Hi
I've a question for the staff. To update a band page often look at their facebook page. But in many cases there are bands that don't have a facebook (1st mark of inactivity, in my opinion). Then I look at their facebook and I find out that the last login was years ago. Therefore, can I state a band as inactive, even if there are no official statements about their split up status?
Ex: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/At_ ... 3540324695
This band has a facebook which is not updated since August 2011. Their last myspace login is on 03/12/2011. It's quite obvious that the band is split-up, but there are no official statements about it (and will never be). Is it possible then to mark as inactive, or we must state them as unknonw even knowing that they're inactive?
Thanks

Ex: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/San ... nnes/89927
This band is clearly splitted-up. Thay have no facebook, their site is down and their myspace last login is on 2011. Is it possible to state it as Split-up?

Derigin often says "it's better to have outdated information than incorrect information". He said that specifically regarding this type of situation when I asked. The approach you suggested would procure a large amount of incorrect information based on false assumptions - that a band must use social networks if they are active now.

For example: http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/X_Factor_X/9380
MySpace last login in 2010, no Facebook page, their .com website is expired, and their old Geocities page is long out of date. They're still active and played shows last year, they're just not heavily connected online.

To explain the situation in terms of what I have heard when talking to musicians:
A lack of activity on Facebook or MySpace for a year or two isn't necessarily an indication of being split up. Inactivity in social networking isn't necessarily an accurate indicator of a band being split up - not everyone is too involved in them. One common reason for a stretch of inactivity from local bands is personal obligations taking too much time - a year or two isn't uncommon at all for bands to simply be inactive. A lot of the time, bands don't have much to announce and aren't interested in self-promoting on downtime, especially smaller bands who are mostly known by personal connections, not mass promotion. In situations like this, I often hear that band members are emailing ideas and things back and forth, but family/school/work obligations prevent them from setting aside time to practice/record/gig or whatever.

You are right. In the end there are no prooves, just supposing.
But the example you gave is quite uncommon. The best way is to ask people who played in those bands... but actually they rarely answer

Absolutely. Especially if it's just one year. Not everyone is addicted to social media.

If the last Myspace login was 5 years ago, it's likely the band has split-up, but even then it's not 100% sure, so best to keep it as unknown.

Just an addendum to the posts made by Morri and Zodi. Always - always - try to make sure the source for a band's status (particularly for disbanding/splitting-up) is correct and valid. MA doesn't exist to cater to artists, of course, or to be used as a marketing tool, but falsely labelling a band as split-up can have negative and possibly detrimental effects on the band. The general principle, of course, is to try to make sure your information can be proven as correct whenever possible.

In my experience, it's really common. I can't get in touch with people from random bands on the archives, but for bands who are local, it's pretty easy to ask around if anyone knows them, or even finding band members via mutual friends on Facebook.

It's also very common for bands who are split-up to have logins on their pages, information cleaned up, and even some occasional posts. Bands do posthumously release stuff that they hadn't released while they were together (often unfinished or unmastered recordings), keeping up with messages, and things like that.

A while back I asked Azmodes the general time frame of assumed "inactivity" (meaning no logins on Myspace, no posts, etc., on Facebook, lack of an official website, valid e-mails and other forms of contact, etc.--essentially no practical way to prove or disprove a bands' activeness or lack thereof unless you know the band personally or whatever) to "safely" mark a band's status as unknown and he said, I believe, that three years is reasonable.