Clif Johnston - Axepix Founder / Administrator

Christine Loves Philly! | Nothing Like it!

I wish I knew the answer to that, but I don’t see the Fuzz traffic reports, so your guess is as good as mine. I will say that I have close to 26,000 views on my fan profile too, if that means anything.

There are 3 things to note:
1. Echo Root has some relevance to Linux command line programming, and probably generates some false positives. Trust me it was not what I had in mind when I came up with the name.
2. I have a domain pointed at my fuzz site (echoroot.com) and during my days of promoting that project, it was in every email, forum post, web profile, etc that I have. So it’s possible that people are coming to the Echo Root profile from all over the web, with no understanding that they are clicking through to a music site at all. It’s also likely that some of the traffic is generated by search spiders if Fuzz doesn’t filter those out.
3. My album Biomech Stuff and Lights has generated some false positives due to the medical nature of the title. Again, not something I planned. It was actually from a clip of text a buddy of mine wrote on a sketch of a robot sculpture he was working on.

BTW… I just noticed I’m no longer #1. Maybe we should all go attack DTG now.

Miss Bella | …HUMAN INTERACTION IS MEANINGLESS WITHOUT A STARBUCKS

Christine: OK, nasty gram was a little strong - misplaced aggression. I apologize. I’m glad you have enough honor to not delete things you don’t agree with.

SVT: What upsets me is not that some faceless avatar would accuse me of cheating. It’s that real people that I have honestly and respectfully communicated with since my first day on this site would suddenly attack and accuse me the day I hit #1. And it’s beyond ironic that the same people making the accusations are asserting that the charts are worthless. If they mean nothing, then why bother attacking or accusing someone (like me) who has brought value to the community.

Your lack of empathy for my situation, and the sudden mob mentality that has followed Jostel’s 50th tirade is what saddens me.

And my threat about deleting my Echo Root account is not a plea for sympathy. I simply don’t have the mental bandwidth to deal with this crap. And over a project that is not even active. And what will happen when I hit the #1 Americana slot with CLJ, knocking Jostel off of his long-held throne. Well, that’ll be proof!! I must be manipulating to make it to the top twice!!!

Or maybe I just make music that people like to hear and download, and sometimes even buy.

The reality is that the only value this site has to me is the community. Not the charts, or the downloads or ability to sell my songs. I’m a developer - I can make my own site for that. It’s the community, and unfortunately, the community seems to be eating itself.

Christine Loves Philly! | Nothing Like it!

SVT, why would I manipulate the charts? I have been one of the most vocal folks on the site against manipulation and spamming. If you’ll remember, it was ME who called out Mr. Beaman on his obvious chart scams.

And as I said in my post above, I haven’t had time to do any self-promotion on my primary endeavor, let alone Echo Root which I back-burnered months ago.

So be suspicious all you want. As I told Jostel in response to his attack, my assumption is that my download sales have pushed me close to the top, and that all the other facets of the algorithms took me the rest of the way. I know that because I sold a bunch of downloads at one point and I haven’t fallen below #4 since then. I haven’t really publicly pointed that out because I don’t want to make it blatantly obvious that no one is selling any downloads on this site - which is very obvious when I can sell a handful of albums and sit in the top 10 for months.

That’s not manipulation. It’s the cold hard reality that no one is buying downloads. But you or Jostel can’t see that because download sales are not visible, so you just assume I’m somehow gaming the system.

So of you or Jostel or Fathead or whoever wants to test something, test having someone actually spend $20 on downloads. I guarantee I won’t be in the #1 spot next week if that happens.

Christine Loves Philly! | Nothing Like it!

SVT, WTF? First Jostel, now you?

Has nothing I have contributed to this site meant anything? Do you folks actually think, after all the in depth conversations and mutual support of fellow Fuzz artists (including Tim and Jostel), hours and hours spent constructing the Fuzz Tips and Tricks and the Fuzzpile, etc - do you actually think my whole purpose was to game my way to the top of the charts??

The fact, as I mentioned in my latest blog, is that RL has taken me away from any self-promotional or music-making activity, and honestly, I was as surprised as anyone when Echo Root (i.e. ME) hit #1. Also, if you want to read back a few months, you’ll see that I back-burnered Echo Root in March in order to focus on my vocal stuff, published under my own name as Clifton Lee Johnston.

Yeah, the charts are broken, and on just about all the sites I’ve ever been on there has been the same concerns and bitches. The fact is that there is no simple solution, besides maybe taking the Billboard approach and just counting download sales. But then I think the charts would be fairly short, and unfortunately I’d still probably be a contender.

I thought I had forged a good amount of mutual respect with this community, including you SVT. I think what’s broken about this site is that people are attacking me for hitting the top spot of a chart that everyone seems to know is meaningless. Including me.

1. Saying you’re not trying to be an asshole doesn’t mean you’re not an asshole.

2. I would have been a little richer if I had made the bet that I considered making as soon as 3SB let me know I had hit #1 - that someone would get their panties in a bunch over it, and that it would probably be you.

3. I didn’t write the Fuzz algorithm, I don’t have time to game meaningless charts, and I barely have time to read this bullshit, which is why I haven’t been active on the site lately - as you pointed out.

4. You are assuming a lot considering you can’t see my incoming links, you don’t know if the numbers shown on my profile are even correct, and you also have no idea how the Fuzz algorithm works.

5. And here’s the biggie: I ASSUME that a big reason for my chart position is my SALES, which have absolutely nothing to do with my page views, streams or downloads (except that they all play into chart position somehow). And YOU can’t see those. I may not have sold thousands of tracks, but I’ve sold quite a few, probably more than most.

I’m getting incoming links from all over because every signature, forum post, email etc links directly or indirectly to my web page. I’m sure plenty of folks get there and realize it’s not something they want to pay attention to, which is fine. Likewise, a lot of folks have already heard my music elsewhere and are just coming here for downloads or to look around. And yes, I get a few because of the word “biomech.” Write a song called “Heart Attack” and you’ll get plenty of false positives too… big fucking deal.

So if you have a problem with the Fuzz algorithm, then bitch at the devs, not me. If you’re accusing me of gaming, grow up and fuck off.

via www.wordgathering.com

Very weird.