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Hi everyone !

I'll try to contribute to this discussion in the most constructive way I can.
To understand my perspective, I also have been on the receiving end of advice about a rack project being a total noob in Eurorack, not too long ago. I suppose the rack I submitted was showing enough research because I received very constructive comments, I thoroughly enjoyed the conversation and had a few laughs. Maybe creating something along the lines of "How to build your first rack" and "how to constructively ask for advice to help others help you" could help everyone get the same experience.

On one hand, it's true that some comments made on newcomers' racks may be perceived as harsh, the same points could have been made while being less "dismissive" of the proposed idea, for example by pointing to learning resources about the misunderstood concepts that lead to a "less functional" rack or asking more information about the poster's goal with the rack and their knowledge about it. I personally don't have any issues with the tone but I also can totally see some sensitive people being discouraged by it sometimes, since there's a good chance MG will be (like it was for me) their first contact with the Eurorack community, as it gets recommended in a lot of YT videos for beginners. Being told your rack is unusable as a first comment could be discouraging for some people, even if that's very close to the truth. That being said, what should you tell someone who planned a rack based on faceplate color (for the record, I did that too at first) ? Sure it's fine if people want to do it (more module sales, more money for development of new modules, amarite ?), but we're building devices to make sound primarily or at least that is what most people do with Eurorack, so if someone is building a wall of black faceplates instead, I'd say "decorative" is a fitting adjective for the rack (even if "usable" and "fun" could be just as fitting in some situations), that's even the announced goal in a way.

On the other hand, those comments (or at the least the substance) were very important for me as they made me challenge a lot of my decisions for module selection or even where I was going with Eurorack in general. I still made a couple of mistakes but it would have been way more costly without the help of some people here, Lugia and Ronin included (thanks guys, really). I for one would have hated seeing the limits of my rack after only a few patches, I am SO GLAD that didn't happen and I probably owe it a lot to the advice that was provided here. Sure, in a way I agree with Hazel's point about being able to use one of those "less functional" racks. I would actually go further and say that starting with a very limited setup and picking your modules based on the limitations YOU encounter is a great strategy for learning. That being said, I strongly believe that while those racks may be fun to play with at least for a while, telling a future buyer of Eurorack about the limits of such a rack is an absolute must so they can make an informed buying decision. MG might be their first and only stop before the buying act, so it's important to make sure people understand what they would get for their hard earned money. They might not even have too much cash to spend on mistakes, even if those mistakes can teach you things as well. It's totally fine to build a rack that people would call unusable, a one-trick-pony or the modular equivalent of a Pringles can with a slinky I guess, as long as you understand well that it is what you are doing.

I suppose the most important for me is to get the information I need regardless of the tone, so I'm just grateful for whatever knowledge I can grab