PS... this thread has major disaster written all over it.

Thank you, all of you, for your comments....

I will feel that women are indeed considered equal to men on our planet when no woman is raped, beaten, sold, and violated in any additional form on our shared planet.

I will feel that women are indeed equal when at least 50% of every governing body on the planet are women.

I am pleased to learn that many of my musical friends are, like me, self-taught musicians who volunteer to entertain others and share with others.

Like most of you, I read this forum for general information. It was NOT my intent to start a tirade about men vs. women although apparently I did that.

You are correct that I do have considerable experiencial reason to distrust men generally.

Additionally, I have a great deal of experiencial reason to admire, love, and trust far more men than I imagined I ever would....

I feel I have the right to voice my opinions whenever and wherever I am moved to do so.

I am done now, for this thread.

Elizabeth

Hi Everyone,

I normally post when I have questions about arrangers or want to share new musical toys I have purchased or found. I have posted several times this year, only to be totally ignored. So, I find myself not posting at all!

I have found over the years here, that Synthbbs is dominated by money making performers and not so many hobbyists as in yesteryear. Nothing wrong with that. Times do change.

Maybe, many of you will pass my posts over for more interesting posts which touch on your professional status. This is not a bad thing, it is just 'different' than what I remember in years past.

I can not speak for other women here just myself.

No need to take this thread to a nasty level. I do not 'hate men' nor do I not post here because it is mostly men. I work with men all day long and I am never ignored. While the content I share with men at my job is different than the content here, it is still technical knowledge. Men at work respect my knowledge of the subject matter and learn from what I have to offer as I learn from them.

I hold back now on Synthbbs. Subject content here is geared more with a specific click of men who enjoy conversing about many different topics of no interest to me and have nothing to do with arrangers.

Instead of commenting on mine or Elizabeth's explanation of why women do not post, try taking a look at the subject matter posted by men who post here. How could the subject matter include a more overall group of people with arranger interests other than professionals? Could it be that it is not a 'women' issue and possibly a mans issue?

Maybe this thread is a good way for the male members to review their recent postings and see how they could include the hobbyists that lurk in the shadows?

Hmmm....

Thanks for reading!

-Linda

Well said, Linda...it also seems to me that lately some of the posters are actually ashamed to admit they actually play an arranger...it's like it is a last ditch effort and somehow un-manly, or even worse, un-musicianly, to be playing such an instrument.

Not all are like that...just a few..it's almost comical reading the defensiveness that never occurs on other arranger forums.

Just a point that occurred to me while reading your post.

Thank you for your well worded and very candid post.

Ian

Thanks Taike,
nice to be remembered.

I'm so easily overlooked , being that I'm a mere female & hobbyist to boot. ( haa haa
only kidding.)

Personally, I've always found the guys on the music forums great. I do quite often get mistaken for a male , (Rikki as a name doesn't help.) Even tried a cute little Teddybear avatar on Korg Forums, didn't help.

Normally I do get a response from someone when I post. There again, if I don't, I can only assume my subject matter wasn't really of interest to anyone except myself (haahaa hey, get over it.)
When I've asked for help, I really don't think I've ever been let down.

Ladies, if the subject matter on the forum isn't of interest, don't complain, try & come up with an interesting subject of your own.
If everybody sat back & waited for someone else to write about something , the forum would die.

I just tend to think the music forums hold more interest for males than females. In the 10 years or so I was involved with the local music store ( as a customer & worker), I think I only ever came across 1 female in the upstairs hi tech area of the store ( keyboards , synths, studio equipment) Maybe things have changed in the last few years, I haven't been back since we moved.

If I want to chat to females I go to my Teddybear Making forums ( my other hobby)
I think I've only ever come across 1 male there.

best wishes
Rikki




[This message has been edited by rikkisbears (edited 12-30-2009).]

Perhaps women are simply more interested in PLAYING their arrangers than bragging about how good they are to their friends and colleagues..?

As little content on this forum about the former, and so MUCH about the latter as there is, perhaps this MIGHT have a bit to do with their non-participation..?

