Question for the participants:

[Daniel A]

Hi folks! I've enjoyed the first round of the blindfold test immensly, and it appears that everybody else have, too.

I just have some thoughts regarding the braistorming around the identification of the music in the test. Do you think that we should wait a few more days after the discs have been sent before the discussion starts, so that more people may actually have listened to the disc and be able to participate from the start?

For instance, when a sufficient number have received the disc, the compiler of the test could just annouce that the discussion may start. I realize that it may be frustrating for those who get the disc first not to be able to post about it, so this may not be such a good idea. I just thought it would be fun if the discussion that leads up to the - hopefully - correct answers would be as collective an effort as it could be.

What are your thoughts on this?

[DrJ]

Daniel A- the "answers" and further discussion will be posted on a separate, clearly labeled thread (I'll be doing this on Monday Sept 8). I don't want to post them on the same thread as the initial discussion in case someone wants to review it without seeing the answers. I think there will be enough folks at all stages of thinking about the music that both threads will have action.

[Daniel A]

Sorry if I was unclear. I was thinking of the upcoming blindfold tests, and my thought was that the CDRs should be given a few days more to reach a reasonable amount of the participants before the "discussion" thread is started, to allow some more members into the discussions from the start.

No offence intended to those who got into the task with such enthusiasm and skill! It just appeared that some people got their CDRs when the discussion already filled several pages. I understand that it's unresonable to wait for everyone to receive their discs, I just wondered what you'd think about the idea to kick off the discussions when a few more have had the chance to play the disc through.

[Jim R]

Daniel, I understand your idea and I think it may have merit. Ideally, it would be best if the timing was even for everyone, so your idea may prove to be a good one. The thing is, no matter how long we wait to start the discussion, there will inevitably be some posters who will manage to post their thoughts before many of the others (in other words, some posters are inevitably going to find the discussion well underway by the time they are able/ready to make their first post). So, I'm not sure that it really makes much difference. I think we have learned from the first test that people should really give the disc some careful listening and considerable thought before they decide to open the discussion thread and begin reading the comments of others (that is, if they want to avoid being influenced/helped with the thought process). Everybody will have their own preferences and approaches to this, I think, and that's how it should be.

Edited September 6, 2003 by Jim R

[Dan Gould]

In the spirit of Daniel's thoughts, I am going to endeavor to reduce the distance factor by shipping burns extra early to Europe and Australia. So hopefully the non-Americans will not feel quite so far behind.

If we wanted to formalize things, we might try this:

When the test-giver ships the CDs (or the bulk of the CDs), discussion begins no sooner than one week after. That would give Europe a shot and it would give the Americans a chance to, as Jim says, absorb the music more before making comments.

Just a thought. But I do think it will be a good idea for test givers to ship internationally a little sooner.