Any website which is left wide open to…
Any website which is left wide open to non experts giving advice is a bit suspect. The forums are narrow and often unfriendly and more to the point - lack humour. You are OK if you are asking the questions but you may find yourself in hot water if you venture to give your own opinion. Hot water that is with the amatuer specialists that frequent these and other sites. I find it amazing that nobody asks for your qualification when joining the site because this would help to bring confidence in the replies you will get. Just dont try to be funny - this site has about as much humour as a divorce.
Chris Muscillo
Great forum, 2025 still great
I have had generally good experiences with this forum. Many of the 1 star reviews on this site about the Hoffman forums I wonder to myself "what inflammatory or otherwise aggressive posting styles did they use" because I have never had any issues with disagreements or censorshipOverall the forum userbase skews older and so going into it knowing it will be more Beatles than Dua Lipa talk going on will help center you. But thankfully there are many newer folks to freshen up the place with modern music talks these past years too
RIngo George
The Hoofs platform is where conformity…
The Hoofs platform is where conformity and sycophancy are prevalent it's members are pressured to align with the dominant views of it's established cult, users often silenced the staff chalking off comments. This toxic atmosphere discourages opposing views and open discussion. The Hoffmanites throw well-regarded artists under the bus they trash critically acclaimed albums anyone dare challenge the cult risks the ban hammer or ghosted posts under review.
Kevin
High censorship on this forum.
I just opened an account and posted two threads about highly professional female musicians. Both where deleted, not even published. High censorship on this forum.
Atalantia
You'll read endless lies
You'll read endless lies, untruths and inaccuracies on site the staff moderators sit idle they're about as much use as a second hand maxi pad not a genuine place to discuss music. It's open to millions of music fans worldwide less than a thousand login at any given time.
Pauline
Run by over zealous moderators…
Run by over zealous moderators completely lacking in humour.Posts taken down with no explanation even though they break no rules.No replies when questioned for an explanation.Full of Beatles obsessed Uber nerds that discus extreme trivia for months on end
anthony eldridge
I just opened an account and posted two…
I just opened an account and posted two threads about highly professional female musicians. Both where deleted, not even published. High censorship on this forum.
Atalantia
The positive Gary Glitter comments on…
The positive Gary Glitter comments on the forum sicken me he is a convicted child rapist i doubt Glitters victims could take the art out the artist. SHTV is not for moral minded music fans.
David
Arrogant know-it-all tin-ears
Arrogant know-it-all tin-ear gatekeepers with more money than brains always turn the stevehoffman.tv forums into a swarming hive of smarmy bottom-feeders. In the near future, AI will fully consume & study all of the posts on stevehoffman.tv forums and use the results to conclude that humanity is a lost cause, beyond all hope for salvation, doomed to endless fighting, arguing, gaslighting and all manner of negativity all over subjective perception & personal preference.
Clearance Creek
AGRESSIVE,HOSTILE KEYBOARD WARRIOR KNOW IT ALL'S
I dont partake in forums or Facebook for the reason ,i believe it gives cover and a platform for all the bile,malice and disrespect that some (a lot) of people think is acceptable ,i made a mistake of breaking my own rule and posted a thread in Hoffman ... in semi desperation ,with a very polite caveat ,that if i received a reply ,please dont be abusive or argumentative or disrespectful .It shouldn't have to be asked ,even in a nice way .WHAT HAVE WE (THEY) COME TO ... so sure enough ,the first smart alec starts WITH THE A TONE OF SMART CLEVER OBTUSE NONCHALANCE "for starters " etc , now he and them lot might think its cool or normal ,but what did i just say ,i asked not to replied to disrespectfully ,my question was a valid one and furthermore i asked politely for constructive responses and i'm nobodies fool ,the tone of this guy is likely because of poor "leaders" at Hoffman ,who allow such bad manners as a acceptable normality . That's one point ,i have many others equally valid , suffice to say don't bother posting anything ,its a cliche, all pally pally hierarchy, all know it all's and cavemen big men ,trying awfully hard to have some power in their likely insignificant life , just like the myriad of keyboard HEAVYWEIGHTS on facebook .GET SOME MANNERS AND RESPECT AND GROW UP AND THINK . .....FUNNY AINT IT .. "DO YOU SPEAK LIKE THAT IN THE STORE ,AT THE DOCTORS ,IN THE STREET, TO YOUR FAMILY "YES ?? . NO?? , ONLY ON THE INTErNET, EH , I CERTAINLY DONT WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH THEM ,AND FACT..I ASKED TO BE BANNED AS I WAS SICK AT THE THOUGHT OF BEING A MEMBER THERE ...OF HORRIBLE LOUTS AND FRANKLY DUBIOUS CHARACTERS IF THEIR MANNERS ARE ANYTHING TO GO BY .OH MANNERS MAKETH THE MAN .. , ALL VYING TO BE THE BIG BULLY SHOUT OUTS.PATHETIC SAD FOLK .. IM OUT .
