Follow You, Follow Me
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Welcome to our secret MOG universe. I would venture a guess that you only found this post because you are following me. There's not much other way you would find this. Welcome, my peeps!
Those who don't follow me will never know this post exists. It's the new MOG model. If you are lucky to catch this in your feed or if you have your email notifs turned on, you are viewing this. If not, this post doesn't exist-unless you are on this artist's MOG page. This artist doesn't have a post in 3 years, so not likely.
It's a strange secret universe. It's just us. Think about that. We're just talking to ourselves and no one else is listening. No outsiders.
We can't really expand our universe, unless we tell people it's here and say in a comment on someone elses post we happen to find, "hey people, follow me and check out my secret universe." It's not like FB, where friends of friends will see you, unless you give the "the secret invisible link to the remaining MOG-O SPHERE". You now have the keys to the kingdom. You can bookmark it. But how are you going to get it to all the people in your secret universe?
People can't see our posts, unless they already follow us or see us in a comment of a friend they follow- and get curious. Then they'd have to click our avatar to read our posts, because we somehow intrigued them with our witty comment reparte. They can then choose to follow us and thereby be thrust into our secert universe.
That's a strange kind of isolation, don't you think? We are isolated within ourselves, for the most part. Is this a MOG challenge? Is this a game we need to find a way to win? Rather than being a game of trying to find a way out, it's try to find a way to get people in to each secret universe?
For some reason, that is really blowing my mind today. Each one of us has a secret MOG universe. In some cases, they overlap, but still each of us has people in our secret universe that the other does not. We know this when we get wind that one of us has posted something and we find "strangers" commenting on our friend's post.
We scratch our heads and say, who is that- and how did they get in Jeff's secret universe? Should I let them in mine? I won't know if they are posting anything, unless I follow them, right? So I check their posts to see if they "fit" my secret universe. They fit Jeff's, so chances are, they will fit mine. But maybe not- and then I just leave them in Jeff's secret universe, of which I am a small part.
Can you wrap your head around that? Used to be that anyone new to MOG could browse posts and find us to follow us. No more. Now, we may have to campaign or impress via comments on other's posts, for us to win people into eachother's secret universes.
Just out of curiosity, could you leave a comment, so I know how many people in my secret universe are still there? It can be brief, like "me.", if you have nothing else to say. It will perhaps expose others in my secret universe to you.
To get the community back or salvege it, I think each of us should do a post like this that asks people to leave a "me" comment- just so we can see eachother's remaining secret universes. We can then follow the "new" people we like and expand the overlapping universes, until it once again starts to resemble a full community. If we don't, we will just be talking amungst ourselves in our own secret universes.
Anyone game? Do you wanna play?
Locating MOG account...
Comments (34)
no doubt some odd goings on in the heart of MOG.
Once we were coveted now we are invisible. Must have something to do with el nino.
we obviously no longer fit into their new economic model -
go figure
It would seem that is true.
"The MOG Music Service offers you a truly social music experience." How can they even use the word "social" to describe this site??? I feel like a withered appendage! ( which is way worse than a red headed step child.)
When I look at old posts I wish I would have found MOG a few years ago, so much dialogue. I've been here 10 months, give or take a week, and the community has fallen off considerably in that time. (I miss a lot of posters) I decided to spread my time amongst a few more sites and find on my occasional visit to MOG that very little has changed. I don't understand why MOG doesn't push the community more. The dwindling community, as well as the corporate firewall issue, were the reasons I stopped paying to use the service.
I was here. I don't know how i got here. I was wearing some ruby slippers & i think i was clicking my heels. thats all i remember.....but i know this is a sad response..........Like i said....till the lights go out & they lock the doors
The thing is.......we MOGgers are a very knowledgable folk when it comes to music...& I'll wager we all have seriously delerious collections.......A site like this.....like a bad music magazine...is becoming a daily packet of advertisements. Not much money is made from our activities here......and we may even cause legal headaches. I know there are miscreants (and a few mistercreants) who insist on posting music that is not, for one reason or another, commercially available. There are many possible reasons & myriad explanations why the "community" wasn't working for the bean counters. I guess what irks me the most is that David had contact with so many of us & seemed to encourage us every step of the way.....& then it seems like somebody did a complete 180...and suddenly....we were excess baggage.
not sure what state this vehicle is passing through right now, but the wifi's working and even though i've been moving a lot lately i still love checking in here. got to meet a couple of members of this "universe" (past and present) on this trip and that was great. thanks for continuing to post and i hope when the dust settles i'll be back to contributing more often.
