[Neil C]

Hi,
Just watched BBC news which had an thing on British songwriters ahead of Ivor Novello awards. It focussed on a couple of female songwriters who were successfully writing for Beyoncé, Madge and Rhianna. It said only 20% songwriters were females and that got me thinking, what's the % on the forum. It feels less than that to me. So is this an opportunity to encourage more girls and if so how could we help?
 
Neil

[tina m]

I think the percentage is nice    I like being surrounded by men I have  a lot more fun   
if this website doesnt attract women its becos  it looks awful ..i am realy sorry tone but its true
 theres no colour no  pictures ..its black & white & rainclouds ….it looks like it was designed by a car mechanic  with a MOT certificate  in the middle & 2 big black tyres either side ...  the actual forum bit only takes up half  my screen  in the middlle.... it needs a interior designer!
you look at songstuff & you think yes that looks quite nice I will go there
BUT...songstuff is rubbish!  this forum is actually organised fabulously well & theres just the right number of sections & it works brilliantly …..but it looks awful like you are stepping into a greasy garage full of bikers

[nooms]

personally i like the design, its about as minimalist as you can get graphics dont shout at you or interfere and navigating your way round is a doddle.. even for a drummer !
home page is open and welcoming rather than scary mary in puce
careful what you wish for ..seriously i fear the day it has ads big time and video pop ups and the like and become a monster in all senses so i guess i appreciate its simplicity and at least percieved intimacy..

colour !?
girls !!?

[Boydie]

if this website doesnt attract women its becos  it looks awful ..i am realy sorry tone but its true Sad
 theres no colour no  pictures ..its black & white & rainclouds

This is all in hand and part of my plans...

@nooms

Functionality will still remain KEY and there will be no changes to how the forum operates - just a few "enhancements" will be added for those that want to use them

I also have plans for a new "sexier" homepage/landing page

Regular users can simply bookmark the "forum" page so they come straight to the forum

New visitors that land on the (new) homepage will see something a little more "sexy" (vibrant, new logo, some photos, music biz news feed, souncloud showcase of songs etc.) to entice them in - MWAHAHAHAHA

[CaliaMoko]

I have not noticed many women in the forums; I would be interested in learning what the ratio is.

I confess I've never really noticed what the forums look like, although, now that Tina M mentioned it, I can see it looks a little gray. I'm kind of a depressed personality, so I suppose gray suits me....

Neil, please don't take offense at this, but I was put off by the word "girls". To me girls are silly, twittery, giggly airheads. Or young children. I think of the females in these forums as women. I don't think calling them "girls" will attract them. But that's one opinion and there may be others.

Attracting more females could be as easy as getting the women already in the forums to spread the word through their social networking. For some reason, I hadn't ever really thought of doing that, but I'm going to share this link on Facebook in the songwriter groups I'm in. I can tweet it, too, but I have very few followers so that will have little effect.

Interesting topic--thanks for bringing it up, Neil!

Vicki

[Skub]

Maybe all the ladies are focusing on writing for Madonna,Beyonce and Rhianna,instead of twatting about on teh interwebz? 

As far as gender quotas go,it kinda is what it is. From what I've seen,everyone who wishes to take part in the forums are welcomed.

I'm with nooms on the monochromatic forum visuals,it's like being allowed to sit in a familiar room without her indoors wanting to change the colours or buy new less comfy chairs,n' stuff. Worst of all,I have to implement the changes. Insult/injury etc.   

At any rate,the forum doesn't require any cooking,cleaning,ironing or washing,so perhaps it's the lack of needing those 'skills' that makes women feel unwanted? *






*Skub runs for cover....

[MartynRich]

I´m quite bi-melodic so I don´t care if men or women tell me they like my songs (or not).

I like the look of the forum but then I liked the look of my kitchen yesterday after the dog trashed it. Do you think the look is why women would stay away? I´m not sure. Personally I think it´s all the folk guitar.

[tina m]

how stupid of me.. the forum looks this way to keep women out!
its designed as a mancave

[MartynRich]

Well that is shocking. I hope you bring this up with the management. Last thing we want to do is go back to the caves. Where would we plug in our effects pedals?

[Paulski]

encourage more girls and if so how could we help?

We could start by being a lot better looking {snare and cymbal hit}
Crowd shouts "Speak 4 yerself paulski !!"
What would be even scarier is stats on the age of participants me thinks.
{paulski crawls back under rock..}

[Neil C]

I already have a man cave I'd like a really diverse songwriting pad, the more the better. I doubt if we're at 10% in terms of active women. I'm not sure I'm any the wiser as to why.
Still interesting to read the discussion, interior designs, kitchens and Boydies intent to make a landing page 'sexy' and entice unsuspecting songsters into this world.

Vicki I only used Girls in the title deliberately to generate the debate, no offence intended or taken. Good idea to reach out.

Neil

Ps guitar forums really are nocturnal man caves, best avoided

[hardtwistmusic]

personally i like the design, its about as minimalist as you can get graphics dont shout at you or interfere and navigating your way round is a doddle.. even for a drummer !
home page is open and welcoming rather than scary mary in puce
careful what you wish for ..seriously i fear the day it has ads big time and video pop ups and the like and become a monster in all senses so i guess i appreciate its simplicity and at least percieved intimacy..

colour !?
girls !!?

I too prefer the minimalist approach to website design.  It's the content I care about, not the eye candy. 

[Skub]

the actual forum bit only takes up half  my screen  in the middlle.... it needs a interior designer!
…..but it looks awful like you are stepping into a greasy garage full of bikers

If you hit Control + on your keyboard it'll fill out the side bars. It also will give you Mr.Magoo size font if you go all the way! 

And...

Hey,what's wrong with bikers anyway? 

[CaliaMoko]

If you hit Control + on your keyboard it'll fill out the side bars. It also will give you Mr.Magoo size font if you go all the way! 

And if you don't like the size, you can use Control - (minus) to reverse the size. And if you get fed up with all the size changes, you can use Control 0 (zero) to reset the size to default.

[tina m]

control + ?..oh wow look at that! it looks like a website for visually impaired people
actually it looks like a depressingly gloomy website for visually impaired people who mend cars

thanks for that ...but it does feel like reading a large print book for old people