Stephen Jones
Morally bankrupt music forum that excuses even the most egregious conduct by musicians
Massive negativity against the Steve Hoffman forum here and I can only chime with this viewpoint having been banned by a moderator calling himself 'Hodgo' from the UK when I pointed out on a thread that an impending CD reissue by a band with a convicted paedophile lead singer (now deceased) might not be prudent in light of scandals involving several other musicians and music industry figures over recent years. Several other commenters on the forum defended the lead singer stating he was an ephebophile (don't ask if you don't know this term... suffice to say this "explanation" was abhorrent). I expressed my disgust at this defence and was prompted permanently banned by the moderator 'Hodgo', so we now know which side of the fence the Steve Hoffman forum sits in regarding this repellent criminal activity. Ugh. I am glad to be well out of it if that is their moral perspective.
Timothy Higgs
This site is on the face of it
This site is on the face of it, quite instructive and interesting for the hobbyist. Unfortunately, there are a couple of moderators who consider themselves to be 'mini gods'. As such, they not only act in a condescending manner to any member whom they may have a disagreement with, but also as stated in other reviews here, are disingenuous and disrespectful. For example, one of the guidelines for a member to post a wanted ad in their wanted section is to stipulate how a seller who wishes to sell to the poster, will get paid by the poster. This is ridiculous, since when does a buyer tell a seller how and what the seller has to accept for their goods? The Seller is the one who should be telling the Buyer how they want to get paid, not the other way around! Nonetheless, after pointing out this idiocy, I ran afoul of their main dictator/moderator and was banned from this part of the forum. Now, I had contributed lots of content for these guys to use with the search engines and their optimization, but that is over now. Plenty of other forums on the web that don't have the intention to suppress free speech..
daveyf
Misinformation Shill Honeypot
This platform is a honeypot of misinformation, carefully crafted to benefit the high-end industry. Those who possess a modicum of objective wisdom are promptly banned. I myself wrote several posts that were both balanced and neutral in perspective, grounded in technical facts. However, I was immediately banned from the platform. It appears that any information that exposes the sly tactics employed by the so-called "high-end" manufacturers is not tolerated. In short, this platform is a disappointing waste of time.
Rikki Bot
The minute you disagree your kicked
The minute you disagree on that site you kinda get slammed. You can get banned in a nano second They banned a 9/11 survivor. Because he used the name of the Record Collectors group .I guess they do not care about free speech.63 year old men are easy to ban.Funny thing is he wrote well and did not fight on there..I myself walked away from this site. Has collecting records come down to this
Valued LifeLock Customer
Where are the Buddy Holly tapes?
The site's namesake is someone who once worked for MCA and was fired for stealing tapes, who then was barely employed for a label trying to position themselves as Mobile Fidelity's main rivals. The only reason anybody knows his name is because of his endless boasting of his abilities (which he's had more than ample time to do, having only being asked to master a handful of records a year - and none at all for the last several) and his constant trashing of every other mastering engineer. In his attempts to appear to be a big player to his flock, he continually tells stories that put him directly in the center of major musical events. Anytime anyone attempts to correct him on one of his works of fiction, they are instantly banned from the forum and all of their posts are scrubbed, leaving nothing behind but glowing reviews of Hoffman's work. I could go into detail about major goofs he's pulled, but won't as that would take up several paragraphs; however, you'll never see a word of any of it on his message board because every post is monitored by one of his many moderators. Highlights include banning two engineers from Mobile Fidelity for correcting his fictitious claims that he worked with the original Roy Orbison mixdown tapes. Another great one is the fiction he spun for years that the version of Paul McCartney's "Ram" he remastered was from the original master tapes. Fast forward 15 or so years and Paul McCartney puts out a deluxe reissue of said album which contains, among other things, scans of the original master tapes. Strangely, Hoffman isn't listed on the cover of the tape as ever having had access to it. Being that anyone with an iota of sense gets banned because they can't keep silent about the absolutely ridiculous (and easily disproven) claims he makes, the people left are some of the most ignorant, yet bullying know-it-all types, you'll ever encounter. As as added "bonus", the forum is home to many full-on Nazis, whose dog whistle posts are never disturbed, yet those who attempt to call them out on their ignorance are quickly banned.TL;DR a nightmare of a narcissist's playground cosplaying as an informative music forum.