What brought home to me how much this place has changed was the different responses to the posting of two sides of the same 12" single at Christmas 2009 (157 views) and Christmas 2010 (26).
If the artist or track isn't listed in the database you'll simply never find a post now. As far as i can see there now fewer than ten people ever respond to my posts. there used to be a front page filled with comments and references to posts, but that now seems to be given over to promotion and new releases, not to people actually writing about the music they want to put out there. The bubbles inhabited by old-school posters are growing smaller and smaller, and the social aspect seems to be wholly forgotten.
I didn't come here looking for Aerosmith, the Beastie Boys or Justin Timberlake; there are thousands of other places you can here them. Where else, though, could you debate the develpment of Cape Verdean violin playing? That though has been steamrollered by the forces of rock and hip-hop. This place really is no fun any more. Working hard to locate obscure tracks, photographs and information that is viewed fifty times and not commented upon - why do I bother?
although i agree with the state of things, i dont fully believe that we are the only ones reading. im certain that a healthy chunk of my post views come from people meandering from google searches. thats how i initially discovered mog at least. and ive spoken with several people who have created accounts just to speak with me on posts that they found through a search engine of some kind. weather that helps the case or not - our home has an open wound, bleeding, waiting to die. one must think if the man upstairs is reading these words, trying to put together a solution - or are we simply being ignored, because we dont matter anymore? are we obsolete? we helped shape and build this site, and now have they achieved the status they were hoping for - rendering us useless? my hopes are down, however even in these dark days, i continue to discover music from the remaining trusted that continue the good fight. however long that lasts, hopefully i see it to the end.
sorry for being so dramatic, ive been watching a LOT of spartacus...
It's "me" unless I am dreaming that I'm here.
I was here, too. Beyond that, not sure of what there is to say. I've kind of moved on from MOG, albeit unwillingly....
It seems to me that MOG is moving away from all the social aspects of the site.
I use Chrome as my browser and downloaded the MOG extension for Chrome. Looks, great, works great, I've found the player to be far more reliable than the MOG player. But there is no access to your feed. You can create a playlist but not a post.
It comes with a 2 week free trial of MOG and if this extension becomes the primary way that you use the site, you'll never even know that a social aspect exists.
This is, I believe, the direction MOG is heading.
"My Secret Place"
(Joni Mitchell)
I'm going to take you to
My special place
It's a place that you
Like no one else I know
Might appreciate
I don't go there with anyone-but
You're a special case
For my special place
For my secret place
People talk to tell you something
Or to take up space
Guess I'm only talking
To be talking to
Your pretty face
I don't talk much to anyone-but
You're a special case
For my special place
My secret place
I was born and raised
In New York City
I'm just getting used to Colorado-
Oh street bravado
Carry me
Why did you bring me to
A place so wild and pretty?
Are there pigeons in this park-
Muggers after dark-
In these golden trees-
In the secret place?
I'm going to take you to
My special place
It's a place no amount of hurt and anger
Can deface
I put things back together there
It all falls right in place-
In my special space
My special place
Once I saw a film
In New York City
That was shot in Colorado-
Girl meets desperado
In the trembling mountain trees
Out of all of the girls that you see
In bleachers and cafe windows
Sitting-flirting with someone
Looking to have some fun
Why did you pick me?
For the secret place
I'm here. Barely, but still here.
Search engines may be a way in for some, and they may find themselves in a secret universe, if they join and think to follow people.
Other than that, people have to use the secret invisible link to keep up with the remainng community at large.
We would seem to be one step away from official oblivion, unless we start following all the people we find in other's secret universes and keep email notifs turned on to find their posts.
May the force be with you.
I was here. I has hope for good new things to come our way. Tjayfowler alluded to that in the fall. Doesn't seem as though anything is going to happen. I've even created a (gasp!) Facebook account just to see what the Orphans group was like. I really can't keep up with all the goings on in there, but I've participated a little (I'm John Jacobjingleheimerschmidt over there). At least there is some life over there. But the ease of use here at MOG was so great and it's a shame that MOG isn't fostering this community. I'm with you Rex, it's absolutely mind-boggling. The $5/month for 10million songs is nice and I really like creating playlists and sharing them. But talking to you folks I've been amazed by the knowledge here and that certainly added value to my experience. Why would David want to minimize that? It seems as though things were great here...just before I arrived 5 months ago. Was it something I said?
