Comments on Articles and more changes coming...

[nolongermike@gibson]

Hey now, just a head's up that all of the stories on the Lifestyle section of the site now all you to comment on them directly underneath the story. Its supposed to then create a discussion over here, too. This is one of the many cool changes I've got in mind for the site, and I'm looking forward to hearing back from the regulars here on other things we can do.

 

Not all, but a few of the other things we are working on for you on the Lifestyle and Community parts of the site:

 

One site registration one time that works for every feature, as it should be.

 

Adding a gallery section with voting, comments, etc. to allow you to show off your guitars in multiple photos in an image gallery. The images will randomly show in a box on the front of the site, too.

 

More stories on gear, tech stuff, recording, getting great tones from software and good old stomp boxes and tubes.

 

New writers from trusted magazines joining us, and some surprise columnists coming as well

 

More video lessons, and soon tab for the lessons as well as other tab (we're working on it!)

 

More lesson variety.... other instruments, styles, etc. Arlen is ON FIRE and going to help us shape up something just plain old astounding here. Personally, I can't believe how cool the lessons are here from him. I used to order his stuff on tapes back in the dark ages before the Internet when you had to send a money order through the mail and wait and wait and wait!

 

An event calendar is coming, too. You'll not only see important dates from us, from product launches to trade shows, industry events, guitar shows, awards shows, birthdays and more, but you'll be able to submit your own events to have put on the calendar and customize the calendar to your own use as well!

 

Polling - you'll be able to vote on ideas for products, changes, models discontinuing, all kinds of questions.

 

The most active and most recent forum posts are going to start appearing on the front of the Lifestyle section

 

More user-driven content. We want YOU to help write the Gibson Wikipedia, 'cause ya'll know a lot of stuff Gibson might have even forgot from years ago, you own all kinds of guitars, one-offs, prototypes, and other rarities. We want you to help shape a lot of that kind of information with us as we begin to do a better job of delivering the history we DO know. Getting our players to fill in the cracks..... gotta do it!

 

Improved customer service interface and FAQ for the site. Did you know we are the ONLY GUITAR COMPANY with 24/7 customer service and a ton of ways to reach us? You can actually be standing at a store in Hawaii at 8PM and reach somebody in the wee hours of Nashville's morning to answer your question while you are at that store shopping. We aim to make customer service more accessible here.... stay tuned. They're eager to get back in here in a bigger way, too.

 

Forum moderators - We are working on getting people from every division actively participating in each forum for their division. Hang tight, it is coming. I'm working on it, too. :)

 

These are just some of the things I'm working on to help make some improvements to the community we have going here. Some of its stuff you'd otherwise expect, but for whatever reasons isn't here. It's coming. Again, feel free to leave me a private message, or post to the forum your suggestions, or even email me mike at gibson dot com.

[NeoConMan]

To quote an old Carly Simon song;

 

Anticipation...

 

:-)

[L5Larry]

Well Mike, sounds like you have some good things in mind. I hope your implamentation does not get lost in the shuffle. Maybe the corporate powers-at-be have finally decided the we here at the forum DO matter. Sometimes it feels like a place STICK us to keep us out of Customer Service's hair. But that's alright, most of the time we can answer our own questions and solve our own problems.

 

Not that more corporate involvement would not be welcome, I would just hope that divisional moderators understand, and expect to take the time to actually ANSWER questions and queeries, not just regurgitate some corporate mumbo jumbo. Answers like "my computer records only go back to...", or "the webpage states..", or "due to our poor record keeping in the past..." are really not acceptable. Sometimes someone has to actually get out of their chair, leave their cube and go down to the production department (or whatever dept.), or root around in those old musty file cabinets full of PAPER documents (remember when the term "files" meant pieces of paper generally kept in presorted manilla folders stored in metal cabinets).

 

Good luck in you endeavors, I hope you don't end up beating your head against the brick wall like we fell we do here from time to time.

[nolongermike@gibson]

I hear ya, Larry. Sometimes we're going to be able to get out of our chairs and do that, and sometimes it's going to be tough, but that said, I'm here for the same reason you are on most levels, and also because I DO understand the importance of these forums. I started the first ones ever for Gibson, and Gibson brought me back after 12 years to try to reinvigorate the place with all the original and right reasons we got these going to begin with. So, hang tight, things are going to be getting progressively better as the weeks and months march on over here. I remember which walls to beat my head against around here.

[sixstring19682]

Well I'm looking forward to seeing some of the new's on these changes don't mean to come of as a jerk here or change the subject but I am speaking to Mike@gibson here,I was just reading a post on the new Les Paul Standard just to find one of those dreaded counterfeit dealers advertising inside the tread I don't mean to go negative here just wanted to give you a heads up on that.

[nolongermike@gibson]

Thanks for the head's up.