How about starting a new structure in this forum?

[Nextom]

Hi guys (and gals?),
as you may know from my other postings here, I've always been a highly "qualified" member of the stupidity club ever since I joined this community a few months ago. I admire Rapid Composer's potential and uniqueness and would love to make more good use of it instead of stumbling each time into the next ridiculous confusion about how to use it properly. Ok, I'm admittedly not the brightest example of humankind, but I do have some ability to study and learn. I must say, however, that neither RC's "documentation" nor this forum really suits my needs. Either it is utterly incomplete and antiquated as in the case of the documentation, or it's several stages above my current understanding, as in many of the postings here. And as much as I'm in awe about the never stopping improvements of the software, I deplore the extremely slow progress (if at all) of its documentation and help-features. Plus: I have a pretty busy life and just don't have the time to spend endless hours guessing or hunting/deciphering the clues given in this forum on how to get over all the holes in my understanding. But at least I do have a vision of how things could become a little better for me, provided the other members of the stupidity club would join me in this:

How, if we started to create separate "idiot-threads" for each topic that comes up? We could sort them into closely limited sectors, each dealing with another feature of Rapid Composer, just like a real manual would go about? Once we had a sufficient number of such threads, we could even start to arrange them in some order that would be mirroring a typical user's learning-curve, starting from the most simple things like understanding and using RC's interface ("simple", ha!) to using the most recently added features like importing rhythm phrases.

I could think of several such threads right away. The reason I'm not starting to post them right away is … time to say it out loud … a certain shyness that I feel inside of me to really start getting on your nerves with all those questions. Plus, I don't want to be the only one. I wonder why not more people here in this forum are asking away like crazy. Are we such a small community, or am I the only one who feels shy to ask one question after the other?

In digging a little deeper into what has been stoping me so far, I realize that it's often my notion that somewhere my question has probably already been answered, and that I don't want to get the typical annoyed response to "read the f**king manual" or to use the search-function. The other thing is, that even if I know where to find those questions addressed, I sometimes don't understand the explanation, even after reading them several times. Often, the answers seem as cryptic to me as my original problem, so I end up more confused as when I started.

I suppose, what it would take to make things less miserable for me, in regards to learning to have fun with RC, are the following things:
* a couple of other folks here in this community who are, like me, still in the beginning of their learning-curve;
* a willingness of these people to speak out and pose their questions; and to check given answers for clarity; and if they find them still to be unsufficient, to keep asking until really the last detail of this given topic has been described in an idiot-proof manner.
* a moderator, who is willing to commit some time to regularly prune the threads of contents that deserve their own thread, so that quick findability and access to the individual topics is kept intact, especially for future generations of newcomers. Such a moderator might want to keep in mind, that this collection of threads might one day be the perfect basis for a new manual that really deserves its name. Otherwise, the task of coming up with a good manual will only get bigger and bigger, and I wonder who will ever be willing and able to put time and money into getting one written.

So, how about it, folks? Would you support a new "idiot-section" in this forum? Would you be willing to contribute your stupidity as well as your wisdom to a new endeavor to create a better organized, more encompassing and less confusing resource of learning materials for Rapid Composer? Some people like Yellukan or themixtape might even be willing to contribute new videos or gif-sequences as a sort of visual rounding up of each discussed topic. Speak out, if you feel that my proposal resonates with you.

[dsan@mail.com]

I started to write a lengthy commentary but decided against.

Just 2 things I would like to address.

1.) I truly do not believe there is anyone reading these forums that is an "idiot". The desire to learn is proof enough of this.

2.) I cannot more emphatically encourage anyone to ask the questions. I understand the aprehension, but consider, an unanswered question is due to the fact it was not asked.

As has been proven time and again, there are many members here more than willing to assist.

If something remains unclear, please, please, please, state the question.

RC is a complex program, but I, for one, haven't run into anything in it that is uncomprehensible. Truth is, when I haven't been able to figure it out, and have asked here, it really is easy, once you know how.

As for the proposal to "clean up" the forum, I'm unsure how this will be entirely possible, but will certainly support any initiative that aids in the advancement of knowledge.

Ask the questions. Please! It's the only way to learn

Cheers!
dsan

[Nextom]

Hi dsan,

thanks for your answer. It wasn't quite the reaction that I was hoping to elicit, but at least thanks for your encouragement to ask away. Ok, I will. And I will open a new thread for each topic. Let's see, how far we get with that.

Thomas