"Had"
It was all you, Brian!! Grrr!
No, but I feel disappointed in the way things have been for a while--especially when we lost our profile page---well, anything current/interesting/accurate, etc.
I was so happy 3 years ago when I found mog.....people who are to some extent obsessed with music, and want to talk about it! :)
Baudilino, I understand that you don't like certain groups, and I agree that it is fun and interesting to learn about music you might otherwise not encounter too much, but why do you want to hate on The Beastie Boys? I think people should be welcome to post about any artist/band they like, and yes it is even a little snobbish to imply their listeners are not cultured, but I guess it's hard for me to take someone seriously who might love, oh...the Jonas Brothers or something, so I'm guilty of being judgmental, too.
I digress! I was here.
I wuz here!
Although I am not actively posting I am always lurking. Believe it or not...sometimes I just do not have a lot to say.
hahaha NOT!!
I am a very quiet and introspective kind of guy. Very unassuming...
hahahahahah thanks Turd.. i needed a good belly laugh
When a cherished "follower" stops lurking, I wonder if they've found a music blog site with even better camaraderie and even more exciting musical discoveries than at MOG, but none of them have come back to take us there, so I'm guessing that MOG is still the best, and why not make the best of it, and encourage my followers by commenting on their posts?
Very good point, Spike....we can vent and complain, sure, but if we want to stay (and I do), then we should make the best of it....unless/until we come across something better!
(Rises out of the swamp like a Mad SEAL on a secret mission.)
I was at the last.fm group "I Still Buy CDs," then dropped by to listen to the electronic not-exactly-music of Dosh. After I'd finished a Walter/Wendy Carlos session, I looked for other artists with music on MOG. I found Pali T. Ka'aihue, and decided to confound the last.fm database with an extended play session. Over at last.fm, "Pali" is a Chilean electropop artist named Smith. Oh well, at least Mr. Ka'aihue plays Na Mele. I could sign up at Rdio when auditioning new artists, but where else would I find evidence of intelligent life on the InterWeb?
We are pretty intelligent, aren't we?
I can understand Mog wanting to expand and make money, but to shut out it's core followers is just sooooooo wrong.
Mog was a rebellious teenager of the music sites, now it's just another parent listening to the same Top 40 songs.
Present.
what a most excellent post, Rexy! I lurk around and comment a bit, but mostly my secret universe is a black hole collapsing into itself.
There's been a lot of poignant comments in this string. I agree with most all of it. It sure seemed to me that, when it was uber-active, the community here should have been nurtured at all odds. The uniquness of it all amazes me still.
I've pretty much gone back to habits of old, where I'll spin a disc non-stop for a week or so (latest being Lou Reed's "Transformer") - but, post MOG, I've got a lot more to choose from!
I got fed up with the empty promises as all personality of the site was stripped away. Like Rumplestiltskin, we helped spin MOG's straw into gold - only to be double-crossed at deal's end.
But, the taste of sour grapes doesn't last forever. Can this place rise from the ashes? With posts like this, it just may...
MOG IS DEAD! LONG LIVE MOG!! (thanks for a bit of fun Rex!)
My pleasure Scott. As long as the secret invisible link stays active, we may be able to continue finding and communicating with folks outside our secret universes.
But once they discover they forgot to deactivate it, it will be curtains for us and we will all just lurk in the dark receses of our secret universes. Sad.
Yeah, what everyone else said. Too bad, nothing is forever but skeletal deadman, Baudo, Robin, Mack the Knife live on, maybe as ghosts in the machine.
Jaggerandrea: I'm not sure that saying
"I didn't come here looking for Aerosmith, the Beastie Boys or Justin Timberlake; there are thousands of other places you can hear them"
amounts to "hating on" anybody. I wasn't expressing any opinion on their music (although i have done elsewhere) merely on their ubiquity.
I will still post now an again, but the community feeling of the place, and the notion that you might switch on your computer one night and hear something utterly new and unexpected has gone forever.
You are preaching to the choir, Baudo. I did check in with Facebook's MOG Orphans, which is lively but a little overwhelming. Just want to say I have learned much and deeply appreciate your generous sharing of considerable knowledge about music I appreciate but know little of. How did your large scale trial end, or has it yet?
BBob: Evidence finished in August, written submissions in final form were exchanged this week. Decision (technically Determination) is expected late June/early July