**Super Long Post** - BTF updates, volunteer opportunities

[Saab]

I think, in terms of Wiki content, your right in getting some established scholars/individuals(people who have gone out and attempted research, or been in some sort of Bhangra environment outside of the past 5-6 years) to provide content into the wiki. Biggest thing is to gain access and get people to comment weekly/daily/monthly etc. Great idea to start, and good places to start.

 

[Basim]

A great post & some nice ideas that we have flowing here.

As much as I had hoped BTF was around when I was younger (due to having more free time back then), I would still love to offer any help needed to keep BTF fresh with new content, easy to read/engage the end user, inviting to new thoughts/opinions, and keeping it free from spam/flaming wars.

I can surely offer an extra hand at moderation. I would also love to be on the back end of the BTF Mixer's ladder - to ensure there is more organization, followup with participants, and overall progress to prevent it from just "dying" on us.

Regarding concrete knowledge of bhangra, there are quite a few posts that could be used to create separate, easy to access wiki topics (i.e. Gibb's A visual history of bhangra). Even from PunjabOnline (POL), amongst all the fake accounts/self pumps/bickering/etc there was some useful content that would be great to harness in case the site ever went down.

Just let me know if you guys feel that I could better contribute in other ways,

~ Basim

 

[Sawhill69]

just fyi we're looking for much more new dancers for the Question of the Week, simply because they'll have more questions themselves and be closer connected to the demographic we're shooting for.

I can help out for the question of the week, I am most likely within that demographic

 

[Dalveer]

i can do the question of the week im full of em lol and im relatively new i suppose Plus i think steps need to updated in the wiki more step names need to be added for newer people that really want to learn bhangra but might not have the resources like a teacher etc.

 

[DamanSingh]

I think we should improve the BTF Media Center. It contains multiple copies of the same songs, and I think this can be avoided by encouraging users to check the media center prior to uploading songs, and also by organizing the media center a little better. I also think we should extend the media center to include english translations of songs and mixes. Okay, this is a stretch lol, but I'm more than willing to help with this project and I'm sure others are too. We can really transform the BTF media center into a more valuable resource for the community with just a few changes.

 

[sganesha]

This initiative is pretty sweet and I want to help, especially because I'm one of those users that checks BTF frequently but hardly ever posts...

I would like to help with the CTL and/or the Question of the week ( the content side). I'm fairly new in the circuit and pretty young (19), but I think I know a fair share of what goes on.

 

[Basim]

I think we should improve the BTF Media Center. It contains multiple copies of the same songs, and I think this can be avoided by encouraging users to check the media center prior to uploading songs, and also by organizing the media center a little better. I also think we should extend the media center to include english translations of songs and mixes. Okay, this is a stretch lol, but I'm more than willing to help with this project and I'm sure others are too. We can really transform the BTF media center into a more valuable resource for the community with just a few changes.

That's a great idea Daman - I've noticed multiple instances of songs posted in the Media Center as well. Keep in mind though, there are sometimes higher qualities copies of the same song posted, hence the reason for some duplicates.

Regarding the translation portion for every song, that's a bit too ambitious at this point imho. I've seen entire websites devoted to nothing but Punjabi music & translations, but they don't seem to last due to the few translators (and their limited time) as compared to the people who want certain songs translated.

Not sure if there an "easy" way to go about cleaning up the Media Center because it seems that is going to be a long, manual process - especially considering the amount of audio files BTF has hosted.

Encouraging people to check the media center FIRST and then uploading the file if they can't find it (or need a higher quality copy) should the process we all take.

~ Basim

 

[yraparla]

Thanks for the posts everyone! I'm noting down everyone and their interests. We thought about having a google form, but honestly if someone can't take the time for a single post or a PM then I'm ok with their self-selecting out (shoutout to Dalveer and Shahana, two low-post members who spoke up!)


The media center is directly tied to the platform, which will change. Depending on our next platform, we'll have some options what to do. We already block files with the same name, if people choose to change the name and repost theres not much we can do...Future media center will have streaming, and a radio feature so you can listen to 'originals' 'mixes' and 'team mixes', etc.


Translation is not a bad idea, again I think expecting members to keep up the initiative on their own is hard. Let's organize it. Set up a bi-weekly song to translate, maybe something popular that a lot of teams use (radio, satisfya, charkha, etc). Maybe we do a month of classic shers/bolis? What we need is someone to own this initiative, pick a song post the lyrics and maybe post their own translation. Other members can chime in with corrections or interpretations! This will be much more sustainable and I think really really beneficial to the circuit so people can understand what the songs their dancing to are saying, then we can take the consensus translation from the post and put it on the wiki so we have a static place to look it up in case a thready gets really crazy.


this is why we need volunteers. 10-20 people at an hour or two a week could really change the value coming out of the site!

 

[razorhedge]

I would love to help block Kangna001!!!

 

[zagreus]

i agree with the gibb post of the month 100%. He is one of the most literate Americans on the topic of punjabi folk history. His knowledge would be best utilized by making entries on things that interest the circuit today, including current trends (i.e, stunts, mirza, vardiyan, judging). He may enjoy it and it can serve as a sort of archive of his articles (link with wiki). Teaching the culture's roots are key to connecting the younger generations to what the virsa is really all about, gotta drop that knowledge on these yoofs.

This would be awesome.

Good, we got a literate guy to post maybe....now, what about the illiterate folks that talk about Folk/Culture and whatnot? We can't forget about them!

I can mod since I care very little for the back and forth that leads to more BS. Also, my other job which I do well here is post very randomly on things, and call people out on their BS. I really enjoy that job.

 

[DamanSingh]

What we need is someone to own this initiative, pick a song post the lyrics and maybe post their own translation. Other members can chime in with corrections or interpretations! This will be much more sustainable and I think really really beneficial to the circuit so people can understand what the songs their dancing to are saying, then we can take the consensus translation from the post and put it on the wiki so we have a static place to look it up in case a thready gets really crazy.

This sounds great. I'm totally down to moderate (or co-moderate) this initiative.

 

[Romy]

I know you're looking for younger mods but I'm down to mod as well. I've been one for a few other smaller forums so I have the experience, I frequent btf quite a bit (maybe not post as much though), and still fairly active in the bhangra community/scene.

 

[yraparla]

Bump, we'll be reaching out soon to get things going. Hopefully in a week or two things will be full swing!


also more ladies! Only 2 girls have posted here so far, I'd love to see women in bhangra step up and take more ownership of their experiences in the circuit, both offline and online. We really need experienced female perspectives for our wiki content/answers and just having female input makes a big difference, Dheerja was honestly an awesome addition to the moderator crew, and with our current emphasis on questions/content/ideas we need more female influence so there's something relevant and worthwhile for half our audience.

 

[Kaur]

Hey guys, I can help out with whatever is needed. I have a bit of free time on my hands for the next little while so let me know how I can help you guys out.

 

[himynameis]

I can help banning people

 

[mafzal]

I will add content to the CTL and Wiki