to note that the forum is a tool used by GT to encourage member engagement and hopefully they become full paying members and stick around.

They need to do a better job on this.


This year the diet is definitely gonna stick!

# 10
john of MT
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john of MT
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11/28/2021 12:24 am
Originally Posted by: William MG
Originally Posted by: john of MT

... That hasn't come to past but there is an after the fact control that works very, very well, i.e., report the spam to Guitar Tricks Admin.

john

We should not have to do this John. That is the point I want GT to take from this. There are still moderated forums in this day and age.

I think it is also important to note that the forum is a tool used by GT to encourage member engagement and hopefully they become full paying members and stick around.

They need to do a better job on this.

Agree.


"It takes a lot of devotion and work, or maybe I should say play, because if you love it, that's what it amounts to. I haven't found any shortcuts, and I've been looking for a long time."
-- Chet Atkins
# 11
davem_or
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davem_or
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11/28/2021 3:05 am

Two features that would help with spam:

1) Pre moderate the first 5 posts of any new users

2) Put a "Report Spam/Offensive Language" button on each post to make it easier to flag a post, sending a message to GT Admins


# 12
ddiddler
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ddiddler
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11/28/2021 9:12 pm

Some of the subject searches bring up some older posts

be careful a cleanse doesn't chuck the baby out with the bath water.

I've not reported many but like previously said action was quick.

It was a sly question to get entry then their spam was on the next comment

Dave


# 13
dlcyh
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dlcyh
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11/29/2021 3:40 am

Hi all, After using GT for a couple of weeks now I will say that at first, I was so impressed. I loved my first few lessons and thought I had finally found the best learning tool yet. As things progress I am seeing some disappointing realities. There are way too few songs listed here. The lack of response to questions and concerns s to go unanswered and looking at this forum I am not seeing any response from the GT principals. I am sad to see this and it is altogether possible that I am missing something here. I will most likely call it quits after my 1 month subscription runs out. I do not need a free classical guitar but I would stay if my concerns were addressed. They have not been. Too bad but if this is the reality, thanks but I'm out (which is a shame) as this would of, or could have been a great thing in my opinion.

I do wish them luck and might try again in a few months but at this rate, it simply does not seem so appealing.


# 14
Herman10
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Herman10
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11/29/2021 12:48 pm

made a suggestion long times ago to GT to not let new registerd users post anything for the first week and the spam would stop itself but it went into deaf mans ears ( deaf musicians ?? )

Herman


# 15
Guitar Tricks Admin
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Guitar Tricks Admin
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11/30/2021 6:05 pm
Originally Posted by: john of MT

Admin's response is total and almost always quick. And, they send back a confirming thank you email.

Hey all! Thank you for bringing up your concerns. We greatly appreciate feedback directly from our users. Spam posts are an annoying reality of living in cyber space. It's frustrating for us as well! We do our best to stay on top of any spam posting, as well as community violations and other forum matters. We are a small team and are working hard to make this the best guitar program out there.

As John states above, if you ever see any spam, or forum violations of any kind, please report it to support@guitartricks.com and it will be dealt with within a 12hr period. Us admin remove plenty of spam before most ppl see it, while others fall through the cracks. We like to think of ourselves as a big team, and our entire program works best when we work together in a positive way.

Thank you for bringing this up and we will continue our diligence to making the forum the best it can be!


If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please contact us.
# 16
DraconusJLM
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DraconusJLM
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12/03/2021 11:08 am

The spammers are easy to spot. They usually post something along the lines of "That's very interesting...", etc. and then either add a link to a "mugs will fall for this" website or include links on their next post.

Not allowing registered users to post within a certain length of time wouldn't help, as the scammers would just wait a week or so before using their new accounts.

I've been on the receiving end of the admins "reaching out" to pull me up on my behaviour on here (a disagreement of opinion with another member), but also spotted 5x scammers on the same day (and had to report two of them several times before their posts were removed).

I've now reached the point where I check the forum once or twice every two weeks or so, and have pretty much given up on answering questions etc.

I came for the tuition; the forum appeared to be an added bonus but it's insufficiently moderated to be first class (still far superior to anything on FB, though). I grew so tired of reporting scammers that I even volunteered to moderate for free as I was at that time checking new posts daily and, as already said, can spot scammers with ease, but was ignored


I wish this forum had a "block user" feature. Possibly I'm not the only one......

# 17
Herman10
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Herman10
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12/04/2021 12:38 am
Originally Posted by: DraconusJLM

Not allowing registered users to post within a certain length of time wouldn't help, as the scammers would just wait a week or so before using their new accounts.

Most spammers create an account, post whatever nonsens they want to post and delete the account as quickly as possible to avoid tracing, they will not wait a week before posting, it makes them vulnerable.

my idea


# 18

Please register with a free account to post on the forum.