u/Soalai

Hi all, looking for some advice on a weird situation that's come up.

My camp doesn't do any alumni outreach or events, though we've been asking for years. But a few days ago, I saw a new "Alumni Registration" form on the camp website. It's pretty standard questions -- asking people's contact info, what years they were at camp and their role. The form is hosted on CampMinder, which the camp has been using for parent and staff registration for over a decade.

I was really excited to see the camp finally acknowledging our existence, so I shared it on Facebook and encouraged people to fill it out. Then a former staff member started questioning "Who is collecting this info?" and "This isn't from the camp, it's some group called CampMinder." "Be careful before filling this out." They saw some legal disclaimers and logos at the bottom of the form, and is now concerned that it's a third party collecting people's info for shady purposes.

Since this form is on the official camp website and contains questions very specific to the camp, I myself am not especially worried about whether it's legit. To make sure, I messaged the current directors to ask if they're aware of this form and what they're planning on doing with people's info (no reply yet).

I'm just wondering if there's anything else I can tell people to reassure them. Most likely this one person is just not familiar with what CampMinder is (they haven't worked at the camp in a long time). But their comments left me quite embarrassed, as it made it look like I'm spamming a shady link.

It will be fine, right? If it's on the camp website and powered by CampMinder, it's safe to say that really was made by the camp directors themselves and not some sketchy impostor? Thanks in advance!

Note: I posted this on r/popheads but I want to hear your guys' thoughts as well.

A common music critique I see is that an artist either "has nothing to say," or that a song is "about nothing" or "adds nothing new." I admit, sometimes I have trouble figuring out what this means or what exactly they're trying to critique.

A few examples: I remember reading a review of Avril Lavigne's Under My Skin album, from when it came out. I just looked it up and the exact quote was "struggling to find any stories worth telling save for boyfriend trouble and dead grandparents." Are those not worth telling? I'd argue that album absolutely has something to tell, namely telling young girls that you don't have to let a boy in your pants just because he was nice to you. You may or may not agree with the angle, but I'd argue it's definitely there.

More recently, I saw a couple users here talking about Harry Styles' new album and how he had "nothing to say." I also remember someone calling Beautiful Things a "song about nothing." That song is about the anxiety that comes with happiness, the worry that it could all go away at any minute. You can hate the vocals or something about the song (god knows I clown on Benson Boone all the time) but to me, that topic isn't "nothing."

I've definitely heard vapid songs that aren't really about anything, but I don't think it's nearly as many as people like to complain about. A fair amount of dance music comes to mind, because lyrics are less important in that genre.

I guess I want to know what the line is for you guys. What does a song have to do to constitute "saying something" vs. not? How can a song "add something new" when there's already songs out there for pretty much every emotion and experience? And do you consider this important in the music you like?

A common music critique I see is that an artist either "has nothing to say," or that a song is "about nothing" or "adds nothing new." I admit, sometimes I have trouble figuring out what this means or what exactly they're trying to critique.

A few examples: I remember reading a review of Avril Lavigne's Under My Skin album, from when it came out. I just looked it up and the exact quote was "struggling to find any stories worth telling save for boyfriend trouble and dead grandparents." Are those not worth telling? I'd argue that album absolutely has something to tell, namely telling young girls that you don't have to let a boy in your pants just because he was nice to you. You may or may not agree with the angle, but I'd argue it's definitely there.

More recently, I saw a couple users here talking about Harry Styles' new album and how he had "nothing to say." I also remember someone calling Beautiful Things a "song about nothing." That song is about the anxiety that comes with happiness, the worry that it could all go away at any minute. You can hate the vocals or something about the song (god knows I clown on Benson Boone all the time) but to me, that topic isn't "nothing."

I've definitely heard vapid songs that aren't really about anything, but I don't think it's nearly as many as people like to complain about. A fair amount of dance music comes to mind, because lyrics are less important in that genre.

I guess I want to know what the line is for you guys. What does a song have to do to constitute "saying something" vs. not? How can a song "add something new" when there's already songs out there for pretty much every emotion and experience? And do you consider this important in the music you like?