The Digital Hermit

(Disclaimer: This assignment was particularly difficult to conceptualize for me as I have a complete aversion to being a part of any type of online community. I see myself as a consumer of the internet and less of a contributor. I am the silent observer, that consumes more than creates.

Building your Community on Discogs.

As an avid music collector of several media formats, I have found that it is always a challenge to connect with others who share my music and audiophile interests, thankfully the database I use to catalogue and research my media, Discogs, has easy to access groups, blogs, forums and “friend” associations. By commenting and contributing to the various platforms, it is an easy step to add “friends” to your list and cross pollinate knowledge with other audiophiles.

By setting your music collection database to viewable for the public, other people are able to research your collection and find information that may aid in building their collection.

I have had requests from strangers around the world, asking me to verify database information for them or even share a digital track they are seeking. I have converted and uploaded several copyright free recordings to Youtube and shared the private links with other music genre enthusiasts.

By contributing posts and comments on the various platforms, many Discogs contributors have created large followings of other collectors. Many of these contributors are recognized as experts in the industry. For the collector of musical media Disogs offers a one stop shop to research and purchase media, joining up with likeminded people seems to be a popular activity as the list of contributors and commenters is massive.

For other collectors out there, there are companion sites:

Gearogs, for music audio gear collectors, https://www.gearogs.com/

Comicogs, for comic book collectors, https://www.comicogs.com/

Posterogs, for movie and music poster memorabilia, https://www.posterogs.com/

Vinylhub, to find Brick and Motar Record shops, https://www.vinylhub.com/

Filmogs, for DVD, Video, Bluray movies, https://www.filmo.gs/

Bookogs for Book collectors, https://www.bookogs.com/

These have all been created following the original Discogs style, using website and applications that facilitate the development of an online community presence through several ways including:

Groups: https://www.discogs.com/group/browse/all

Forums: https://www.discogs.com/forum/

Blogs to read and comment on: https://blog.discogs.com/en/

I have personally kept my online presence to a minimum as I cannot for the life of me fathom why anyone would be interested in anything I’d have to say. My friend list comprises of one person, my nephew. Maybe I’m the modern day equivalent of a digital hermit?