For the record I think the Admin system at ccM is the best way to guarantee a diversity of perspective and to make sure that a wide range of musical styles have a chance to be recognized and appreciated. For mixters new and old a ‘recommend’ or ‘review’ is reward enough for the task of creating a track. Even more so when the recognition comes from someone whose creative abilities and production skills are in a class by themselves, i.e. an Admin.

While some Admins make their contributions behind the scenes, and personal obligations make it hard for others to participate more often, the impression is that the bulk of the listening and Ed Picking falls to a very small group. They’ve done a great job.

I suggest that the current scenario puts an undue strain on that group and minimizes the diversity of perspective that comes from a larger group of more active Admins. So I’d like to suggest adding some new Admins to the group and adding an Admin line to their avatars so mixters know who they are.

Having said this we need to realize that the best among us are just people, after all, and recognition is based on personal opinion. Regardless of how we organize, deserving tracks will be overlooked, mediocre tracks will occasionally be Ed Picked, and those who network will get more attention than those who don’t. Thanks for your time.

Toward a Successful 2012, panu

Thanks for your input Panu. I would like to clarify that there is an “Admin” team and an “Editorial” team. The admins work on keeping ccM up and running — dealing with inquiries, technical issues, coordinating community remix events, trackbacks, site maintenace and development, monitoring compliance with site and license terms, etc. Admins also have editorial rights. The admin team is a relatively small group of dedicated volunteers who monitor the site regularly. “Admin” is usually seen under their avatar when they post in the forums.

The editorial team is a larger group who does indeed represent the diversity of ccMixter. The editors do not have admin rights but they are able to make “ed picks.” And your observation is correct — many editors have not been active lately so while there are several editors, it does seem like just a few are doing the ed picks.

The admin team does review the activities of the editorial team about once a year to make sure it is an active group. Given your comments, it seems like we are due for such a review.

Thanks for all you share with us at ccM — your music and your thoughts.

An old thread about ed. picks with interesting reflections:


http://ccmixter.org/thread/...

Well said panu. Thanks for taking the time to write such a thoughtful post.

I think Susan summed it up well, but I’d just add that as natural attrition occurs, we are probably not that quick to replace “editors”. I myself have been lacking in participation lately, but it’s just life gets busy and not reflective of the site or people.

Personally, I’d say the only prerequisite for being an “editor” is to have done a benchmark number of reviews (which show you listen to a variety of music on the site and engage in the site). 100? 200? I have no answer for that. Typically, we just discuss new “editor” choices among the “admins” in a dark, smoky, back room on Skype somewhere.

I haven’t had quite as much time to listen and comment as I have in the past, but even when I did, I tend to be very picky about my ed picks.

I do want to bring up one interesting observation I’ve made about ed picks. Unless I’m mistaken, the ed picks list is sorted by the date the remix was uploaded, not the date it was ed picked (if that date is even stored anywhere at all). This sometimes affects my choice to make an ed pick or not.

Every once in a while I will run across an older track that I feel should have been ed picked, but then I don’t do it because I know if I do it will just appear buried on page 26 of the ed picks list anyway and not many people will even know I made the pick. Of course, there’s a pretty easy fix for this. All you need to do is sort ed picks by date of the pick rather than date uploaded. But maybe there’s some good reason we don’t already do this that I haven’t thought of.