Gort Jerry
Site Owner Doesn't Allow Users Having Online Anonymity
Don't register an account here with a disposable email, V.P.N, privacy-friendly internet browser, and non-spyware operating system on your device. Or your account will get deleted on this forums website eventually. Considering all governments have been attacking human rights regarding Julian Assange and became Orwellian with their government surveillance, I would rather have internet anonymity. Not have my online activities be spied on from tyrants who profit from endless wars.
Grey
A while back a jerk did a hatchet job…
A while back a jerk did a hatchet job on a singer i like he wrote many lies and accusations in his post i could not find anything on google to back up the rubbish he commented. I challenged him he proceded to throw wild accusations at me. I resented them then, i resent them now, his comments are still on Herr Hoffman's website.Found this story on the net.. Back in the day MCA Records fired Herr Hofffman it's alleged he stole mastering tapes, the FBI raided his house and recovered a vast collection of tapes and metal parts all of which belonged to his former employer (MCA).
Kirk
It's a good forum for information but a…
It's a good forum for information but a lot of the posters have no sense of humour. The hardware section is populated by snobby audiophiles with way too much money that think you need to spend thousands on speaker wire. Don't post but read the threads and you will much happier.
Peter Mannion
A member of this forum works at Amazon…
A member of this forum works at Amazon UK. I posted youtube and Amazon links onto threads i received Amazon emails suggesting albums recommendations very close to the links i submitted i told the english staff member, by coincidence the emails stopped, four weeks later the unwanted emails started again, the last couple was a crass attempt at humour. I've closed down my Amazon account i am not best pleased someone on the site working for Amazon knew my username. He? Made it pretty obvious the emails i was sent. I have all the music i want i don't need anything else. I have moved to a bigger city i can easily purchase household goods and clothes from retail outlets. I've stopped login into the forum neither am i interested reading threads. You can go through recent and older topics the threads repeat themselves like a needle stuck on a record. Some thick americans think music sales and artists popularity revolves around the United States, naive. The world is a huge place! A few artists are members of the forum it's a reasonable assumption many in the music industry read the threads.
Blighty
Very Good Forum.
Very good forum i have discovered not so famous / obscure artists albums that i never knew existed because i read about them on the forum. Very useful indeed. In return i posted links to albums & singles, 3" CD singles, picture discs and box sets i've got.My prized music possessions are The Beatles stereo Japanese box set, rare Led Zep Japanese album box Set (Kosher, not fake) , Pink Floyd Early and Later Years Box Set, Kate Bush Live At The Hammersmith Odeon CD + Vid, Sheena Easton No Sound But A Heart bonus tracks CD, 101 and Days Like This 3" CD singles, Dannii Minogue Neon Nights pink and blue colour pressings double album, UFOs 1995 & 2004 Walk On Water CD, Iron Maiden Maiden Japan 17 track edition CD, loads of Madonna picture discs and coloured vinyls , Sex book with CD and my Holy Grail i've recently purchased Madonna's Japanese 40 CD singles box set.I have found, not just this forum others i have posted on it's not worth the hassle discussing anything many people think they're right and they don't want to listen to others opinions they often want the last say - Only their opinion counts. I got booted off 3 or 4 threads lol. I thought it best to post on the songs and albums you've recently listened to threads just name the artist and track post a link from youtube and where you can buy it from. There are many threads you can leave just 1 or 2 comments. If you've downloaded from free music sites best not to mention it.
Biker Fella
