Freesound Forums

I just noticed that my fire recording has been downloaded 922 times. Out of all the people that downloaded it only 5 have actually uploaded any sounds.
I have only one sound on here but I thought it only fair in the spirit of Freesound that I put something 'in the pot.'

How can we encourage more people to upload their own sounds?
Maybe a download limit before contributing something?

SoundIntervention wrote:
Maybe a download limit before contributing something?

@SoundIntervention

Bram tends to see any measures that limit access as negative.
In FREESound the FREE seems to stand not only for free of charge, but also free access, free speech and a number of other things.

Freesound is a resource. A library of sounds for people to use.
As with normal libraries, there are less people writting books than people reading them.

We should not assume that people downloading but not uploading have nefarious intentions.
Imagine this: A pre-school teacher downloading animal sounds to use in education class activites. Should he/she now have to worry about uploading a few sounds so he/she can continue to download?
That would be very counter-productive to the principles of freesound.

Now, did I read your post right? DId you actually check the 922 users who downloaded your sound in order to confirm that only 5 of them have uploaded any sounds??? o_O
Mate, you have too much time on your hands!

Jokes aside. I think that time would have been better spend making/uploading more sounds

Get used to it.

Besides - sometimes it's enough that one person downloads your sounds, and this changes a lot.

Ok I get all that - I guess I'm just surprised at the relative amounts of downloads to uploads. It makes one realise how many people use the site. I'm really happy that my sound has been useful to so many people. Freesound is a great resource.
It actually took about five mins to look through the pages of people who downloaded my file, just a tad shorter than going out recording, editing, mastering and uploading!
I wish I did have more time to create and upload content, as it is i'm flat out meeting deadlines for projects

DieDancing wrote:
What is your problem b***h?
Take back your s**t sound, who cares?
M**********r. Cuz of people like you WORLD IS IN DEEP A*S!
PROhibit your breathing ok?! B***h!

Dear Die Dancing,
Thank you for you constructive comments, I was merely asking a question. I rather think it is your attitude that lands the planet in deep foo doo.
Maybe upload a recording of yourself swearing , that would be funny ha ha.

I think it's a wonderful compliment if people downloaded your sounds a lot. They might not use them, maybe they just like them. Sometimes, they may use them much, much, much later. I've downloaded sounds that I hope to use one day but haven't got around to doing so. Some are pretty cool, some are weird, sometimes they're just fun to listen to. Maybe they'll get used one day. Most people have neither the appropriate software nor the gear to create decent sounds of their own to upload - plus, as I discovered awhile back, if there's a peculiar way your particular browser functions in dealing with scripts, it becomes impossible to properly upload any sounds because you can't fill the 'description' in. I had that issue with Firefox for months.... I've only been able to upload sounds since last week (and none have been moderated yet, so you can't see them, nananah!)

SoundIntervention wrote:
Dear Die Dancing,
Thank you for you constructive comments, I was merely asking a question. I rather think it is your attitude that lands the planet in deep foo doo.
Maybe upload a recording of yourself swearing , that would be funny ha ha.

There's a sign at the zoo, 'Do Not Feed'

I suggest not feeding the animal, best to ignore it.

Good advice, thanks.

(attempt to move on from the spam in this thread...)

For me, Freesound is as much about the warm fuzzy feeling of contributing something others will enjoy as the reciprocal arrangement of swapping samples. There’s a concept in the Eastern religions (and parallels in most others) called sewa, which basically sums up the idea that a good deed is its own reward.

As previous posters have touched on, I think this sort of thing is more complex than ‘scratch my back and I’ll scratch yours’. Suppose someone gets into making music using a buttload of Freesounds without uploading a single one. Suppose also that this helps them to learn something about composition, production and sound engineering. Even if nine out of ten such people are free-lunchers who won’t give a toss about Freesound helping them launch their musical adventures, there’s the tenth who wants to give something back, uploading their own stuff, learning and helping others to learn, and generally starting the cycle again.

Regarding Alien’s comment about teachers using animal sounds: I did something quite like this when I used to work in special needs educational support. I logged into Freesound and used samples of piano, harp, guitar etc. riffs I found here as part of a game involving identifying musical instruments. I had only recently signed up, and hadn’t uploaded anything at that point.

Anyway, SoundIntervention, none of this should be taken as me saying you are a bad mean person for wanting to encourage people to share their sounds. I’m just suggesting, maybe consider it from a different perspective. (Goodness, I’m starting to sound like a cognitive behaivoural therapist...)

This is all good. I really like the fact that my sound has been used nearly 1000 times and I've had some lovely comments from some folks too. These give me a good feeling, knowing the sound use useful to someone. My initial reason for uploading was that I had been downloading sounds and felt it was only fair to 'put something in the pot'. A bit like a Jacobs Join at a party - bring a little of what you'd like to find yourself.
I totally get the reasoning behind not applying limits - I just didn't realise how large the user base was in relation to the contributors. My question has been answered, thanks to all those who have taken the time to constructively add to the conversation.

I'm an indie film editor and have used a lot of sounds from this incredible site. Often times i'm working on a project for the love of it & nobody is getting paid and in these cases freesound.org is a godsend. Sometimes on paid projects the sound never makes it to the final mix but it does a fantastic service for me all of the time and really helps the director realise "oh ok this is gonna work" - especially when i'm struggling with some crappy sound fx library. I try to always credit the uploader.

I would love to record my own sounds and upload them here one day soon. I've definitely been inspired. There's certainly a lot of sounds of the kind i need that are hard to find - really good natural sounding stuff of "just the right" type. Stuff that seems boring to record but is actually critically useful. I intend to record a lot of these & put them here when i have the time.

m

What interesting in this discussion is - that it is started and guided in that way as it is - by a person who within over 3 years of being registered here - uploaded only single one (and about one min long) sound (not to mention the NC indicator), and wrote 5 posts around it. Or did I missed something?

ayamahambho wrote:
What interesting in this discussion is - that it is started and guided in that way as it is - by a person who within over 3 years of being registered here - uploaded only single one (and about one min long) sound (not to mention the NC indicator), and wrote 5 posts around it. Or did I missed something?

Stop making good points, this is a forum. Rational treatment of any subject is passe (^_^)

Yep, this is a forum, keep in mind that.