I know what you mean about only knowing because of the change in beat! Especially when the DJ fades the songs together.
I'm learning to tell the industrial/ebm sort of stuff apart and like some songs now, but it still seems pleasantly generic.

I guess I'm used to adapting because I can enjoy a wide range of music.. also I often have to, as don't often hear my sort of stuff outside my ipod unless it's one of the quite mainstream songs.

(That sounds quite contradictory - it's more that I like so much stuff but it's too outdated for radio and not 'goth' enough for the clubs.)

I actually love the Industrial/Cyber scene, and to be honest it was the final straw that brought me in. It got me interested in the whole concept of "goth", and introduced me to bands from the older scene. So as I learned about the goth subculture as a whole what came to mind was "versatility and diversity". I saw a huge amount of variations in genre but with the constant "embracing the dark side of everything" mentality, and I was impressed. I'm also impressed by how creative goths are, which would also be part of the whole "diversity and versatility" thing; so that's what I like about it.

My dislikes would have to be you'll sometimes come across people who think they're much more gothier than you. Yeah I don't club or dress up that often, but those types are usually the ones that are the "here today gone tomorrow" type of goths. The next point isn't so much as a "love/hate" as it is disappointment, but I would like to see more businesses embrace a Gothic theme. Like for example in a perfect world I'd be able to have a nice little dark themed cave restaurant to go to, or a custom made medieval or Victorian-era furniture store. Everything these days are cheap and modern. It takes a great deal of internet browsing in order to find the simplest of items like a bed (found the perfect bedafter 2 hours of searching) that fits my taste.

I'm sure the longer I spend experiencing the subculture the more things I'll find to like/hate about it.

This is just a genre thing. I used to be able to tell apart various black metal bands when I was a teenager, but now most modern metal sounds the same to me, and similar enough to emo that I can't draw a line. Similarly, if I don't listen to EBM for a while (like now) I end up finding that all blurring together too, and when I first started hearing it I couldn't distinguish it from House or Techno or <insert current Ibiza trend here>. On the other hand, I know goth from <guitar genre here> because a goth song will have "that bassline that all goth songs have". It's there, trust me.

I find it the opposite, tradgoth is too slow for me to dance to, but in a pub where I want to chill and talk it's far better than anything electonic. Feeling like the night ended too early is just how clubs work :p

I hardly dance anymore, but for a song to get me to dance, I need to feel a strong emotional pull from the song, the melody, the atmosphere......

Generally speaking, I can't dance to mindless 4x4 "thump, thump, thump......"

I prefer dancing to Einsturzende Neubauten, Skinny Puppy, Clock DVA, Laibach, In Slaughter Natives, or SPK

You need to get that butoh on video, To-san!

I gotta lose a bit of weight first before I show my bare painted chest to the public again

Well, get to it! You have fans waiting!

Interscene snarkery is what drives me nuts. listening to Goths rant about how Emo kids and Fashioncores and Nu Goths are soooooo awful, when all of them have examples of people doing it well and people who look like crap, just lie we do. I mean, the truth is that alternative subcultures and fashion styles become what they are (style rather then trends) because they have a strong shared aesthetic, it may not be ours, but it still exists. Everyone should stop shit talking and just not say anything if they have nothing nice to say. Emo kids get mistakenly called Goths as much as we accidentally get called Emo.

I've never been called an emo in my life.....

I'm not all that interested in the genre to know much more about it, but from what I've seen, the only similarity to emo and goth is eyeliner......

How many times have I told people that over the years? They don't care. They see black clothing + eyeliner and think EMO! Cuz they are obviously geniuses....

Regardless of one's preference in music, this is one of the best argument for having a variety of music in a club. For me, the club experience is just as much about socializing with friends as dancing. Having to endlessly shout yourself hoarse or leave the building just to chat is annoying as hell.