whatever this post was called...

[Sc'Eric (aka sc'Que)]

Hey, if promoters would actually send out emails that could be forwarded along to other people, I would have no problem passing events info along to people!  

But creating a MySpace page or LiveJournal blog where a single promoter can post only their own events... and those posts do not get automatically distributed to members...?  C'mon.  

That's like hanging a single poster in your bathroom and never inviting people over to your house...  like waiting for people who (somehow) know you've hung a poster in your bathroom to invite themselves into your home to ask to use the bathroom!  It's absurd.  That's not what promoting is about!   Your guests should not have to invite themselves over to your house just to use the bathroom so they can see what events (if any) you may or may not be "promoting".

Anyway, good suggestions from some of you re: webhosting services.  But I think there are tons of free online community sites that have a better infrastructure already in place that satisfy both ends of the promoter/music-scene equation.  For instance, Yahoo! groups has no hosting fees, no archive storage limits to speak of, extremely minimal advertising, an interactive calender and a programmable interface (using html within a limited layout).  It's like PghGoth.com + the PghGoth mailing list rolled into one interface.  (Sure, it may not look as slick as you'd like, but it gets the job done.)  

   From the webmasters' perspective:  why create more work for yourself on the backend when you can be using that time to get more involved with the events?  Also, you can categorize your users so that you have a multi-tiered system of moderated posting (e.g. known promoters are not moderated, while regular users are--to prevent spam).  You also have the power to dictate whether other members can see the membership list.  

   From an events-promoter's perspective:  simply shoot a regular old email to the group (along with anyone else you'd normally cc:/bcc: it to)--with or without html code--and all members of the group who choose to receive email will see it.  Promoters can also upload their events fliers for others to see (or print out).   

   For the events enthusiast:  you're signed up as a member of an online community with tons of interaction potential--if you choose to pursue it; you know about events as soon as the promoter announces it to the site; you can search the calendar and the message archive [text-only] for any emails that might've bounced from your own inbox.  (Want a copy of the flier for discounted entry to events?  Check the files database for newly uploaded events fliers.)

I'm sure there are other community interfaces that work.  But Yahoo! is the one I've found to work the best... even through some of their silly "improvement" periods.  At the end of  the day, though, the biggest trick is getting promoters to actually announce their events in a timely manner, if at all.  

~sc'eric 

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