But a point that sidetracks this thread (sorry, Ian). Does sexism exist on this board? Probably. So does racism and every other kind of -ism. But probably no more so than in the general population. Sadly, it's just where we are as a society in 2009. Will it ever change? Probably not, as long as there is estrogen and testosterone. But that doesn't mean we can't treat each other with mutual respect and pursue a goal of equality. Yeah, I know the male lion sleeps all day while the females hunt for diner but he at least fends off the hyenas and lets face it, there wouldn't be any little cubbies without him .

I think Linda is correct in that most of the jabber on this board is of little interest to most women. Only about 30% of the posts are about arrangers (take this one, for example ) and half of those are of the 'mine is better than yours' variety. They're probably even less interested in testosterone-fueled 'middle fingers'.

In the end, most boards have their own personality and will appeal more to one group than another. You may notice that there aren't a lot of Rockers on here either.......or young people......or (fill in the blank). Some 'arranger' boards stick close to the matter at hand (arrangers) and usually concentrate on one brand. This is not that type of board. Like most boards, strong personalities tend to dominate and in the case of this board, those personalities tend to be older, male, OMB's. It is what it is.

chas

I sure wasn't expecting some of the responses I got.

Elizabeth-Apparently I touched a nerve, unintentionally. I would like to see more interaction from women on the SZ. You launched into a kind of feminist sociology kind of thing, which I don't really see a connection to my original question. I tend to agree with a lot of what you said but didn't expect that to come up in this kind of thread. As the Father of 3 daughters, I hope wages and benefits come on line with what Males receive for each of them. As far as the beatings, rapes, etc. you mentioned, most civilized, Christian based countries do pretty well. ON the other hand too many countries in Africa and the Middle East have a totally different mind set on a women's place in their societies, so equality is way down the road.

The owner of the SZ, Nigel is a man, but I don't believe he rejects female registrants. So, no man is blocking any women from participating around here.

I can accept that you and perhaps other people, both men & women just prefer NOT to post here. On the other hand, you might be surprised at the encouragement you could get if you got more involved.

There's a lot of very nice people around here. Some know an amazing amount of stuff about arrangers, others are great players, others are just good people who are part of the mix. We can all act like jerks sometimes, but for every nasty post, I see 20 nice ones.

Please don't be a stranger...

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Bill in Dayton

Linda-

I went back and browsed a few of the posts where you received no responses. One was about a list of usb compatable devices for a certain kb, which I'm surprised that no one was familiar with. I'm not knowledgable of it myself, but I'd guess somebody around here is.

Another one was about a problem, which you then reported as fixed...

A third was a new midi controller which, again was way beyond anything I ever deal with. My hunch a post like that might've been more fruitful in the MIDI sequencing and keyboard style forum, not sure...

Other posts did show responses...

This happens to all of us. Its not personal, sometimes a thread just doesn't take hold. I've started plenty of dead threads myself...

As to your point that perhaps the most common topics are specific to the Pro's or guys in general and NOT very appealing to hobbyists. My screen shows the 40 most recent posts in the General Arranger Forum. Currently, six of the 40 aren't directly related to music. 36 are, or 90%. I think that's pretty decent and can't find anything within these 40 that would pertain to guys as opposed to women.

I think the pro's vs. hobbyists idea is valid. If we targeted new players/hobbyists/etc. what exactly would be appealing to this group? More tutorials on various arranger tasks? A great number of that material is already over at the psrtutorial site.

In other words, what could the established players, many of them pros, do to increase and stimulate participation from less accomplished players?

I think you have a high knowledge level and a greater presence from you here would be welcome by most.

Thanks for sharing-something to think about...

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Bill in Dayton

Rikki-

Yeah, I thought you were a guy for the longest time, lol... Sorry!

You make a good point. When I'm in a local music store...its 80% guys at least browsing around. In this market for professional entertainers using arrangers, it's even higher. There's Me, Jim H. (Zuki) and one or two others who are also guys. I think I know of one female on the circuit but she's not very well thought of.

How/why did this apparently become a man's game for the most part?

Good post...

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Bill in Dayton