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Do you want a subforum for opera DVD's?

6K views 40 replies 13 participants last post by  mamascarlatti 
#1 ·
There's talk about this on several threads now, but maybe it's best to discuss this - and everything that has to do with it on a thread of it's own.
 
#6 ·
So, should we in your opinion go for threads like "Mefistofele on DVD and CD" or seperate between DVD's and CD's? It seems to me that if we do it on the regular opera board there's no need to seperate between the two. There will in the long run be a truckload of new threads as it is and there's no need to complicate matters by having two threads for every opera. Besides, someone asking for a recommendation might be interested in CD's as well as DVD's. It would be kinda silly if someone on the "Don Giovanni on DVD" thread asked for a recommendation on CD and we'd have to say, "go to the "Don Giovanni on CD" thread and we'll answer you." :lol:
 
#4 ·
We now have threads like "opera on dvd" and "current watching" which are very long threads and you have to plow through a lot of posts to find those posts concerning a dvd of an opera you might be interested in. The subforum would deal with dvd's about operas on an individual basis ("Carmen on DVD", "The Ring on DVD" and so on). Individual threads for operas are also likely to result in more posts since there's no danger of one person's review of, say, Peter Grimes being buried under an avalanche of posts about other operas. That we're gonna go for one thread per opera (like the recent Mefistofe thread) is already more or less decided. The question that remains is if we need a subforum for this or not.
 
#13 ·
I haven't counted how many different operas we have discussed so far, but quite many. If they were scattered among other threads under "Opera", like the new "Mefistofele" thread, it would soon disappear among threads like "Help pick my Christmas gift!", "Live from the Met: Don Carlo", "A message from the past" etc.

That's why I'm still in favour of a subforum, and perhaps in favour of keeping it "Opera on DVD". It wouldn't prevent us from referring to CD versions as alternatives to DVDs, if we feel that the DVD is not worth having and there is a CD version that we would like to recommend instead. But the plethora of operas available only on CD format wouldn't make it too messy. If this should work, the "Opera on CD" could be changed to a similar subforum of its own.

Ideally we should have a completely new kind of structure of the site, where there would be an alphabetical list of composers to choose from, maybe a chronological (or alphabetical) list of operas by a single composer under that layer, and the messages dealing with the opera under that layer. On a sidebar there would be a list of latest additions, so that you could easily see, what is going on.
 
#16 ·
That's why I'm still in favour of a subforum, and perhaps in favour of keeping it "Opera on DVD". It wouldn't prevent us from referring to CD versions as alternatives to DVDs, if we feel that the DVD is not worth having and there is a CD version that we would like to recommend instead. But the plethora of operas available only on CD format wouldn't make it too messy. If this should work, the "Opera on CD" could be changed to a similar subforum of its own.
That's too much of a good thing in my opinion. Most forums have far too many boards and subforums with virtually no activity.
 
#14 ·
I don't find it necessary but I see that two-three users particularly connected with opera section enjoy writting useful and lenghty reviews and if they would feel more comfortable and become more productive after having section for this subject I can't see any reason not to give it to them when they ask.
 
#24 ·
Judging by its performance history, only 8 performances during Bellini's (admittedly short) lifetime, and not many since, it was a failure that even the composer was ashamed of. But it's distinctly Bellini and not so bad! I haven't read the libretto, only what is written about it in Osborne's Bel Canto Operas. Yes, I enjoy it as a new experience, hearing an opera of a composer, whose greatest works I love, even if it isn't from his top drawer... Now I have all his operas, including Adelson e Salvini and Bianca e Fernando.
 
#26 ·
I don't feel very strongly about this one way or the other, but if this is a poll of sorts, I would vote against a subforum.

I can see the point of having reviews readily available, but I think this is outweighed by the negative side effects that have been mentioned: we unnecessarily split forces (a self-inflicted divide et impera, I'm now wondering who will conquer us), and dead serious review threads also seem to drain the fun out of it to some extent.

As I already suggested elsewhere, I think it would be better to have some way of archiving worthwhile reviews in addition to our current activities, not instead of.
 
#38 ·
Well, talk about cd's is allowed as well as you can see by the inclusion of the "opera on cd" thread on this board. But since 80% of the talk seems to be about dvd's "Opera on DVD and Blu-ray" seemed like a more appropriate title.
 
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