It’s very sad. This place isn’t what it used to be.
I was bored and went into some old threads. I found that this site seems to be in its third stage. Around the years 2008-2009 or so you had some original members (from 2003) complaining about how all the “old members” were gone and the place wasn’t the same. Many of them (Darthchaltab etc.) stopped posting around then, or a few years later (psychodavy). End of OT.com The Early Years.
Then TVs Frink and Duracell (among others) came along and the site (or at least the Off Topic and Film areas) was/were rejuvenated. OT.com The Next Generation
Then 10/18 happened - a whole bunch of active members got banned and other active members left in response.
Just for clarity; for anyone unfamiliar with situation at that time, and now reading this…
a ‘whole bunch of active members got banned’? It was 3 members who were banned… Collipso (who’d been here around a year), Possessed, and TV’s Frink - Detention Block AA-23 : The OT.com’s Banned Members.
10/18 didn’t just ‘happen’ - if I recall… it was a ‘final straw’ type-situation in a lengthy & ongoing state of affairs for at least one, maybe two, of the members above.
Then 12/20 happened - more active members (chainsawash etc.) got banned. End of The Next Generation (?)
Now I’m humming the ST:TNG theme in my head 👍
2 members were banned - Chainsaw and dahmage both announced their leaving of the site before they were banned (with continuing attacks on members / site / site staff in their ‘leaving’ posts; resulting in their bans afterwards).
Like ‘10/18’, that didn’t just ‘happen’ either.
The same with Duracell sometime afterwards.
It seems we are in the third stage of OT.com. So far it is a lot less fun.
If you feel this way then why not contribute to help make this section of the site more fun?
As others on here have said previously… many sites and forums that also now have a Discord have seen participation reduce in their Off Topic, General Discussion or The Boozer sections. The upshot seems to be the same here - the OT Discord seems to be doing well with a number of members actively participating / shooting the breeze on there - more so on there than here in The Cantina.
Maybe that’ll change again over time…
I am aware of the circumstances regarding the bans. The point is that there was a ripple effect when they happened because those members drove a lot of the discussions around here and drew others into participating.
Is discord, at least here on OT.com, mostly text chats? I prefer it to vid or voice. I kind of like to have an image of what members are like, without really knowing what they look and sound like. Does that make me a weirdo? 😃