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Community Guidelines

The Philosophy

FAWM is special. Let's keep it that way!

In Detail

These guidelines go beyond the Terms of Service. Please read and abide by them for a better FAWM experience for everyone.

  • Keep the focus on creativity and productivity.
  • Everyone will be reasonable.
  • Everyone expects everyone else to be reasonable.
  • Do not be offended if you feel someone has suggested you are not being reasonable.

FAWM has some features in common with social media platforms, but FAWM is different. It's a place to build community, not build a brand. It's a place to make music, not make a scene.

Think about your use of the FAWM site and the needs of others. Express what you want to say, but accept and accommodate the needs of others. The volunteer moderators will work to make sure this principle stays on track. Mods reserve the right to remove posts from the forums which they feel may disrupt the discussion within a thread or may mislead other members. In general practical terms, this means:

  • Keep comments constructive.
  • No attacks, insults, or flamewars (even if you feel attacked, insulted, or flamed).
  • If you see abusive comments, use the "report abuse" feature to let the moderators know.
  • If you get frustrated with the site or its users, take a break and go write some songs!
  • If you feel a fawmer has "cheated" (posting covers, recycling old songs, etc.), don't make a scene. Maybe it is against the ethos of FAWM, but that does not undermine your own achievements!

The Internet is a weird and sometimes rude place. Help us make FAWM the Internet at its best! More detailed suggestions below...

Posting Songs

If responding to a songwriting game challenge in the forums, try to use the #hashtag prescribed by the fawmer who issued the challenge (usually in the first post).

Reserve the "featured" song flag for the song you most want feedback on. It's meant as a guide for fawmers looking to provide feedback but don't have time to listen to all of your material!

If posting songs with profanity or explicit themes, please check the NSFW ("Not Safe For Work") box. This will let listeners know what to expect.

If you participate in a skirmish (one-hour timed group songwriting challenge), your songs will be flagged accordingly. That way people can wait to listen to them all together (Note: you are not expected to listen to every single song written for a skirmish, because there may well be dozens of them) , or optionally filter them if they want to focus on non-skirmish songs.

A note on controversial songs.

There are rich traditions of writing overtly political and/or protest songs, and we encourage fawmers who are inclined to do so. But keep in mind that fawmers from all different backgrounds and viewpoints. If you write a song that may be controversial:

  • Do you need to share it? Can you post a title and mark it private? That way it still counts toward your total song goal.
  • Do you need to share it on FAWM? Can you post it privately here, but share it for commentary elsewhere on the Internet or in a local songwriter’s group?

If you come across a song you disagree with:

  • Can you comment tactfully without getting political?
  • Can you ignore that song and focus on others instead?
  • Rather than argue in song comments, can you productively channel your feelings into a “response song” (not a diss track, of course!)

A song that is provocative doesn’t mean that it is inflammatory or violates the terms of service.

That said, know that if you choose to post controversial music or engage in angry political discourse in FAWM, you are creating work for the mods, who are all volunteers and trying to write their own songs. So we ask that you be judicious.

In the Forums

  • Fawmers come all over the world. If someone says something you find offensive, it might just be getting "lost in translation" (it's pretty hard to communicate with strangers solely in writing anyway). Even if they are being rude, you don't have to fan the flames.
  • It could also be that you don't get along. That's fine, too.
  • You're not going to change anyone's mind over the Internet
  • Give people the benefit of the doubt.
  • Do not use personal insults.
  • Do not insult other people's songs, websites, albums, etc.
  • Please keep threads on topic!
  • If there is a general thread for a topic, please do not create a new one (eg - demo updated)
  • Similarly, please check that nobody else has already asked the question that you want to ask before you create a new thread for it.
  • Do not create a forum topic to solicit feedback on your songs. This will only annoy people! If you're a fawmling who is seriously getting no love, the best way to increase the number of people who are giving your songs a listen and leaving comments on them is quite simply to give their songs a listen and leave comments on them. It’s not rocket science. Engage with the community! Reciprocate!

Commenting on Songs

Tip

In general, FAWM is a place for positive and motivating feedback. Unless a fawmer explicitly asks for a stronger critique, err on the side of encouragement.

Try to focus on the song rather than the demo (if any). Constructive criticism is OK, especially if asked for in the notes, but avoid negative remarks. Phrase any criticism in a way that suggests how to improve the song (not show off your expertise—remember, you’re dealing with your peers here, not teaching a class).

Examples of appropriate remarks:

  • What an unexpected key change in the chorus, I love it!
  • That’s the coolest bass line I’ve heard in years.
  • I love how your vocal delivery is so deadpan in the bridge…
  • I’m so jealous of that guitar tone.
  • The internal rhymes in this are super clever.

Examples of remarks to avoid:

  • This sounds like Slayer meets The Carpenters.
  • Have you ever considered piano lessons?
  • My 10-year-old wrote something like this!
  • I would have spent more time developing vocal harmonies in the chorus.
  • You clearly didn’t read the manual for your MIDI controller, otherwise… blablabla…

Avoid mansplaining.

“Thanks for sharing!” might seem a polite thing to say about someone’s song, but it doesn’t give the fawmer any useful information. It’s not really feedback worth having. Don’t be that person.

And if you encounter a song that you just can’t find anything positive to say about it, a song that sets your teeth on edge or which features a performance that is so out of tune it hurts, maybe the best thing to do is not to leave a comment about it at all. As @headfirstonly’s grandma used to say, “If you can’t say owt nice, say nowt!”