Song Requests

[Roger -Dot- Lee(Admin)]

Originally posted by gilbertopb
Ok, I think you are sure about your actions, but I need to do some asks, as an Auralmoon listener, and I am one of the many who have asked flower Kings and other groups.

Gilberto: I'd like to assure you that you are NOT one of the overrequesters. I know for a fact that all of the guilty parties are located either in the US or (in one instance and only for a very brief period) in the UK. I've looked over your request history. You're well within the boundaries of what we consider acceptable (a very loose policy in my opinion).

Again, I'd like to state:

Just because you request The Flower Kings does NOT put you under suspicion. If you request the same song repeatedly, over the course of weeks, we might have problems. But if you request different songs every time you request (or even the same one twice in a row), you won't have problems. Hell, we allow people to request once every three hours. If you request a different song every three hours, good for you! That's what the requests are there for.

Just don't request the same song all the time. Once, twice is OK. 14 times in a 30 day period will cause problems.

I have to think about the coincidence on 12000 titles some being more "popular" then others. Ok, this is progressive rock, but when people like a band, may be become more played then others.

Again, we understand this. We understand that Yes will get more airtime than some of the more obscure bands out there. But Yes has almost 200 tracks represented here on Aural Moon. Having the same two tracks being requested on a daily basis would be unthinkable. This is the problem we've been running into, and is the same problem we're working on eradicating. True, some of them will be more popular than others. We don't expect an even play over the entire playlist. However, having the same 20 songs out of 12500 playing is VERY wrong and it will stop, one way or the other.

Now, what I have to comment, is about an automation I always have found usefull in the Request page: If the artist was recent played, just is not allowed. So, may be is possible to extend this capabilitie to control artist/music resquested for a greater period, like a week?

Perhaps yes, but we'd like to avoid that if possible. It wouldn't be practical to have a week delay between playings of, say, Yes.

Personally, I'd like to put it back to the way it was. And I likely will, once I remove the problem users.

See, I don´t use to ask the same music, but can be I am requesting the same artist because I don´t know it´s works or I am trying to know something more.

Again, not a problem, if you keep it to reasonable levels. If you wish to hear more Flower Kings, by all means, feel free to request different tracks from the albums. This is not the problem. The problem occurs when someone requests the same one or two songs every day. See my previous post on times and frequencies of requests.

Also, with 12000 title, I don´t know most of then. Auralmoon is my favorite radio, I live in a place where a progressive CD start a Us$ 30-50-100 (!!!)... (ok. excuses), but makes dificult to know what happened for the last decade.

I understand completely. I don't exactly live in the center of Prog Rock Heaven either, so Aural Moon was a welcome change from the 100,000th playing of Sweet Home Alabama that the local "Classic Rock" station played.

This is what we are trying to avoid here.

Most of bands from the 90´s playing at Auralmoon are unknow to me.

They're unknown to me too, for the most part. A very significant portion of the music that's on the moon is new to me. That's what kept me here after I found The Moon.

Also, what I use more, is to request musics from bands I never knew before, and music I don´t know.

Gilberto, if you keep doing that, you can be assured of a few things:

• a steady stream of interesting, mostly cool music
• a wide variety of interesting, mostly cool music
• an education on Progressive Rock
• unimpeded access to the request functionality.

This is what the request function is for, in my opinion. Yeah, we don't mind the occasional request of some of the old standbys. We know they're going to happen. But we definitely like to encourage exploration of the musical sidestreets, so to speak.

That's one of the reasons we're implementing the request free day. It'll expose a lot of people to music they've never heard before.

And as a progressive music fan, usually I choose music by lenght. Yes, I love to listen 15-20 minute music. This tell me if the band have gas to do the job, then I will listen more of that.

You're in good company on that one, my friend. Given the opportunity, I'd never listen to short songs. Only longs. In fact, my iTunes playlist is composed of songs that are 7 mins or longer. But fact of the matter is, again, that it's not the length of the song, but the frequency of repetition by a small number of people.

You have nothing to worry about at this time. I can assure you of that. In fact, since you ARE a productive member of this community, and you are attempting to help work out a solution, I'd likely drop you a note well in advance of any problems -- something like "Hey Gilberto, it looks like you've been requesting [insert song name]. You might want to cool it down on that one and listen to [different but similar group]" or something like that.

In fact, that goes for just about everybody that contributes to the betterment of the system. If you pop up on the radar, we'll send an email long before it becomes a problem. And if you THINK it might be a problem, you can drop me a private message and I'll check it out and let you know if there's potential for problem. Unfortunately I don't have a good way of comparing usernames and IP addresses unless they post to the forums (and the worst abusers don't).

I'd rather keep the good ones, and if that's what I have to do, it's what I'll do.

The software may control that: "Gilberto have asked for three 18 minute music this week, then only aloow lesser music". I am kidding but is ok to me.

It'd be nice if we could, although I likely wouldn't configure it to do that. I don't believe that stopping people from playing epics would be productive. Quite the opposite, actually. There's a LOT of stuff on Aural Moon that's over 15 minutes, and if you want to chose some of the longer stuff from the more obscure bands, then by all means feel free.

Again, to reiterate: just don't request the same songs day after day. That is what we object to.

As I expect you may have a log of requests, you can verify this, or better, at least the time length I use to choose.

Indeed we do. We also keep track of the IP addresses of those people that are requesting. That's how I know you're not one of the abusers. Unfortunately, as I said above, I don't have a name to attach to an IP address, so unless they post on the forums, I can't really contact them and tell them to chill out.

Of course, I COULD force them register to request.

That's something I might want to investigate.

So, what I can sugest, is not to removing that great bands. I have listened a lot of Renaissence more than a Pop radio and it still is playing. So why Flower Kings?

I posted a post before this one (and after yours) that should explain why we're taking steps. In short, The Flower Kings, through no fault of their own, have been overrequested. The stats don't lie. I'll likely put them back after I've fixed the other problems.

I know there are technical aspects on programing the system, but is an idea, I hope it be usefull.

Absolutely. If nothing else, it gave me another opportunity to:

1. explain what the problem is
2. let you know that you're not part of it.

Roger -Dot- Lee, getting closer by the day.