Obner

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**Obner.org**
Image:Obner logo.jpg
URL	http://www.obner.org/
Commercial?	No
Type of site	Music discussion
Registration	Free/subscription
Owner	HaqDiesel
Created by	{{{author}}}
Launched	October 2004

Obner is an internet message board located at the internet address www.obner.org. Although ostensibly a forum for music discussion, in reality the board can feature threads concerning almost anything, from current affairs, pop culture and sports to episodes from the personal lives of the poster community. That said, music discussion is the 'raison d'être' of Obner and the board is home to a relatively small but active and knowledgable music community.

The board is well provisioned with features and includes a private message mailbox for each member, a chat room facility and 'chart' where members submit albums to be rated (out of 10) by fellow members.

Obner currently boasts 1,466 registered users and over 465,000 articles.

1 Formation
2 Mods and Admin
3 Off-Shoots
4 Shmoo Poll
5 Top 10 Posters
6 External links

[edit] Formation

Obner was brought into creation by its founder HaqDiesel on the 23rd Oct 2004 and was opened to the public on the 25th Oct 2004.

Its roots stemmed from a community of music fans who had previously coalesced at the College Music Journal message board. Poor maintenance and the basic features of the CMJ message board, coupled with frequent and lengthy down times resulted in discontent among the board's membership. As a result, the community moved, almost en masse, to a new, specially designed board, which was to be programmed and moderated by community members.

[edit] Mods and Admin

As chief architect of the Obner board, HaqDiesel holds the sole Administrator position. This concerns most technical and programming aspects of running the board as well as holding Moderator powers.

On transferring from the CMJ board to Obner, three additional Moderators were elected by the community to manage the boards: Aural Fixation, F.T and KonstantinL. Despite Moderators having the power to edit or delete threads, a tradition of free speech means Moderators rarely use their powers to intervene in discussions.

[edit] Off-Shoots

There are various off-shoots and side projects by members of the board, mainly in the form of music related blogs. These include Hip Displeasure, a blog run by Obner moderator F.T. and contributed to by many Obnerians (including 'podblasts' by Yail Bloor), and Tune A Day, run by Dalen, which likewise features contributions from many board members.

[edit] Shmoo Poll

The 'Shmoo Poll' (so called due to member Shmoo being responsible for collation of results) is an annual Best Album of the Year poll, where board members submit their Top Twenty albums and a sliding scale of points is awarded to each album. The results are published in January of the upcoming year.

Shmoo Poll 2005 Top Twenty

Artist	Album	Points
Spoon	Gimme Fiction	146 points
The New Pornographers	Twin Cinema	119 points
My Morning Jacket	Z	108 points
Andrew Bird	The Mysterious Production of Eggs	107 points
Sufjan Stevens	Illinois	105 points
Wolf Parade	Apologies to the Queen Mary	95 points
Bloc Party	Silent Alarm	91 points
Okkervil River	Black Sheep Boy	87 points
Clap Your Hands Say Yeah	Clap Your Hands Say Yeah	80 points
The Decemberists	Picaresque	76 points
Broken Social Scene	Broken Social Scene	69 points
Sigur Ros	Takk...	66 points
Animal Collective	Feels	60 points
Sleater-Kinney	The Woods	60 points
LCD Soundsystem	LCD Soundsystem	60 points
Bright Eyes	I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning	57 points
The White Stripes	Get Behind Me Satan	55 points
Antony and the Johnsons	I Am A Bird Now	53 points
Crooked Fingers	Dignity and Shame	51 points
The National	Alligator	50 points

[edit] Top 10 Posters

As of 16 November, 2006

Member	Post Count
Frosted	11,343
Shiv Charles	10,353
Elvis Fu	10,245
Toki Wartooth	10,245
Aural Fixation	9,980
Sen. LooGAR Dogpuncher	9,936
Dalen	9,605
Yail Bloor	9,473
Crutches of Destruction	7,950
HaqDiesel	7,269